The truth about mascot MUCaw: manbird? womanbird? neither?

Despite rumors on campus, Mount Union’s ever-popular purple mascot MUCaw is genderless.

The mascot’s name originated from the creative mind of communication department chair Harry Paidas, using a play on words. The mascot itself much resembles a macaw. Paidas used the name of the type of bird to create Mount Union’s very own MUCaw the purple macaw.

When the name was created Paidas made it a point to keep MUCaw genderless. The first performer to be MUCaw insisted that Paidas keep the mascot as such. This ensured that anyone, male or female, could be the mascot performer.

Paidas clearly refers to the mascot using “it” as a pronoun rather than “he” or “she”. It is important to make note of this when making reference to MUCaw.

The rumor that MUCaw stands for “Mount Union College Always Wins” is also incorrect. While it may fit very well as an acronym, the mascot was not originally created to stand for any slogan.

Fifteen years ago MUCaw replaced a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater that was in fact the Mount Union mascot at one time. Many students ask what a bird has to do with being a purple raider. The idea of using a bird came from the Pittsburg Pirates, who use a parrot that sits on a pirate’s shoulder. A raider is very similar to a pirate, therefore it seemed appropriate to use a bird. The goal was to also use a mascot that would appeal to children and a fuzzy, purple, genderless bird does just that.
 

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