Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Emily Hartwig Junior Casey Driscoll, also known as the Momentum Monday Man, gives his famous high fives to students on their way to 8 a.m. class on Monday. Driscoll is pushing for the establishment of a Blugold mascot and greater school spirit.

Junior Casey Driscoll said he knows what he's doing is bold, but doesn't care - he wants to create change.

"It's going to step on some people's toes," he said. "People are going to be upset."

Some know him as the Momentum Monday Man, the one dressed in a mythical bird costume giving high fives at the bottom of the hill.

Some know him as the student trying to create an official mascot for UW-Eau Claire.

Monday, after he and other supporters distributed about 2,000 copies of his "total thesis" around campus, some knew him as the creator of The Corps of Excellence, the union of students, for students, by students of UW-Eau Claire.

In Fall 2006, Driscoll began a student-run initiative to create a mascot for the university. Now, he said he has a few more ideas of how to better the campus, so he decided to form a union. His efforts are laced with support from some campus community members and opposition from others.

"There's always a snag that for whatever reason, bureaucracy gets in our way," Driscoll said. "People have said time and time again … that we would like a mascot. Even if we were just blue space gold that would be something, but (having a Blugold) it's like we're making something up that never existed and it's just weird."

So, he created what he calls UW-Eau Claire's official unofficial mascot Chip. E. Wa, a mythological bird superhero. The 'E' stands for 'Excellence.'

"Instead of waiting in line and waiting for someone to veto it, saying 'No, it's not going to work,' we're just going to go ahead and do it," Driscoll said.

Early next semester Driscoll said he plans to hold a petition for the mascot campaign, write a resolution and maybe put it to a campus-wide vote.

In addition, he said the union, which is completely inspired and funded by students and not recognized as an organization on campus, wants to work on replanting Eau Claire's Tree of Excellence, which appears on the university seal.

Continued...

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