Those wanting to pen the new University of Kansas fight song will need to wait to submit ideas

LAWRENCE, Kansas - Students and fans are already trying to throw in their two cents when it comes to renewing the University of Kansas fight song, even though the contest to do so hasn’t even officially started yet.

 In October, the song “I’m a Jayhawk” will be revised due to Nebraska’s split to the Big 10 and Colorado’s move to the Pac-10 conference.

The University Alumni Association says it is holding a contest for students to come up with new lyrics to replace the one that mentions both Nebraska and Colorado, but university director of marketing David Johnston says the contest hasn’t even started yet.

Still, he says, the Alumni Association is already getting submissions via e-mail and Facebook from students and fans with suggestions.

Johnston says the rules of the contest, including who can submit and who will be judging the entries, will be decided by the Homecoming committee soon after school starts later this month, but says while they won't be official entries, the school welcomes ideas now.

The winner of the contest will be announced at KU’s homecoming on Oct. 23 and new lyrics will go into effect by the 2011-12 season.

Other schools in different conferences (Harvard, Yale, Navy and even California) have fight songs that “yell out” former teams in their conference.

Kansas however is the only team that is up for debate, thanks to the Big 12 realignment this past June.

The original lyrics to “I’m a Jayhawk” were written by George Bowles, a 1912 graduate.

This will be the second time these lyrics will be revised.

In 1958, the song was altered in order to remove the “Aggies” of Oklahoma A&M and the “Braves” of the Haskell Indian Nations College.

"If they're not in our conference, they're not in our fight song…it's time to revise and have a lot of fun with it”, says KU Alumni Association president Kevin Corbett.

“It's not meant to be belligerent to Nebraska or Colorado for leaving the conference. It's just keeping up with the times."

 To view the entire fight song lyrics visit www.ku.edu/about/traditions/songs.shtml