On Homecoming Weekend students may hear two official fight songs instead of just one.
At its meeting tonight, the Undergraduate Student Government discussed moving to support changing “Ay Ziggy Zoomba” from the unofficial fight song to an official fight song in two weeks. USG members will vote to approve a resolution instating “Ay Ziggy Zoomba” as a fight song at its next meeting, Sept. 9.
“USG is the student voice and we are committed to the rich cultural history here at BG,” said Off-Campus Senator Matt Mazur, who brought the resolution to USG. “It is integrated into the culture, frequently performed to enthuse the crowd for spirit.”
However, Mazur wants to make it clear USG doesn’t want “Ay Ziggy” to replace the current fight song, “Forward Falcons,” but rather have them both work side by side.
“We acknowledge that it is a delicate exchange to go from old to new traditions,” Mazur said during the meeting. “[We will] let ‘Ay Ziggy Zoomba’ serve alongside ‘Forward Falcons.’”
Alex Solis, USG president, can remember three different times where the song was requested to be played instead of “Forward Falcons.”
“It would be well deserved,” he said.
Nic Puccio, Student Affairs chair, was in support of the resolution during the meeting.
“It’s not going to be degrading for ‘Forward Falcons,’” Puccio said to the senate. “I like the thought of getting a second fight song. We don’t have a lot of school traditions, so let’s make more.”
Jeff Devereaux, Academic Affairs chair, also showed support for the resolution during the meeting.
“‘Ay Ziggy’ is intact with the history of the University,” Devereaux said. “It has been more than just a fight song, there are now Ziggy Points this year, we have programs and events named after this song.”
Mazur started talking about the change this summer.
“It started around July, we passed the word around and it gained momentum,” he said. “It’s so common to hear, if we aren’t telling people about the ‘Forward Falcon’ being our offical song, people automatically think ‘Ay Ziggy’ is.”
Mazur plans to work with Solis and David Neely, USG vice-president, to help move the resolution forward.
“I’m new so I’m not sure how it all works but I’m sure Neely and Solis will help make it official,” Mazur said. “We are hoping to make this happen and unveil the news at homecoming.”
Solis is excited about the possibility.
“It was a well written piece of legislation,” Solis said. “We don’t want to ignore the official fight song, but rather have them both official.”
Solis was also pleased with how the first meeting ran for USG.
“It was great to be back,” he said. “David and I didn’t know what to expect coming back. It was great to have such an active senate. We are starting to gear toward initiatives for the next meeting and to establish our goals, see what’s expected and what we do.”
The other resolution that came up was for USG to officially support the Not In Our Town campaign.
Eric Juzkiw, Internal Affairs chair, presented the resolution.
“It’s a grassroots movement with a mission to support the stop of hate and its spread,” Juzkiw said during the meeting. “USG has historically supported diversity so we need to resolve to fomally support Not In Our Town in the BG community and University.”
USG will vote on both the resolutions at its next meeting.
