BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – APRIL 20, 2012- Students, faculty, staff and alumni stood in front of their peers and voiced their opinion at The University of Texas at Brownsville’s Mascot Open Forum Friday, April 20 at the Student Union Veranda.

The forum was a chance for students to express their views on which mascot finalist should be selected to become UTB’s new official mascot. Supporters carried signs, passed out flyers and spoke out in support of their favorite.

The five finalists for the new mascot are the ocelot, the jaguarundi, the bull shark, the parrot and the vaqueros. The final round of student voting will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, April 23 and end at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 25 on Blackboard in conjunction with the elections for the Bougainvillea Ball king and queen.

“The mascot forum was a valuable activity to have prior to the final vote next week,” said Mari Fuentes-Martin, Associate Vice President and Dean of Students in the Division of Student Affairs and a member of the Mascot Search Committee, the committee in charge of overseeing the search for the new UTB mascot. “We heard from the students and alumni in support of their favorite mascot, and some arguments were so compelling, I’m still not sure that I support my original choice.”

The results of the community outreach polling, which took place earlier this week across several school districts in the surrounding counties and the community at large, were revealed during the Mascot Open Forum. The polls were meant to gauge public opinion and support for the mascot finalists.

The ocelot swept each demographic polled, according to the published SurveyMonkey results. In the alumni poll, where 1,036 people responded, the ocelot won with 48.8 percent voting for it. Sixty-one school children were polled with 36.1 percent of the votes going toward the ocelot; bull sharks were close behind with 34.4 percent of the vote. Finally, among the general community who participated in the poll, the ocelot was also the most popular mascot with 49 percent of the vote among 161 individuals.

Even children from the Raul J. Guerra Early Childhood Development Center were given the opportunity to preview the new mascots. At an impromptu sit-in, they were provided an explanation about each mascot and then chose which mascot they favored. The students then posed for photos next to the image of their favored mascot.

The university community is encouraged to campaign for their favorite mascot; most of the campaigning is happening online at the UTB Facebook or on Twitter @UTBrownsville using #UTBmascot.

As part of this community outreach, the Office of Student Life is currently hosting a Mascot Door Decorating Contest that began on Wednesday, April 11 and will end Wednesday, April 25. All campus departments and registered student organizations are encouraged to participate by decorating their door in the theme of the preferred mascot of their choice.

The community will be able to vote for their favorite door via the official UTB Facebook page. The winner will be decided by whichever door photo has the most number of likes. The winner will receive a pizza party for their department for up to 10 people.

The Mascot Search Committee is comprised of representatives from several UTB departments and includes members of the Division of Student Affairs, the Office of Student Life, staff, students and alumni.

The official Mascot Search webpage on the UTB website updates regularly with news regarding the search for the new mascot.

The new mascot will be revealed during the fall semester during UTB’s Welcome Week.

For more information, visit utb.edu/mascot or contact the Mascot Search Committee at mascot@utb.edu.

For more information on the Mascot Door Decorating Contest or to register, contact Cristina Rivera at 956-882-5111 or cristina.rivera@utb.edu.