Well the Gamma chapter just found out in September. As you may or may not now Gamma was re-chartered in the early 90's. When the new charter class got together and was learning about the history and traditions of Sigma Alpha, much like our MC's do
And they were really puzzeled as to why a professional womens organization would have a baby bull (male) as a mascot. In their correspondance with the national board (remeber no e-mail, so snail mail was used) Much like the members of Gamma today the charter sisters were "fiesty" and decided on a mascot before nationals could provide an answer. They chose the duck.
As to why, we arn't sure how it was exactly decided. But the Red Cedar River does flow through Campus and it does cross right by Farm Lane Rd and the rock which is center of campus. So as to our current guess it has to do with the geographics of campus.
But we love our duck
We pass the duck at each sisterhood meeting and honestly I look forward to those meetings more than anything
As social chair I also spent a portion of my budget this semester to send 200 plastic ducks to national convention. The bottoms were labeled Gamma Chapter and MSU, which a few of us did one Friday night, so if you went to convention this year you should have a little bit of the Gamma chapter with you
Oh and I week starts Monday, a lot of the bigs get their little duck shaped boards instead of traditional paddles. It's kind of tradition in my family
Most bigs also buy our little her first yellow duck
and give her first set of letters to wear! This year we sewed pillows for the, and some bigs also made tote bags instead of buying gift bags.
I hope that clears up the duck thing and also why gamma is speacial (at least to me) I will also extend an invitation to stop by the house if any of you are ever in the MSU area
PM me with your e-mail if you would like to see a pic of our house