Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 18, 1993 TAG: 9310180009
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: AMHERST, MASS. LENGTH: Medium
A smattering of student protesters at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst were loud and clear when they said the Revolutionary War hero is out of step with the times. But maybe they had it backward.
Their call for the Minuteman's ouster as campus mascot, and the chancellor's hint he might go along with it, brought a flood of calls from angry alumni demanding the Minuteman stay put.
On Friday, Chancellor David K. Scott gave way to the unrelenting groundswell of popular support, saying the campus symbol was safe. He joked about accidentally firing "the second shot heard around the world."
The tumult bubbled up last week, when about 30 campus protesters rallied to demand a student referendum seeking the Minuteman's dishonorable discharge.
They said the Minuteman promotes sexism because he's male, racism because he's white, and violence because he carries a musket.
"I don't call it political correctness," said Martin Jones, a black student who organized the rally. "I call this social justice."
Jones suggested the 23,000-student campus adopt the Liberty Bell as its logo and nickname sports teams the "Liberators," the name of Massachusetts' 1800s anti-slavery movement.
What might have remained a largely unnoticed rally mushroomed when the chancellor, who has committed himself to soothing campus racial tensions, said he was considering abandoning the Minuteman in fairness to female athletes.
That brought hundreds of alumni, news commentators and others nationwide to the rescue, flooding the school with phone calls and letters.
"The whole thing was silly," said Jim Talarico, a founder of the university's Football Alumni Association. "It's part of the history of the state."
Some called the move to scrap the Minuteman unpatriotic.
Conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh was brutal, telling listeners his version of the tale, featuring "silly little malcontent, bubble-brained protesters" and "a bunch of wimp college administrators."
It's not the first time the campus agonized over what's in a name. Students voted in 1972 to adopt the Minuteman as their mascot, abandoning the Redman after the symbol was deemed culturally insensitive.
Maybe they should have used the 1972 runner-up nickname: the Artichokes.
by CNB