Written by Jacob Ober
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Founded in 1966, the University of Wisconsin-Rock County (now a satellite campus of UW-Whitewater) originally adopted the “Rebels” as the school mascot. In 1967, controversy erupted over a proposal to add the Confederate Flag as a symbol for the university. This issue began in May 1967, when the student senate voted in favor of adopting the flag and appropriating funding to purchase it.[1] An unnamed student proposed this on the basis that it would “boost morale and spirit” amongst students, as the official mascot of UW-Rock County was the rebel, and the Confederate Battle Flag represented the “rebellion” side of the American Civil War from 1861-65.[2]
Some students, such as an anonymous student who wrote to the UW-Rock County publication The Matrix, felt that the Confederate Flag was a “racist symbol” and proposing to adopt it as a school symbol was an “immature act.”[4] Others wrote that they could “see nothing wrong” with using the Confederate Flag as a school symbol, but nonetheless agreed that if a majority of students took offense to it, then it was their right to remove it as a school symbol.[5] By January 1968, the proposal was officially dismissed by the student senate.[6]
Despite dismissing the proposal to incorporate the Confederate Flag as a symbol, the school continued to refer to itself as the Rebels until the early 1980s. Throughout the 15 or so years UW–Rock was known as the Rebels, the school never introduced a formal logo for the mascot. In 1982, Kurt Eisemann, a counselor at the Skills Development Center on campus, suggested changing the mascot from the Rebels to the Unicorns, as some teams were already referring to themselves as the Unicorns rather than the Rebels.[7] UW – Rock County eventually adopted the Unicorns as the mascot, which created further debate amongst the student body about the mascot and its representation, before becoming the Rattlers as we know them today.
[1] Gary Loofboro, “Do Flags Make the Bigot?,” The Matrix, May 25, 1967.
[2] “Confederate Flag History Reviewed,” The Matrix, October 12, 1967.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Gary Loofboro, “Do Flags Make the Bigot?,” The Matrix, May 25, 1967.
[6] “Confederate Flag Again in Question,” The Matrix, January 4, 1968.
[7] Pam Chalmers, “Unicorns vs. Rebels,” The Matrix, December 13, 1983.
[8] UW Rock County Unicorn, University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, Rock County, https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/LUDDJQ7UPOMD484.