ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996               TAG: 9604180060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: EMORY
SOURCE: Associated Press 

DESPITE BUZZ, WASPS TO STAY AT EMORY & HENRY

Emory & Henry College President Thomas Morris said Wednesday that the school adopted the wasp as a mascot long before it became an acronym for white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, so the Wasp will remain.

Members of the college African-American Society complained that the private Methodist college needed a ``more inclusive'' nickname.

Morris said the administrative decision came after four weeks of deliberation on the predominantly white campus in Southwest Virginia. There were four forums along with organized discussions in classes, residence halls, the campus radio station and the campus newspaper.

A biracial group of students met with the Student Life Committee of the board of trustees.

Morris said he is following the recommendation of the Student Life Committee chairman, who suggested the college find ways to disassociate the nickname from the acronym. He has appointed a committee of students, alumni, faculty and staff to develop a plan to keep the mascot from being confused with the acronym.

``Everyone agrees that the nickname was never intended to be racially derogatory or ethnically exclusive,'' Morris said in a statement.

Emory & Henry chose the nickname Wasps in 1921. The word was coined as an ethnic acronym in the 1950s.

The college, with an enrollment of 850, increased the number of black students from nine to 48 in the past five years. It also increased the number of scholarships it awards black students and has tried to hire more minority faculty members, Morris said.

Black students who campaigned for changing the nickname complained that they received threatening phone calls and said fliers they distributed were vandalized.

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