If you haven’t yet voted in the mascot referendum, The Daily Aztecencourages you to review the issue and cast a ballot before theFriday deadline. The Aztec also encourages a “Yes” vote, with someinhibitions.
Manystudents and non-students within the San Diego community feel havinga human depiction as a university mascot is disrespectful to theAztec culture, and that concern deserves respect. Our student-electedgoverning body, Associated Students, requests students vote “No.”However, smaller factions have packed organization advocates intoA.S. (enabled by student apathy), who consistently vote against thepopular sentiment of the student body. A.S., in the past and present,is guilty of ignoring the will of the students as a whole, and it isa serious problem the council must confront to retain relevance tostudents.
The students didn’t want Monty to be removed, mainly because theyfelt the controversy surrounding him was the result of racialhypersensitivity, and there wasn’t a large-scale problem. Anoverwhelming 86 percent of the 8,050 students who voted in theinitial October 2000 referendum voted to keep Monty as a mascot, and95 percent voted to keep the Aztec name. Unfortunately, opposition toMonty and the Aztec Warrior has made it very difficult for themajority of students to identify with those seeking non-humanrepresentation, and this balkanization of campus factions does farmore to perpetuate racism and hostility than a human depiction of anancient civilization.
The Aztec civilization is an important part of history, but it ishistory. The conditions of its fall are unfortunate, but a reality.The Aztecs more closely resemble the Trojans, Spartans or Vikings asa “theme” for a university. USC has one of the most famous mascots inthe United States – a human depiction of a Trojan soldier onhorseback. The reason the use of Trojans is not contested is becausethere is a candid message to this controversy: The “whiteestablishment” cannot use brown mascots, even in the same context aswhite mascots. However, SDSU isn’t exclusively white, and it’s this”them and us” attitude that should be confronted – not human mascots.
There is nothing wrong with using a unique, ancient civilizationin the traditions of a university. Universities that adopt pastcivilizations have deeper and more dynamic names. They have a largerpool of resources to draw from in the creation of the school’sidentity and campus-related art. The appearance of our campus is muchricher for our emblem having been the Aztecs, and as “Aztecs,” weshouldn’t have to exclude an integral part of the theme – a humanmascot. Human mascots – when done tastefully – are exciting, fun andfar less hoaky than their animal, vegetable or mineral counterparts.
Let us ponder a preliminary university consideration, which wasrightfully rejected at the drawing board – Zuma the Puma. Truly, itis an affront on the senses. A university as invested in its theme asours would have difficulty adopting a non-human mascot because of theinherent cartooning involved in putting a human body in an animalcostume. It is acknowledged, however, that the caricature of Montywas also a problem which will be resolved with the adoption of theAztec Warrior.
The mascot committee has presented alumni and students with anacceptable option. It’s accurate enough to avoid a cartoonappearance, but still looks dynamic enough to raise spirit atsporting events. A “Yes” vote implements this mascot and hopefullyresolves this issue.
However, a “No” vote doesn’t mean there will be no mascot – justnot this mascot. A lot of sentiment and emotion surround thisreferendum, but at its core it is only about the Aztec Warrior. Takehim or leave him. If you are displeased with this option, another onewill be presented in time.
Some final technical concerns are that faculty and staff are notincluded in the referendum, and that a student ID must be used tovote in this online referendum. The Daily Aztec feels it was a poordecision to exclude faculty and staff members, who share thisuniversity with students and alumni. And, after being assuredanonymity will not be compromised in ballot casting because thestudent ID is not recorded with the vote, online voting is anadvantage in convenience and cost.
Drawing upon the rituals and traditions of others is, in fact,ritual and tradition to university culture – which needs to beunderstood as beneficial and important. It’s not trivial, and mascotsare not jokes. The tradition of a mascot should not be held captiveby racial hypersensitivity and a “white vs. brown” attitude amonggroups that should be working toward coexistence.
