May 3, 2001

By Samuel Autman
Union-Tribune Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State University's loinclothed Monty Montezuma mascot may get a makeover.

A university task force has recommended that the spear-tossing Monty be transformed into a dignified ambassador.

Ultimately, SDSU President Stephen Weber will decide whether the mascot who portrays Montezuma II, the ruler of the Aztec empire in the 1500s, will be made over.

If Monty goes, it could cost the university tens of thousands of dollars since the red-faced Aztec image is seen on virtually everything that's Aztec, from the pedestrian bridge over College Avenue to T-shirts, gym shorts and other SDSU paraphernalia.

A task force appointed by the president is recommending that Monty be transformed into an "ambassador" who might usher the football team onto the field, in a more dignified manner than today's Monty, or educate small children at schools about Aztec history. That remains to be decided.

The recommendation to transform Monty landed on Weber's desk this week. For the past five months, task force members have spent thousands of hours studying Aztec culture going back to the Aztec conquest in 1521. Within the next two weeks, Weber will make the final decision.

Since the 1970s, American Indian mascots have been under fire on college and university campuses and at high schools. Indian groups estimate that hundreds of colleges and school boards, including Stanford University and the Los Angeles Unified School District, have banished Indian mascots and nicknames.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recently issued a plea for schools and colleges to stop using Indian mascots and team names, deeming their use insensitive to American Indians.

"You would not walk up to George Washington and call him 'Georgie,' " said Bill Trumpfheller, a task force chairman and president of SDSU's Alumni Association. "You would call him 'George Washington, sir.' "

The task force wants to retain Montezuma II, widely known as a warrior and king, as a venerated part of the school's identity, but it is recommending that all logos or human depictions with red faces, headdresses and clothing deemed inaccurate be replaced with authentic attire.

The panel of 20 SDSU students, faculty members and alumni concluded that a human mascot would be appropriate only if the depiction were historically accurate. Task force members stressed yesterday that they are only issuing guidelines and have no specific sketches or drawings of how the depiction should look.

In their deliberations, members listened to a number of experts on Aztec culture and heard presentations from the Native American Student Alliance and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, also known as MEChA.

Feathers and fire have a spiritual significance to Aztec descendants, they learned. And MEChA objected to Montezuma being viewed as a "bloodthirsty warrior and representations of Aztecs as hostile, violent savages."

"We are talking about indicating an enormous amount of respect for Montezuma II," said Tom Davies, professor of Latin American studies and a task force chairman.

Debate over the Aztec nickname and mascot erupted in September when the Native American Student Alliance complained that the university's depictions were racist, dehumanizing and demoralizing to indigenous cultures.

In a campus referendum, students overwhelmingly voted to keep the Aztec nickname and Montezuma II as a mascot. The University Senate recommended that Weber retain the Aztec nickname but modify or possibly discontinue the mascot.

Angel Salazar, a psychology major and president of the College of Sciences Student Council and a task force member, said the red-faced Aztec image as seen on SDSU paraphernalia is an evolving logo and that there's no reason it can't be further altered.

During yesterday's news conference announcing the recommendation, Rey Soto, the American Indian student whose group forced the issue last fall, sat in the front row with his arms crossed.

"This is typical," Soto said. "Weber is going to have to take a stand and quit hiding behind people. He has done a good job of gathering input, now it is his turn."

Mirna Hernandez, MEChA chairwoman, also expressed disappointment.

"I don't think this report is very clear, and I don't think that it looked at what it needed to look at in terms of making changes," she said. "We just have to wait."