Starting in fall 2008, Iowa State will integrate its new athletics identity and say goodbye to the swirling Cy logo. Four ISU alumni recently got together to try to save the old logo by starting an online petition at www.savecy.com.

“We have signatures from all 50 states. We got one this morning from one of our service members who is in Iraq right now, saying ‘I love Cy, he represents everything Iowa State stands for, why are we going to a new logo?,'” said Thomas Wacha, co-operator of SaveCy.com.

As of Monday night, there were more than 3,600 signatures on the petition, ranging from students to alumni.

The athletics department would not make any further comments on the new identity change but in a press release, it said “Cy remains our mascot and that will not change. There is a tremendous pride and support for Cy, which is very important to the alumni and fan base of Iowa State. Cy will continue to be our school’s goodwill ambassador. Many people wrote to us about Cy’s recent victory in an online mascot contest. Although the popularity is a fact, a mascot has a different role and purpose than a logo or identity mark.”

Wacha doesn’t want to see Cy’s role diminish to just an entertainer on the sidelines, like most other mascots.

“I would argue that he is going away, because he’s not going to be part of the identity, he’s not going to be what people associate with Cyclone athletics. Make no mistake, unless the athletic department changes their mind based on what we’re trying to do, everywhere you see Cy now, you will see ‘I-State,'” Wacha said.

The new logo will feature a capital “I” with “State” superimposed over it.

According to the athletics department, 72 percent of BCS schools have a letter or multiple letters on their helmet, and only 6 percent have their mascot on their helmet.

“It’s so unique. Why do we want to be like everybody else? We have a distinct, well-recognized, established mark, and that’s why it’s so popular,” Wacha said.

According to the athletics department press release, “Outside the state of Iowa, there is a low rate of recognition for the current icon. Our coaches, who recruit nationally, say the mark is not recognizable to recruits outside of our region. The school colors (notably gold) are not emphasized; there is confusion about the cardinal inside a cyclone. The cyclone is hard to see under the word mark, and the logo’s intricate detail makes it hard to read in smaller applications (such as a television graphic or shirt emblem).”

Another reason the athletics department decided to go with a new identity was to go back to its roots of cardinal and gold and get rid of the navy blue and white in the logo.

“We’re not opposed to the uniform changes at all, we like their new uniforms. It’s really just keeping Cy on the helmets and keeping Cy as the athletic identity,” said Andrew Pospisal, co-operator of SaveCy.com.

Pospisal was upset that the inclusion of Cy wasn’t one of the three options for the new helmet logo.

“If they [athletics department] do what we ask, and that is to put it to a vote, it won’t be us that spoke out, it won’t be them listening to us, it will be them listening to all of Cyclone Nation,” said Ben Hall, co-operator of SaveCy.com.

In this week’s Iowa State Daily poll, 58 percent of the 894 who voted want to keep Cy in the logo on the helmet.