The Banana Slug, a bright yellow, slimy, shell-less mollusk found in the campus’s redwood forest, has been the official mascot of UC Santa Cruz for 25 years. The Santa Cruz City Council declared September 27, 2011, the official “Day of the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug”. The slug mascot is the most recognizable image associated with UC Santa Cruz, and its role has been filled over the years by various students, faculty, and staff.
The Banana Slug was officially named UCSC’s mascot in 1986, and the Santa Cruz City Council unanimously voted to approve a resolution making September 27, 2011 the official day of the UC Santa Cruz. The campus’s unique character is reflected in its students’ bold choice to elect the infamous Banana Slug as its mascot.
For many years, the Banana Slug served as the unofficial mascot for the University of California at Santa Cruz campus because it represented many of the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1986, students at UC Santa Cruz voted to make the school’s official mascot the Banana Slug, but the chancellor refused to honor the result.
The Banana Slug has slimy roots on the Redwood forest floor dating back to 1986, and its determination and bright personality make it hard to ignore. As UC Santa Cruz assumed its role as a budding university, the Banana Slug continues to be a symbol of the campus’s unique character and commitment to its students.
📹 Is UCSC (UC Santa Cruz) a bad school?
I forgot to mention this in the video but this was inspired by Carolyn Chan. She’s made a similar video on this in the past and if you …
📹 Welcome home, Banana Slugs!
Fall quarter is here, and Sammy and friends are rolling out the welcome mat! We’re excited for another amazing year of adventure, …
My son is graduating with a BS and a BA from UC Santa Cruz. It offered the right option of majors, undergrad research, and personal guidance from faculty. He was accepted at Princeton for grad school, but opted to go to Berkeley instead. I am very glad he went to Santa Cruz, and depending on your desired major, would not discount it based on “reputation.”
I’m a UC Santa Cruz Alum – Class of 1995. Since then I’ve been an IT administrator here at UCSC since 1999. I very much appreciate the comments, thoughts, an opinions you’ve shared with us in this article. A lot of what you say is 100% true. While it is not a Division 1 school, in a more urban setting like UCB or UCLA, there are many aspects of this college that have always made it both unique and wonderful. I’ve had no regrets being an active member of the UCSC community for the last 33 years. I’ve loved every minute of it! I grew up in the San Francisco/Bay Area and at the time I graduated from high school in 1991, I was accepted to UCSC, UC Berkeley, and UC Santa Barbara. I chose UCSC predominantly for its environment and because of my intended major (Anthropology & Linquistics).
Short answer is no. It is a top notch research and liberal arts university but not at the level of a UCLA or UC Berkeley or UCSD or UC Santa Barbara. Also, UCSC is what you make of it. Also, UCSC admission standards are difficult but achievable if anyone’s put in the work in high school or community college. My cousin is going to UCSC this fall for his freshman year and is majoring in Mathematics. He wants to become a math teacher (preferably for high school).
I am a community college student and I work for the USDA. My mentor said UCSC is becoming a power house for STEM majors. There must be a reason why my 60 year old mentor who came from the midwest saying this. Just push through the sterotypes because these same people failed to realize how much this school changed academically. Good luck with your applications❤ you got this
I’m sorry to hear that UC Santa Cruz has slipped in the rankings. When I was a student there UC Santa Cruz students had the highest entrance exam scores of all the UCs besides UCLA and Berkeley. Acceptance of Santa Cruz grads into graduate school was the highest of any of the UCs, bar none. The down side was it also had the highest drop out rate, but I wasn’t going to let that statistic bother me so long as I hung in and graduated. Finally, it had a world class department in linguistics – my intended major. Sadly, people did trivialize the no grades/narrative evaluation system. I think it’s a shame they did away with it because written evaluations revealed much more information than a letter grade ever could. But class sizes were smaller then and perhaps that attention to detail couldn’t be sustained. Besides its idyllic setting, UC Santa Cruz was a truly elite university, in the best possible way, built on the Oxford/Cambridge college model. What do you think has most damaged Santa Cruz’s reputation? How might it be restored?
Im in UCSC rn, prestige aside, the admin/provost hates us, we’re understaffed, classes are never offered often enough, with class sizes that are too big for professors to handle, and all the programs/departments are degenerating 😂 The housing issue is also horrible. Maybe, I’m a doomer, but I wouldn’t recommend going here to anyone else at the moment.