Why is the UChicago mascot a Phoenix? Not that phoenixes aren't absolutely brilliant and lovely (because they, indeed, are), but why is it not, say, an owl? These two birds obviously don't have any relevance to anything magical or otherwise....obviously...
THIS IS A REALLY GREAT QUESTION. One possibility: before our current Rockefeller-sponsored University of Chicago, there was Old University of Chicago, which was a Baptist university established by Stephen A. Douglas in the 1850s that went bankrupt and burned to the ground. It was, to be fair, a very different place than our current institution (which was founded in 1890 as a non-denominational institution) but it existed nonetheless. It’s possible that the mascot is some awesome symbol of being reborn from the ashes of our first incarnation; it is noted officially that the mascot is also meant to pay homage to the rebirth of the city of Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire.
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