INDIANOLA, Iowa — After Simpson College rid its Redmen mascot in 1992 for being politically offensive, there is still controversy – especially in the past few years – for lack of a school mascot.

The Acorn, a satirical newspaper, has looked to put an end to the debate on what the new mascot should be.

Robert Lyons, president of the Acorn, disclosed any rumors about a would-be squirrel mascot representing the school.

“Well, first off, this is not the school’s mascot,” Lyons said. “This is the Acorn’s mascot that will be showing up to school-sponsored events. Hopefully one day, the school will adopt it fully as the official mascot, but right now it is the official mascot of The Acorn.”

Though it’s news to the student body, the idea of a squirrel mascot has been over a year in the making by Lyons and graduate Nick Hermon.

“(Nick is) still around and is helping with the final steps in the process,” Lyons said. “Hermon really wanted to bring something that the students would like and find humorous.”

The Acorn had previously purchased a beta model for the squirrel suit, which they used as a test drive to see if people would enjoy the presence of a squirrel mascot.

“The beta model proved that students thought it was funny and that it was worthwhile,” Lyons said. “So we put in a request to the SGA which gave unanimous approval for funding. We’ve been working with a company out in California for about seven or eight months now, and we are hoping to have the mascot here in about a week or so.”

No photos of the new mascot have been released to the student body yet and for good reason.

“It’s a really cool mascot, but we aren’t going to release the photos yet because we want it to be a big surprise,” Lyons said. “We are hoping to have his first appearance at Homecoming.”

The mascot has been named Stormy the Squirrel to incorporate The Storm with the new appearance of The Acorn’s mascot.

“Our main purpose behind the squirrel is to give the campus a more unifying figure,” Lyons said. “Student are lacking something to rally around, especially at sporting events, so just getting a mascot will give students something to laugh at and give them another reason to attend games.”

The Homecoming game is Oct. 8, and fans can expect Stormy to be equipped with a T-shirt gun.