San Diego State University’s Ambassador Montezuma replaced the school’s former mascot, Monty Montezuma, and made its debut at Rosa Parks Elementary School on Jan. 23.
In 1925, SDSU adopted the Aztec nickname. The Monty Montezuma mascot appeared in 1941, but last fall both the nickname and the mascot became a heated topic of campus debate.
During the 2000-2001 school year, the Native American Student Alliance at SDSU criticized the representation of Aztecs and the Aztec emperor as the red-faced Monty Montezuma mascot dressed in a loin cloth, throwing spears and pumping up the crowd during halftime at football and basketball games. The group claimed that the logos, images and representations of Monty Montezuma were dehumanizing and degrading to indigenous cultures.
In response to the complaints, SDSU President Stephen Weber decided that the university would continue its affiliation with the Aztec culture and Montezuma (the Aztec warrior and king in the 1500s).
Weber appointed a student and alumni task force to investigate the issue. That task force recommended that the name “”Monty,”” the red-faced depictions of the Aztec emperor, and other Native American images be dropped from school logos. The task force also suggested that the updated school symbol be used to develop activities celebrating the Aztec culture.
The effort to remove the demeaning representations of the former Monty Montezuma is in part due to the April 2001 statement of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about the use of Native American images and nicknames as sports symbols. The statement said that “”the use of stereotypical images of Native Americans by educational institutions has the potential to create a racially hostile educational environment that may be intimidating to Indian students.””
The commission also stated that although symbols and images offensive to blacks have been eliminated since the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Native-American nicknames and imagery continue to be used by many schools and professional sports teams, despite the fact that many members of the American Indian community feel the representations are a mockery of their religion and culture.
American Indian leaders, groups and the commission said Native American representations in educational institutions are inaccurate distortions that perpetuate harmful stereotypes and encourage biases and prejudices against contemporary Indian people.
While some argue that school mascots are a trivial matter, the commission maintains that “”the fight to eliminate Indian nicknames and images in sports is only one front of the larger battle to eliminate obstacles that confront American Indians.””
In the case of SDSU, the controversy about the Aztec nickname and mascot was the subject of discussion throughout San Diego. The student body voted to keep the Aztec nickname and Monty Montezuma as a mascot, but the University Senate voted to keep the nickname while altering the mascot.
The final decision was made by Weber, who agreed that the Aztec name should be kept as a symbol of the values of strength, valor and intellectual achievement, but the mascot needed to be altered.
Holly Poe Durbin, assistant professor of costume design in the SDSU theater department, along with Maria Butler, a lecturer for the SDSU Chicana/Chicano studies department, conducted research to develop the more respectable and authentic Ambassador Montezuma.
The ambassador will now take on the function of education and outreach in SDSU’s effort to respect and celebrate the Aztec culture. Instead of running and cheering during halftime, the new ambassador will greet visitors at sporting events and educate the public about the Mexican Aztec culture, from the Mesoamerican traditions to the historical significance of the new $12,500 attire.
SDSU is not the only San Diego educational institution to change its mascot in response to the U.S. Commission on Civil Right’s statement.
Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista, Calif. recently changed its mascot from the Apache to the Jaguar, but with less controversy than SDSU.
