Swinburne University in Melbourne has come under fire with a mascot competition seeing student backlash. The University held a competition in which students can submit new designs for a university mascot, with the winning design becoming the new mascot ( plus a $5000 prize). However, when the winning design was proven to have been created by AI, things quickly turned sour.
Back in September, Swinburne announced that its current mascot, Razor the Razorback, had finally graduated from the school after many years. That’s when the competition to find Razors replacement begun. The winning design, which as of yet has no name, was inspired by the iconic Australian bird the Cockatoo.
Former Mascot, Razor the Razorback (left) and unnamed new cockatoo inspired mascot (right)
“This mascot represents flight, intelligence and social connection… These elements reflect the energy of our campuses and the engaged, innovative and tech-infused future we’re building together.” – Swinburne University statement on social media
The designers include a current Bachelor of Design student, Bachelor of Design Alum, and a Swinburne Student Association staff member. They would share the $5000 prize. However, people were quick to notice some stranger inconsistencies in the proposed design which included an odd numbers of fingers, their right hand has five fingers where their left only four. The design received almost immediate backlash which saw students reply with:
“As a Swinburne student studying animation I am absolutely devastated to see that the new mascot is AI. Not only does this increase my personal fears and community fears about job security. It also devalues the hard work of artists and creatives,”
“We don’t want offbrand AI Sonic! If you have to change the mascot please choose one actually created by a student, not AI,”
“The university quite literally has hundreds, maybe thousands of art students, why use AI”
Swinburne offered a response to students after seeing all the backlash online. Here’s what they said:
“Great to see that you’re all so passionate about our new mascot – that’s exactly why we ran a competition open to all staff, students and alumni. The design is more than just the render posted here and we’re excited to show you all the amazing, hand-drawn and human-centred work that went into this concept that’s still to come! We’re proud of the winning design and the collaboration it represents among our passionate and talented students, alum and staff. Just a reminder to be respectful of the designers. Swinburne encourages the responsible and appropriate use of AI in everything we do, and this competition was no different.” – Swinburne University
Many students found this response not good enough, feeling that this response didn’t reflect the standard that Swinburne University usually holds itself too. Students even created a petition calling for the competition to be redone with open submissions, feedback and a public vote. The petition reads:
“We are disappointed that a recent mascot competition resulted in an AI-generated design being chosen without meaningful student input, consultation, or a democratic process. Students were promised a competition, but were ultimately sidelined in a decision that represents all of us,… A university mascot is not just branding. It reflects campus identity, community, and belonging. It should come from student creativity and be chosen by students, not imposed without consultation.”
As of right now it appears Swinburne will be moving ahead with the current mascot design but promising that students will be involved in other decisions such as naming the mascot.
