Why is Stanfords nickname the Cardinal?
The short answer is because the 1972 Trustees and president decided that would be the team’s nickname. For many years, the teams had gone by the nickname “Indians.” In 1972, North American indigenous people particularly those in the San Francisco Bay Area were protesting their treatment by the majority culture. Some, but not all of these indigenous people felt that that nicknaming athletic teams “Indians” was demeaning. One such person led a successful campaign to remove the “Indian” as Stanford’s mascot. It should be noted that this graduate student received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley. After the trustees agreed to change the athletic moniker, the student body held an election to decide on a new name. The name that won was “Robber Barons,” however, then president Donald Kennedy said he felt that name was disrespectful to the University’s founder, railroad magnate Leland Stanford. Other names that garnered votes in the election included Sequoi
