Dakota State welcomes new mascot
August 26, 2021
Students choose the name ‘General Cyber’
The Dakota State Trojans are beginning the academic year with a new mascot, named General Cyber, or General Cy. He was introduced to the university and Madison communities at events this week.
For more than 90 years, the Trojan mascot has cheered on the DSU athletics teams and rallied for all campus efforts. The campaign to bring in a new mascot began after the university rebranded in 2019. Students were asked to vote on a name for the new character, and out of four options and a number of write-in suggestions, General Cyber won with 225 votes.
General Cyber will represent all facets of DSU, from its technology-centric programs to its athletics teams, and its distinctive and dynamic students, employees, and alumni. While he is rising to take DSU into the future with all things cyber, he also recognizes DSU’s past, identifying with another General in school history, the third president, General W.H.H. Beadle.
Also, General Cyber’s birthday of March 5, 1928, is in reference to the time when the Trojan mascot for Dakota State was born. In the early days, campus athletic teams had been called the “Warriors” or “Teachers,” but in 1928, student Ray Kellogg ’31 won a contest when he proposed the name “Trojans” for the school mascot. March 5 is the day the university was created in 1881.
Look for General Cyber at university and community events in the future, and on DSU’s social media.