Maybe now Phil is the mascot, but I was in college a long, long, long time ago. Right before Abraham Lincoln and I went to law school together.
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The chancellor at the time the student body voted for the banana slug as mascot was not happy. He wanted the (slightly more dignified, by his lights) sea lion. Sea lions in Monterey Bay, sure. But on campus? Definitely banana slugs among the redwoods after it rains. It makes for fun merch, and is neither here nor there when it comes to sports with a Division III and intramural campus. (Honestly, UC Berkeley may be home to the Cal Bears, but most Cal stuff does not feature the mascot.)
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Despite living in SFBA for 10 years decades ago, I never did understand why UC Berkeley is called âBerkeleyâ in every context except college athletics, when it is called âCal.â I think I missed a lot of regional subtleties.
As a local native, I can say itâs not just athletics, the university is often referred to as Cal or Cal Berkeley.
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Trick question ?
By all accounts, President Lincoln âreadâ law. No law school for him ?
Nah. Just Gilberts.
And to avoid the plague at FLL for a few years there.
Both my parents went to Cal, as did both my in-laws. I grew up calling it âCalâ, but when I called it that to Mrs. ricepadâs parents, her father said, âWho?â I snarkily said, âCal Worthington.â My MIL told her husband I was only kidding, and then condescendingly said to me, " We call it âUC Berkeleyâ." Coincidentally, both my mom and MIL babysat for the same professor at different times.
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Correct.
I sacrificed historical accuracy for the sake of humor.
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I donât like it. I still remember we vote for the mascot and I always believe Davis should be represent by a cow.
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âReadâ is British terminology. I remember my British math teacher in high school talking about âreading mathematicsâ in university, which I always thought was strange.
Itâs the term here that is used to describe when someone apprentices with a law firm instead of going to law school to learn law.
@ML8000 @CaitlinM A few years ago, a friend of mine in Santa Cruz was going through a health crisis. Without knowing that banana slugs are UC-Santa Cruzâs mascot, my almost 7-year-old wanted to send a banana slug-themed get-well card (we had just returned from holiday in British Columbia where they abound). My friend didnât make it but the banana slug cheered him up immensely.
Go Slugs, indeed!
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Hook em horns! (or so I am told)
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I am truly shocked by the lack of Binghamton merchandise.
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I rememember the Banana Slug String Band. We had banana slugs all over the East Bay Hils when I was growing up. Mother would lay pans of beer out for them to deter their overnight feasts on the tender vegetables. Then the raccoons got into the slug slaughter. 
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Iâm with you, @Chemicalkinetics. I have a pair of cow print shorts that I wore so much theyâre mostly just tatters but I refuse to toss, and at this very moment Iâm drinking from a cow mug. I had no say in the whole mascot thing, considering I never joined the alumni association. I do think Gunrock is a cool name, but a cow is a more fitting mascot. Why couldnât it have been âGunrock the Guernseyâ?
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As I understand it, Cal is the local nickname and often associated with sports and used by newspapers back in the day, shortened from âCaliforniaâ, which is the old school state designation (like Michigan, Nebraska, etc.) as the original University of California school. Think typewriters and typesetters using three letters vs. ten. In any case Cal stuck locally.
Officially it is known as University of California, Berkeley. (comma included) You can see why it gets a nickname with thirty letters and how many syllables. Also known as UC Berkeley and often used within the UC systemâŚor UCB because all those letters.
To add weirdness itâs also known simply as Berkeley in popular culture, the city, the school, and the state of mind, stemming from the 60s, Free Speech, Hippies, yada, yada.
The athlete department has grappled with the name stuff and finally settled on Cal Berkeley because many think itâs two different schools, so combine the two, but still confusing. The law school also changed from Boalt Hall to Berkeley LawâŚbecause who or where is Boalt? (Itâs a who and long gone.)
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