As a result of lower staff recruitment numbers last semester for Residential Life and an excess in marketing budget, a mysterious figure appeared last Tuesday, Feb. 17.
Marshmallow Man, a puffy-suited mascot, debuted by making surprise appearances in various locations around campus. Shortly after his physical appearance, Mellow Man showed up with Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Mellow Man began as an inside joke at a staff meeting.
“I think a couple of years ago [Rosh Thomas, a community hall director in Harper Wyckoff] made this thing during a meeting,” resident advisor (RA) and recruitment committee member Aditya Sreekumar said. “Jay Mehta, who’s the director in Williams is like, ‘Yo Rosh, I think we should use this character.’ It just started spit-balling from there.”
What Sreekumar said began as a joke became a way to gather interest in ResLife on campus. The identity of Mellow Man and his affiliation was kept a secret until the recruitment event Saturday in the Garrett Multicultural Center. Officially, Mellow Man is the mascot for ResLife, though it is unsure whether he will be used as a one-time mascot or for further recruitment efforts.
The new mascot is also a way to spread information about ResLife, according to Sreekumar.
“There’s always that misconception that RAs are like the police, and they always have that kind of thing about them, but they don’t really tend to see the fun side of staff as much,” Sreekumar said. “[Also], we didn’t really do much with recruitment last semester.”
After a recruiting event at Meinen Field fell through last semester, their main source of recruitment was from information sessions, according to Sreekumar.
Mellow Man is now being used to garner buzz about ResLife and to spark student interest.
“[I became an RA] definitely to be a resource,” Sreekumar said. “It’s a leadership opportunity: it develops responsibility, [and] it’s helped me with time management. Overall, it takes you out of your comfort zone because of the different things you see on a day-to-day basis.”
Students interested in becoming an RA can complete the application on the ResLife webpage by March 6.
