Some students are trying to bring about the return of the Warriors nickname with an online petition, according to College of Arts & Sciences junior Michael Sever, who began the petition with two friends.

"A couple of my friends formed a little group to bring back the Warrior nickname," Sever said.

The group, which consists of Sever, School of Education sophomore Dan Maciejewski and College of Communication junior Danny Manson, wrote and posted the petition Nov. 14, according to Sever.

They call themselves "Students for Warriors," Manson said, which is an unofficial group. Their Web site, www.studentsforwarriors. com, went up this past weekend.

Manson said they have made up Warriors shirts, hats, buttons and stickers without the American Indian imagery. There is a "Students for Warriors Shop" on the site and a link to the petition.

Besides getting students to comment, Sever said it is important to understand that being in favor of the return of the Warriors nickname does not mean favoring the return of potentially offensive imagery.

"Reasonable people can detach the Warrior nickname from the Native American imagery," Sever said.

Manson said after attending a forum at which University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild spoke, he was left with the impression that Wild thought current students were apathetic about the name change possibility. Manson said this group proves students care.

"We're out to show that there's a lot of students in favor of the name change with respect to the Board of Trustees' resolution," Manson said.

Maciejewski agreed with Manson. He said he has gone to Marquette games since he was 3 years old, has been a Warrior for those 16 years and knows he is not alone in this feeling.

"I started out a Warrior," Maciejewski said. "Students are chanting at games 'Let's go Warriors.' That's kind of what my motivation was to start this."

In light of the administration's effort to collect students' opinions, it is very open to considering this group's petition.

"We haven't been approached by this particular group, said Brigid O'Brien, director of university communication. "As part of this process (in which the university is seeking opinions on the issue), we welcome feedback from students. When they're finished gathering their signatures, if it's something they want to bring forward to us, we'd be happy to look at it."

Within the first 24 hours of the petition's existence online, 130 students had already signed, according to Sever. Currently, 296 people have signed the petition as of Monday morning. Manson said the petition receives about 50 signatures a day.

Sever said the group trafficks the signatures to ensure only students sign the petition.

"We go through and make sure they are actually real students," Sever said. "We have had some overeager alumni who tried to sign it."

Sever said he is "very optimistic" about the feedback the petition is receiving. He said those who would like to sign the petition could go to www.petitiononline.com/musfw05/petition.html to access it.

The only requirements for signing the petition are being a current student and including one's first and last name, college and expected graduation year, Sever said.

Maciejewski said the group plans to take the petition down from the Internet the Monday or Tuesday before the Board of Trustees' Dec. 8 meeting.