THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 22, 1996 TAG: 9604200073
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
HOW ABOUT the Multicultural Diversity Bugs?
Oh, excuse me. I was just thinking of a new name for the Emory & Henry College mascot. Did you see this?:
EMORY, Va. - Students at Emory & Henry College who support changing the school's mascot from a wasp to avoid confusion with the acronym for ``White Anglo-Saxon Protestant'' say the issue has sparked a racial back-lash.
The story, from The Associated Press, said that members of the college African-American Society believe the private Methodist college needs a ``more inclusive nickname.''
The debate began about a month ago when some students complained publicly that the mascot is too often mistaken for the acronym ``WASP.'' Sophomore society member Reggie Williams said guests and speakers have often misunderstood the mascot name.
Emory & Henry College has held four forums at which students have shared their views and learned about the history of the mascot, which dates to 1921 and is a wasp - the insect kind.
Now I know a lot of you are saying to yourselves: ``If those students complaining about the college's nickname were offended by it, why didn't they enroll someplace else?''
Right. After all the mascot wasn't sprung as a surprise. Nobody woke up one morning and said: ``Whoa, they changed the mascot into an offensive, confusing creature.'' The Wasp mascot has been around for more than 70 years for Pete's sake.
But we are not talking logic here.
We are talking politically correct. When you get that PC ticket in hand, you can bus your mind to a fool's paradise miles from the nearest reality checkpoint. You can rise in a public place, bring up a nickname like ``Wasps'' and act surprised and shocked by it.
You can say ``Hold everything. I have found something to stir folks up and maybe get me on TV.''
And that's OK. It's spring, a time when stirring up trouble is part of the college experience. If it were not, the University of California at Berkeley would have closed - with the grounds converted to a marijuana farm - long ago.
There's no question minority students can be imposed on by others in a college environment. But finding others to share your sense of outrage is hard to do when you are saying something stupid such as: ``Speakers and visitors misunderstand the mascot's name.''
Hello? Is there a rutabaga in my ear?
I want to know how that happens. How does a visitor look at a creature with bulging eyes, wings and a funny tail with a stinger in it and say ``I'm confused. I think I am looking at the Archbishop of Canterbury. . . or a member of the Presbyterian vestry. . .''?
Get out of here!
Imagine how confused such a person might be when confronted with the Navy's amphibious assault ship named ``Wasp.'' What might they believe they are looking at then? Dan Quayle on water skis?
Late last week Emory & Henry President Tom Morris said the college will not drop its mascot, the wasp, but will examine ways that it can be presented ``so that the mascot will not be confused with the acronym `WASP' or White Anglo Saxon Protestant.''
Huh?
If the idiots visiting Emory & Henry are that confused, the college needs a better class of visitors. And the visitors need a more accommodating campus: one where the guest rooms have padded walls. by CNB