Unless your university’s mascot is a mushroom or a woodland creature of some sort, it’s probably been accused of being racist (or misogynistic, or cultural appropriation, or a microaggression, or scary, or …)
The latest target: UNLV’s Hey Reb!
Hey Reb aims to showcase an independent mountain man and rebel spirit – but to Black Lives Matter protesters at the school, he’s apparently a racist redneck. That’s because years and years and years ago, he donned confederate garb. But his retooled look apparently is STILL not enough to campus antagonistas.
The Las Vegas Sun reports that at a rally on campus to show solidarity with University of Missouri protestors this week, students yelled at the campus president that Hey Reb! was proof that one of the most diverse campuses in the nation is really a racist hotbed of hate.
Their complaints, which were at times fiery and emotional, also reopened UNLV’s long-standing elephant in the room when it comes to issues of diversity and race: The university’s mascot Hey Reb!, who some students see as a racist symbol of the Confederacy.
“We are one of the most diverse campuses in the nation,” shouted a graduate student named Juanito. “Why do we still have that [expletive] racist mascot?!”
UNLV is no stranger to concerns over its public image. Decades ago, the university and even the campus newspaper, The Rebel Yell, was awash with Confederate imagery designed to emphasize UNLV’s desire to split off from UNR early in the college’s infancy.
But many considered the issue dead after years of public relations polished away that part of the university’s history and a redesign changed the mascot from a Confederate uniform-wearing wolf named Beauregard into a more generic symbol of rebellion.
Still, the demonstrating students demanded [President] Jessup go even further and, together with a recent call by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid to revisit the mascot, the pressure has forced him to keep all options on the table.
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