Tuesday, January 26, 2021

No more oucho from Gaucho

50 years ago: Tustin embraces the "Gaucho"

Good news from Saddleback College on the “replacing bad mascots” front: 

From: Elliot Stern
Date: January 25, 2021
Subject: Mascot Decision

Good morning, colleagues!

This past Saturday, the Board of Trustees held a special public meeting. At that meeting, the Trustees voiced strong support for our college deciding the fate of its mascot without Board intervention. This support was in keeping with the history of both colleges having made decisions about their current mascots without Board intervention. I want to thank the Trustees for recognizing the thoroughness of our decision making process and for respecting our desire to ensure that our college, now a Hispanic Serving Institution, can stake out its future as a genuinely welcoming and inclusive leader in higher education and lifelong learning without evidence to the contrary.

Accordingly, I am pleased to share with you all that the decision I announced nearly two weeks ago is now final. We will retire the Gaucho as our mascot and begin a process to select a new mascot, to be announced this fall.

While the petitions, endorsements of shared governance groups, and comments made at four open forums on this subject suggest that there is consensus at our college for this decision, I know that it does not please everyone. For those of you who feel like you are losing something of value to you, perhaps a piece of your identity, we acknowledge your hurt, your loss, the sacrifice you are making so that others will not be hurt. You heard the voices and saw the tears of our colleagues, of our students, and of those in our community who were reminded by Saddleback’s Gaucho, that they were “other,” that their voices were less powerful, that their embarrassment and hurt mattered less than tradition. It is your sacrifice that is finally putting their pain to rest.

This marks a landmark for Saddleback College. Today we demonstrate our seriousness about being welcoming and inclusive for all. May this one change seed others that demonstrate that Saddleback College is 100% serious when we say Welcome (All) to Opportunity.

Elliot Dr. Elliot Stern

President, Saddleback College


Our district has a history of board autocracy

The old "Gaucho" image: not long ago

A detail from the large "Gaucho" page above. For what it's worth, the Gaucho
"mascot" at right does seem to be of the South American variety, not the "Frito 
Bandito"-inspired sort that arose (and stuck) later.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bye, bye Gauchos.

Anonymous said...

It's about time.

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