Fellow Aztecs,
Students, alumni, faculty and staff — these past couple of months triggered emotional times at San Diego State. The SDSU University Senate passage of the “Resolution to Eliminate the Mascot and Form a Task Force to Investigate the Aztec Identity” sparked a debate that the university has not witnessed in several years. It caused turmoil and rallied troops to both sides. Our reactions display how passionate this topic is to us — some responses were courteous, respectful and thoughtful, while others were rude, angry, and spiteful.
I experienced many of these emotions at one time or another since the resolution’s passage.
With SDSU President Sally Roush assembling a special task force to explore the future of the Aztec mascot and moniker, I implore all Aztecs to come together and work towards an inclusive goal that fosters mutual respect between both sides.
To the Task Force, I offer this — embrace the Aztec. We should preserve our heritage, while using this initiative as an opportunity to educate ourselves and honor the Aztec legacy.
Suggestions include empower the Aztec moniker, ensure our mascot accurately portrays an Aztec Warrior, increase SDSU’s Aztec cultural/historical/language classes, establish faculty/staff positions with the task of promoting an inclusive community based on our Aztec heritage and create seminars and events that accurately portray Aztec history and culture.
With more than 300,000 alumni, 33,000 students and 3,000 faculty/staff, SDSU is a tremendous institution. In order to put the debate of the Aztec moniker and mascot behind us once and for all, let’s do our best to establish a future that we can agree on.
“Strive for perfection, achieve excellence”…that my Aztec sisters and brothers, is the best way to emulate the Aztec culture that we hold so dear.
Zach Pellonari is an SDSU alumnus from the graduating class of 2003.
