San Diego State University Senate votes to create task force to select new mascot
Suggestions include Amu a Kumeyaay bighorn sheep
SDSU Mascot debate
and last updated 2021-05-05 23:21:35-04
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) Tuesday, the San Diego State University senate passed a resolution urging the school to start the process of selecting a new university mascot.
It s a discussion that comes around every few years to keep or get rid of San Diego State University s Aztec identity. It just comes down to just being flat-out offensive, SDSU Native American Student Alliance member Jerimy Billy said.
Tuesday evening, the University Senate passed a resolution (53-9) urging the school to begin the process of selecting a new mascot. Instead of using a human depiction of an Aztec Warrior, the six-page resolution calls to create a task force that will work with tribal leaders to choose new options honoring local Kumeyaay animals, such as the Amu or bighorn sheep.
The longtime ‘Aztec’ imagery and ‘Monty Montezuma’ may be no more.
Tuesday, the SDSU Senate passed a resolution calling for a commission to propose at least two Kumeyaay-named animals to be the new official mascot.
San Diego State University Aztec mascot known as
Monty Montezuma.
The resolution will not “replace the Aztec moniker or name,” but rather the Aztec Warrior imagery associated with the school.
This is just the latest of many failed attempts by students, faculty and alumni to change something that people have not had any issues with for decades.
SDSU’s website says in 1925, “the student body voted to adopt the Aztec moniker. The decision to choose the Aztec as a moniker was in conjunction with preliminary plans to move to a new campus and was done in unison with changing the name of the school newspaper to ‘The Aztec’ and featuring a yearbook with prominent Aztec symbols.”