BUZZ
Will keep name but use wolf mascot instead
The Jesuit Catholic University of San Francisco will no longer honor the city’s first mayor through its mascot – because he has the same title as alleged colonizers.
The school announced it is retiring the “Don” mascot after 90 years, following a petition from community members.
As reported by SFIST, the mascot depicts “Don Francisco de Haro: the first mayor of Yerba Buena, which ultimately became San Francisco.”
However, students have become triggered by the masked Zorro-looking figure at sporting events.
“While ‘Don’ is a Spanish honorific denoting noble origin, the Chronicle reports that students have begun to feel the phrase — and the figure it celebrates — shares too much in common with the history of Spanish colonization suffered by California’s Indigenous people,” SFIST reported. “Thus, starting with USF’s spring 2027 semester, the Don will retire to make way for a wolf.”
A wolf is often associated with St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, as it was part of the family crest.
Student government leaders first demanded a change in 2022.
The news outlet reported:
The change has been years in the making, given USF’s student government passed a resolution calling on the university to replace the Don with a more appropriate mascot back in 2022.
Per the Chronicle, a petition supporting the resolution was subsequently signed by more than 400 students. It called on administrators to implement a new mascot by the start of the 2024-25 academic year.
The resolution names other people who use the title “Don” to justify giving the Spanish mascot the boot.
“According to the National Parks Service, Don Gaspar de Portola led the first Spanish expedition to the San Francisco Bay, representing the Don’s place in history as an instigator of the colonization of the Indigenous land which the University of San Francisco occupies,” the original resolution states.
Citing the school’s athletic department, the resolution says “the name references the early history of California and San Francisco, which was marked by the exploits of the adventuresome and swashbuckling Spanish Dons.”
Don Francisco joins a long line of mascots and logos targeted for cancelation in recent years, including “Minutemen,” “Colonials,” and “Crusaders.”
A longer list of verboten mascot names and logos can be found at The College Fix‘s Cancel Culture Database.
