University’s new ‘vaqueros’ mascot decried as ‘racist, gender biased’

The University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley hasn’t even opened yet and already its mascot has been decried as racist and gender biased. Some students, scholars and others associated with the newly forming University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley are demanding University President Guy Bailey step down after he helped pave the way for its mascot to be “Vaqueros.” Vaquero is masculine in Spanish, and it was criticized not only for gender bias, but critics also said “a Vaquero and the eventual cartoon depiction of one will be drastically culturally insensitive and ripen with Hispanic stereotypes.” But Bailey recommended the “Vaqueros” mascot, and the University of Texas System Board of Regents officially and unanimously approved “Vaqueros” as the athletic nickname for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley earlier this month. The university is coming together through the merger of two older campuses in the region and is slated to open next fall. “The vaqueros were the horsemen and cattle herders who laid the foundation for the North American cowboy and cowboy culture,” Bailey has stated. “There is no more iconic figure in American lore than the cowboy and that iconic figure was born in the Rio Grande Valley.”...more

The opponents of "Vaqueros" have initiated a Change.org petition.  Below see the University's response and a note from an editor at The College Fix:

University officials also released a statement last week that clarified the meaning of “Vaqueros,” and defended the decision. “The vaquero and vaquera represent the tenacity, perseverance, intelligence and ambition of all who settled the Old West,” its officials said in a Nov. 14 statement. “Both men and women played an equal role in the proud pioneering history of Texas and the nicknames vaqueros and vaqueras for men’s and women’s teams honor that revolutionary spirit.”

A note from Assistant Editor Dave Huber: As a Spanish teacher I must note that the claim of gender bias regarding the term “vaqueros” is silly on its face as, in the Spanish language, the masculine plural of a noun can encompass both genders. In other words, “vaqueros” can translate to “cowboys and cowgirls,” or, to be PC, “cowpeople.”