By Daniella Lopez and Ilyas Hussein
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) is reaching the final stages of its rebranding process as the school announced a shortlist of names for the university’s new mascot on Monday.
Three mascot names—Frankie, Sky and Talon—made the shortlist. TMU will hold a voting period for the renaming of the mascot from Aug. 28 to Sept. 5, 2023, where community members can vote for one of the names on the list. The name with the most votes will be given to the new mascot.
In August 2022, TMU announced the university’s sports teams would be called the Bold and the new mascot would be a falcon as The Eyeopener previously reported.
“Each name aligns with the community-informed parameters established in the earlier rounds of community engagement, is unique in the sector and suits a falcon mascot,” reads a statement shared on the university’s website on Monday.
Community members were able to share their naming ideas for the new falcon mascot from March 22 to 31. Over 1200 names were submitted via the survey available online.
As part of the Standing Strong (Mash Koh Wee Kah Pooh Win) Task Force initiatives accepted by the university in August 2021, reconsidering the former Eggy mascot was a recommendation.
The university began the process of renaming the athletic teams and mascot in May 2022 where they received over 2,000 survey responses, emails and social media contributions.
On June 16, 2022, TMU announced the team’s previous name, Rams, did not meet the parameters for the renaming process and thus the former team name was not an option moving forward.
The school released a shortlist of sports team names and mascot ideas in July 2022. Bold was one of three shortlisted names while the falcon was not on the initial mascot shortlist.
The university has announced that the mascot will debut on September 22 during the TMU Bold men’s hockey homecoming game against the McGill Redbirds.
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