A professor at the University of Iowa thinks that the school mascot, Herky the Hawk, has an 'angry' facial expression and is calling for the department of athletics to change it.

Resmiye Oral, a clinical professor of pediatrics at UI, sent an email to athletic department officials about the mascot on Tuesday morning.

'I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages,' Oral, wrote in the email, the Press-Citizen reported.

'And our campus community is doing a great job in that regard when it comes to words.

'However, Herky's angry, to say the least, faces conveying an invitation to aggressivity and even violence are not compatible with the verbal messages that we try to convey to and instill in our students and campus community.'

Angry?: A professor at the University of Iowa thinks that the school mascot, Herky the Hawk (above), has an 'angry' facial expression and is calling for the Department of Athletics to change it

Resmiye Oral, a clinical professor of pediatrics at UI, believes that 'Herky's angry faces (convey) an invitation to aggressivity (sic) and even violence'

Oral told the newspaper that she has been worried about this for 'some time with the lack of emotional variety displayed in the images of the university's long-standing mascot — specifically the Fighting Herky, the 'Old School' Flying Herky and the Tigerhawk logo developed by retired Hawkeye coach Hayden Fry.'

She wants to bring diversity to how Herky feels and doesn't want to eliminate the 'ambitious, competitive, go-getter Herky.'

Oral also included a message to other members of the school's faculty Senate. She currently serves as a representative from the UI Carver College of Medicine.

Her message to the faculty senate is in response to fliers that were posted on campus to welcome new students, but featured images of Herky.

Resmiye Oral (above), is a clinical professor of pediatrics at UI. She wants the school to change the mascot's facial expression

'I would like to bring to the Faculty Senate's attention that the attached Herky images are totally against the nonviolent, all accepting, nondiscriminatory messages we are trying to convey through campus,' Oral wrote in the email to her fellow senate members, the newspaper reported.

She added that she thinks the images of Herky 'definitely have a place within the highly competitive nature of college athletics,' however, she feels that she different areas of the university should have some other images showing different facial expressions of nonaggression.

'As we strive to tackle depression, suicide, violence, and behavioral challenges and help our students succeed, I plead with you to allow Herky to be like one of us, sometimes sad, sometimes happy, sometimes angry, sometimes concentrated,' Oral wrote.

In response to Oral, Thomas Vaughn, an associate professor of public health and president of the UI Faculty Senate said: 'At this time, the committee is not focused specifically on how Herky is depicted.'

Officials with the athletic department say they are looking into some of the concerns she raised, but note that her request is complicated.

'UI athletic department officials are aware of this request and are in the process of formulating a response in regard to the Herky images,' Steve Roe, the department's director of communications, said via email Tuesday to the Press-Citizen.

Dale Arens, director of UI's trademark licensing program, explained that if the university needs to keep that brand and logo unchanged if it wants to maintain the value of the brand and logo.

'McDonald's doesn't change the angle on its golden arches just because it puts out a new product,' Arens said.

For more than 60 years, Herky has been used as a symbol at the university. In 1948, the cartoon image was created by Richard Spencer, who was a journalism instructor at UI.