Following a popular vote by DKU students, faculty and staff, the DKU community chose a blue deer as the DKU mascot and DKU 开拓者, or trailblazers, as the university’s official moniker.
Voters chose between the blue deer and a red phoenix, both wearing DKU official colors of blue and green. The blue deer won in a landslide with 75.8% of the vote, according to a May 25 email sent to the DKU community by the DKU Department of Athletics. The “DKU Trailblazers” moniker won with 63% of the vote.
Nearly 1,000 people voted, with 63% of the voters being students and 38% being faculty and staff, according to the email.
The new mascot marks a new milestone as the DKU campus works to build its own distinct community. The change comes as DKU watches its second inaugural class graduate together on campus and months after the return of most international students to campus following three years of entry restrictions in China due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Mascots reflect the identity behind which students and the wider university community can unite,” DKU Athletics Director Zarko Krkeljas wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “The new mascot will be a unifying symbol for Duke Kunshan’s diverse community.”
The mascot design committee of students, faculty and staff initially began working on designs in 2019 but was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Krkeljas. With the reunion of a DKU student body during the spring semester, the university has resumed community-building events and is looking forward to the opening of the Phase II Sports Complex, inspiring the selection of an official school mascot.
This mascot is not the university’s first. The blue deer will replace the current mascot, a “friendly AI robot” announced at DKU’s inaugural student orientation in 2018.
Krkeljas explained that the AI robot mascot was temporarily designed by DKU staff to welcome the inaugural Class of 2022, while the university hoped to implement students’ thoughts for a permanent mascot. Unlike the Blue Devils, which are based on a French Alpine battalion in World War I, the blue deer was created by the mascot design committee due to the deer’s significance in Kunshan, symbolizing longevity and good fortune in traditional Chinese culture.
According to DKU junior Liam Powell, the blue deer garnered loud cheers from the mostly-student audience during the announcement of the final selection at the Class of ‘23 Graduation Concert in May. Meanwhile, the phoenix received muted reactions.
The DKU Office of Student Affairs and the Department of Athletics announced during the live reveal that the deer was intended to symbolize strength and value for the broader student body, and the phoenix was meant to represent rising above adversity. Both had been common themes in school messaging to students throughout three years of remote learning, online classes and a fractured student body.
The university now begins the process of adopting the new nickname and mascot, which have yet to appear on DKU merchandise or athletic jerseys.
“I think forming an iconic, unique mascot and team name is really difficult for such a new school,” Powell wrote. “Regardless, I’m sure the mascot [will] eventually catch on as the school rebuilds its community.”
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