Upon returning to Bowdoin from my semester abroad, (and yes, I did expand my horizons through unique experiences with cultures vastly different from my own), I was disappointed to see that our school's athletic logo had been altered. The fearsome snarling polar bear head in profile was no more. Instead we now have a far tamer, and far lamer, straight-on shot of what I have to assume is a polar bear but more closely resembles a bear of the "teddy" variety. I feel that this alteration is a gross misrepresentation of both Bowdoin College athletics and polar bears. To understand the true essence of this crime, we must first understand the very nature of the polar bear and its significance to Bowdoin Athletics.
The choice of our school's mascot stems from Robert E. Peary's (Class of 1877) Arctic expedition in 1909. In said expedition, Peary encountered many strange creatures, including musk oxen, narwhals, and killer whales. Any one of these beasts would have been perfectly suitable mascots for Peary's alma mater. The musk ox is basically an 800-pound, ass-kicking goat that is so old it used to roll with the wooly mammoth and saber-toothed tiger in the Pleistocene Era. The narwhal is essentially a swimming unicorn with one huge tusk that protrudes from its head. "Scientists" are not sure what the tusk is used for, but I am. It is clearly designed for epic underwater jousting sessions and/or sword fights. I don't think I really have to explain how awesome the killer whale is. Its name paints the picture pretty accurately. Considering their respective awesomeness, why did Peary not choose any of these Arctic warriors for Bowdoin's mascot?
I'll tell you why. Because Peary knew that Bowdoin's mascot needed to be an animal that outmatched all of its arctic contemporaries in aggression and ferocity. Bowdoin's mascot would have to be the overlord of the Arctic, the Chuck Norris of the North, the LeBron James of seal consumption: the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus).
The polar bear is the largest land predator in the world, making it officially cooler than both lions and tigers. The polar bear's diet consists almost entirely of seals, making it "the most carnivorous bear in the world." To paint a clear picture of just how ferocious the polar bear is, I must quote a highly respected scientific journal called Wikipedia. This journal tells us that after the bear yanks a seal out of the frigid arctic water, "the polar bear kills the seal by biting its head and crushing its skull." Yeah.
This sheer power of the polar bear was central to its selection as our mascot. Donald B. MacMillan (Class of 1898), a member of Peary's Arctic expedition, played a hand in this decision. Shortly after the mascot had become official, MacMillan presented the school with a stuffed polar bear and said of the bear, "May his spirit be the guardian not just of Bowdoin athletics, but of every Bowdoin student." A worthy guardian indeed, it makes sense that the traditional depictions of our mascot were intimidating. The classic Bowdoin polar bear logo is a profile head with a snarling face and teeth everywhere. This image worked to effectively send a message of power and dominance.
The new logo is devoid of these qualities. It basically consists of a circle with a straight-on polar bear head in the middle. The bear's face is entirely expressionless without even a hint of ferocity. No teeth are shown; no skull-crushing abilities are indicated. This is a mascot who would not make much of a "guardian" at all. I read about polar bears for close to 15 minutes on Wikipedia, and their colorful descriptions of the animal were fully contrary to this new logo. Since Wikipedia's content is invariably factual, I must assume that they are right and that our new logo is a complete misrepresentation of the species. If any self-respecting polar bear saw this image, I think he or she would be highly offended.
More important, the logo is a misrepresentation of Bowdoin athletics. Each Bowdoin athlete is trained to aggressively pursue victory and they should be branded with a polar bear that suggests this attitude. Our new polar bear appears more likely to settle for a tie or maybe even opt to forfeit if the competition became too heated. This is a face devoid of the confidence and assertiveness necessary for athletic success.
Peary and MacMillan picked the polar bear because of its ferocity, power, and intimidation. The athletic logo should, in turn, reflect these qualities. Traditionally, we had it right. We wore a polar bear which fully reflected both the dominance of the U. maritimus population and the dominance of Bowdoin athletes. The new logo is a gross injustice to both of these groups.
I don't know who is responsible for this decision, but I do know this: "Hungry polar bears are extremely unpredictable and are known to kill and sometimes eat humans." I must assume that whoever made this decision was indeed a human. This human, whoever he is, has seriously offended the polar bear population. My advice to him is that he watch his back, because "polar bears are stealth hunters and the victim is often unaware of the bear's presence until the attack is already underway." If Wikipedia is as reliable as I think it is, you might be in trouble.
Lenny Pierce is a member of the Class of 2010.