DU Pioneers Mascot Denver Boone at Center of Controversy

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1 Chambers, Mike. DU Pioneers Mascot Denver Boone at Center of Controversy. The Denver Post. Digital First Media, 5 June Web. 17 Nov DU Pioneers Mascot Denver Boone at Center of Controversy Chancellor Robert Coombe wrote that unofficial mascot Denver Boone, above getting a student "ride," was a "polarizing figure that did not reflect the growing diversity of the DU community. "IPTC: The Pioneers mascot surfed atop fans during the second period Friday night. The University of Denver Pioneers hosted the Colorado College Tigers at Magness Arena Friday night, March 5, Karl Gehring, The Denver Post (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post) LetsGoDU.blogspot.com posted University of Denver athletic news for the 5,755th and final time Monday before shutting down in protest of the school refusing to allow Denver Boone a chance to return as its official mascot. Boone, created in 1968 from a Walt Disney character named "Pioneer," was DU's official mascot until 1998, and its unofficial mascot after alumni took it upon themselves to fill the void in Chancellor Robert Coombe in March announced that Boone will not be considered by a steering committee that has identified an elk, a jackalope and a mountaineer as finalists for a new mascot. DU has not had a mascot since the red-tailed hawk and Ruckus were phased out to begin the season. "There's no point in having the blog if we don't have Boone," said Damien Goddard, the LetsGoDU founder and DU graduate, class of 1989, who spearheaded the "Bring Back Boone" campaign in "Boone and the blog have become intertwined, and you can't have one without the other. And it's silly to have two mascots. If the school is going to march down this path of political correctness, we decided to let them go down that path alone."

2 Boone's 30-year reign ended in 1998 when the Pioneers returned to NCAA Division I in all sports. Then athletic director Dianne Murphy changed the school logo to a red-tailed hawk and introduced "Ruckus" as the official mascot. Ruckus never caught on with DU fans. Hockey goalie Peter Mannino, for instance, began donning a Boone logo on his helmet and custom-made pads in Mannino and almost every DU goalie since have supported Boone with hand-stitched logos or helmet decals, and the "Bring Back Boone" campaign gained steam when Goddard and about 20 other alumni designed and purchased a new Boone costume for $4,800 in Goddard said the DU administration believes Boone is "racist" and has shown no interest in bringing back Boone to help promote the school's old-west tradition. "The entire process has been rigged from the beginning and Denver Boone has never allowed to be a candidate," he said. In a letter to students and alumni in March, Coombe wrote: "Boone was a polarizing figure that did not reflect the growing diversity of the DU community, but rather was an image that many women, persons of color, international students and faculty members found difficult to relate to as defining the pioneering spirit." Said Goddard: "DU never conducted a survey or had any data to back up those claims." Student Steve Kiley named Boone in 1968, playing off Daniel Boone to come up with "Denver Boone." "College mascots are probably not the right vehicle to promote diversity," said Tom Douglis, a former sports editor for the school newspaper and a 1986 graduate. "Does the Duke Blue Devil or Ohio State Buckeye really reflect Duke or Ohio State's values? No. DU's done a good job in asserting that its former mascot may be offensive to some the 'what' but I don't think they've done a great job with a compelling argument in persuading or selling the DU community on the 'why.' "

3 Adam Hammerman, a DU sophomore from Rockville, Md., is among a handful of students to have worn the Boone costume in the past year. "A lot of people believe we need a new mask that works for everyone, and I'm OK with that if the name is true to the Pioneers," Hammerman said. "I'm sad. I wouldn't be as sad if there was more of a graceful exit." In February, DU's Undergraduate Student Government passed a resolution 15-6 to ban the use of school funding for anything related to Boone. It recently commissioned four artists to come up with a new mascot. All four artists are white males. Kevin Carroll, DU's vice chancellor and chief marketing officer, said the four artists were hired from "recommendations" and that the 76-member mascot steering committee comprised a diverse group of students, alumni, faculty and staff. Carroll said the new mascot will represent the school's future. DU's mascot history 1968: Walt Disney character "Pioneer" led DU to ask Disney artists to come up with a mascot figure. Student Steve Kiley won a naming contest with "Denver Boone." 1998: DU retired Boone when it went to NCAA Division I in all sports; a futuristic red-tail hawk became the school's logo and Ruckus its mascot. 2006: DU hockey player Peter Mannino begins movement to bring back Boone by painting former DU mascots on his goalie mask. 2008: Alumni raise money to build Boone costume. Chancellor Robert Coombe announces students and alumni may use Boone image as they wish. 2009: In the same week, Boone is introduced at NCAA Frozen Four in Washington, D.C., and DU lacrosse game in Denver. He later travels to various DU road games to support hockey, basketball and lacrosse teams.

4 2013: An online petition to bring back Boone as DU's official mascot is signed by 1,131 students, alumni, fans and staffers. 2013: Coombe announces Boone will not return as the school's mascot. 2013: A university mascot task force is formed and announces the finalists are an elk, a jackalope and a mountain climber.

5 Cross, William. Letting Go of Denver Boone. DU Clarion. University of Denver, 14 May Web. 17 Nov Letting Go of Denver Boone William Cross, Jr., PhD -- Higher Education IRISE Advisory Board I am 73 years old and have inadvertently replicated John Evans sojourn across the continent. I spent my youth in Evanston, Ill., was inspired to go to college by walking the campus of Northwestern University and enrolled at DU in 1959, graduating in I have yet to visit Evanston, Wyo. Any person who could help found two universities and provide leadership to the territory of Colorado in its nascent days was by definition an accomplished and more to the point, complicated person. He, John Evans, was also a man of his time a white man, no less who helped create, support and sustain a climate that made possible the genocide of native people. More specifically, Evans is linked to the Sand Creek Massacre. At one point, a great deal of Colorado territory was given to Indians as part of a treaty; when gold was discovered, the treaty was broken and Indians were forced to live in a territory 1/13 the size covered by the original treaty. When John Evans was appointed territorial governor, part of his charge was to carry out the constriction of the Native American land and, as can be imagined, such a charge was met with resistance by Native Americans. Every act of resistance was met with over-reaction, and what ensued was the total defeat of native people, where defeat was translated to mean genocide. Emblematic of White over-reaction to Native American resistance was the Sand Creek Massacre of John Evans did not participate in the massacre but he appointed Colonel John M. Chivington, who oversaw the barbarity. The Colonel was also a Methodist Preacher. When details of the massacre leaked back to Washington, at least three inquiries were conducted and eventually John Evans was forced to relinquish his post as Territorial Governor. The reader is encouraged to go online and read the eyewitness testimony provided at these hearings. Once the reader has absorbed such information, it is readily understood why Colonel Chivington was never nominated to be DU s mascot.

6 The extermination of Native Americans was not successful. Our alumni include descendants of those massacred at Sand Creek. Their presence presents DU alumni with a unique opportunity for dialogue a conversation yet to be started. In this sense we have fallen behind the actions of our sister institution, Northwestern University. Recently the links between the Sand Creek Massacre, John Evans and his founding of NU have become the focus of an official study group a group made up of distinguished faculty, inclusive of Native American and Holocaust historians. They are to report back to the NU President in the summer of And DU s response? The Boone fiasco. My interpretation of the messages being conveyed by the First Nation people who are DU alumni is as follows: Look, you won, we were defeated almost to the point of extinction. If making John Chivington the pioneer mascot is a repulsive suggestion, what makes it so hard for you to comprehend that Daniel Boone, whose reputation was built in part on his image as a killer of Indians, is, at the very least, offensive to us. Why do you interpret my request as an act of political correctness? Why are you so ignorant to your own people s history? Let Boone go. Now clasp my hand so we can walk forward together in the search for a mascot worthy of the modern image of the University of Denver. How ironic that despite Evan s racist behavior in the past, he created this wonderful institution DU and it is here at DU that all parties can come together to achieve a greater sense of common destiny and humanity than was possible during Evans life. Perhaps he understood that a university education values the historical perspective, and makes it possible to create campus activities and debates that afford people in the present the opportunity to apply healing ointment to scars carried over from the past. Thus, here we exist in the same space: The progeny of Chivington and Evans alongside the descendants of those who survived the Sand Creek Massacre. We have come full circle and must take advantage of this otherwise surreal opportunity. What is needed is for the Trustees and Chancellor of the University of Denver to commission its own study group; we can then hold a teach-in dedicated to an intense, realistic and forward-leaning dialogue between representatives of the local Native American communities and DU staff, faculty and students. We can investigate whether it is true that the leader of the

7 Sand Creek Massacre recall he was a Methodist Preacher played a role in the early days of the Colorado Seminary. Perhaps a wealthy DU alumnus can fund a DU Remembrance & Reconciliation Fund, dedicated to scholarship and dialogue around the relationship between Native Americans, our nation in general, Coloradoans in particular, and DU s history. Would it not be wonderful to construct an arch of remembrance and forgiveness right here on campus, close to the Iliff Seminary? It could be engraved with the names typical of those massacred at Sand Creek (the names of the victims are not recorded). After reading a plaque containing the details of the massacre, a person could walk under the arch and experience the spirits of the dead, and upon exiting the arch experience a sense of relief at having sent a silent message to the dead, requesting forgiveness and a wish that their restless souls find peace. Finally, the struggle for reconciliation is not a racial thing pitting white versus Native American alumni. I am African American, and there was a time when I had misguided pride in the history of the Buffalo Soldiers. No sooner had my own people stepped out of slavery than some of us joined the Army to participate in the defeat and destruction of Native peoples. One oppressed group turned on another. Should the remembrance and forgiveness arch ever be built, I will be one of the first in line to take my turn at walking under the arch. My soul is no less in need of cleansing, forgiveness and reconciliation. Pictures of Denver Boone on Facebook

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