As Lewis-Clark State College hopes to step up to university status, school officials are facing another question of identity.

Does LC State need a mascot?

The college will put together a committee to look at the idea, President Cynthia Pemberton said in a memo to the campus community Monday.

Pemberton spelled out a few ground rules.

• LC State’s Warriors nickname isn’t going away. “A mascot will not change that.”
• The college will consider only non-human mascots.
• And in the end, LC State might still just go mascot-less. “If the committee and campus community decide a mascot is not desired, that too is a viable option.”

Applications for the mascot committee are due Oct. 17 to Kyle Schwartz, Pemberton’s executive assistant.

The bigger question, of course, is whether LC State should become the state’s fourth four-year university.

LC State officials have said the “college” label no longer fits the Lewiston-based school. They say the “university” moniker would eliminate confusion with the state’s two-year colleges, align with LC State’s peer institutions and help the school compete in a challenging higher ed marketplace.

The State Board of Education approved the name change in April, but the last word belongs to the 2026 Legislature.

“We are working through the various and numerous steps to bring the statute change forward,” Pemberton wrote Monday. “All is on track and going well.”