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re: University of San Francisco will ditch longtime mascot after complaints

Posted on 11/3/26 at 11:17 am to
Posted by LSUGrad9295
Baton Rouge
Member since May 2007
38907 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 11:17 am to
quote:

The University of San Francisco plans to ditch its longtime mascot, Don Francisco, after complaints that the character represents Spanish colonialism in California.
quote:

“We believe the time is right to revitalize our image and embrace a new mascot, one that is known for its intelligence, endurance, and ability to work cooperatively in its pack,” the university’s president, Salvador Aceves,


Yeah, not at all ironic.
Posted by Bamadog75
Alabama
Member since Mar 2017
1815 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 11:24 am to



Rumor is this is the next mascot and they're changing name from the Dons to the Flamingos.
Posted by reggierayreb
Member since Nov 2012
20066 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 11:27 am to
quote:

The university president decides to retire the original school mascot, the Port Chester Indian, after deeming it highly offensive. In its place, she officially introduces an endangered species—the Port Chester Whooping Crane—to represent the campus during its bicentennial anniversary




This post was edited on 11/3/26 at 11:29 am
Posted by Big Scrub TX
Member since Dec 2013
40502 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 11:28 am to
quote:

The resolution says the Don symbolizes the “history of colonization on the indigenous Ohlone land occupied by the university.”


Here's what Gemini has to say about the Ohlone:

quote:

The historical and bioarchaeological record shows that the Ohlone (historically referred to by the Spanish as Costanoan) were neither the idyllic pacifists depicted in 1970s counterculture literature nor an expansionist, empire-building military society. Instead, they engaged in frequent, localized inter-tribelet warfare, territorial raiding, and lethal blood feuds—a reality documented both in 18th-century Spanish contact journals and in extensive osteological (skeletal) data from San Francisco and Monterey Bay shellmounds. 1. The Political Structure Driving Conflict
The "Ohlone" were not a single unified nation; they were roughly 50 autonomous "tribelets" speaking eight distinct language dialects across the San Francisco Peninsula, East Bay, Santa Clara Valley, and Monterey Bay. Each tribelet (averaging 200 to 400 people) fiercely guarded tightly defined borders around oak groves, seed meadows, and fishing streams.Causes of War: Wars were almost never fought to conquer and occupy vast empires. Instead, conflict erupted over poaching/trespassing (gathering acorns or hunting across a boundary marker without permission), bride abduction or marital disputes, and sorcery accusations (believing a rival village's shaman caused an illness or death).Spanish Contact Records: Early Spanish explorers (such as the Portolá and Anza expeditions) and Franciscan missionaries documented chronic hostilities between neighboring villages—for example, between the Yelamu (San Francisco) and the Ssalson (San Mateo)—noting that guides often refused to cross two miles down the road into a rival tribelet's territory for fear of immediate execution.2. Two Modes of Warfare: Ritual Skirmishes vs. Surprise Raids
Ethnohistoric accounts (synthesized by scholars like Randall Milliken and Richard Levy) describe two distinct levels of combat:Formal, Pre-Arranged Battles: Often conducted at a border boundary to settle a grievance. Opposing lines stood at bow-shot distance trading arrows and insults while dodging projectiles. Once one or two warriors were killed or seriously wounded, honor was satisfied, the battle halted, and diplomatic gift exchanges followed.Lethal Dawn Raids & Feuds: When grievances escalated into blood feuds, raiding parties launched surprise attacks at dawn, burning tule-reed villages, slaughtering inhabitants, and taking heads or limbs as war trophies. The Ohlone did not generally take adult male prisoners; captured combatants were executed, though women and children were occasionally absorbed into the raiding group. 3. What the Skeletons Show (The Bioarchaeological Record)Popular perceptions of the Ohlone were heavily shaped by Malcolm Margolin’s 1978 classic The Ohlone Way, which leaned into a gentle, low-conflict portrait. Over the last two decades, bioarchaeologists (including Al Schwitalla, Terry Jones, Eric Bartelink, and Valerie Andrushko) analyzed more than 1,100 to 16,000+ prehistoric central California and Bay Area burials and found remarkably high rates of lethal and sublethal violence: Projectile Point Trauma: Around 4% to 7%+ of adult male skeletons in Bay Area burial mounds show embedded obsidian or chert arrowheads in bone (which significantly understates actual arrow fatalities, since arrows striking soft organs leave no skeletal marks).Craniofacial Fractures: Approximately 4.2% to 6.4% of adults in prehistoric San Francisco Bay samples exhibit depressed skull fractures from wooden war clubs or slingstones. Trophy Taking & Dismemberment: Studies of prehistoric San Francisco Bay and central California burials (such as at Ala-329 and Santa Clara Valley sites) revealed a widespread, centuries-long custom of perimortem trophy-taking—affecting up to 6% of adult males in specific Bay Area cohorts—where forearms, lower legs, or heads were severed with stone blades in combat to be kept as war trophies or modified into bone rattles and whistles. Historical Spikes: Skeletal violence in the Bay Area was not constant; it spiked sharply during periods of population intrusion (such as the arrival of the Meganos culture in the East Bay), after the introduction of the bow and arrow (~1000–1300 CE, replacing the slower atlatl), and during the severe multi-decade droughts of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (800–1350 CE) when acorn and elk resources came under intense pressure.In short, while the Ohlone lacked standing armies, fortifications, or territorial imperialism, prehistoric Bay Area life operated under a strict armed deterrence where crossing an uninvited boundary creek frequently meant death.


TL;DR They were viciously, territorially violent.

I would actually support a change to an Ohlone mascot that depicted them accurately and made sure it was put in everyone's face. The could call them the "Savages".
Posted by Bestbank Tiger
Premium Member
Member since Jan 2005
84006 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:11 pm to
quote:

Keep being the Dons and use this mascot:



That would actually be badass.
Posted by lowhound
Effie
Member since Aug 2014
11514 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:12 pm to
Posted by HoustonGumbeauxGuy
Member since Jul 2011
33959 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:15 pm to
Are they going to change the city's name of San Francisco?

Posted by OchoDedos
Republic of Texas
Member since Oct 2014
40672 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:18 pm to
It's the Spanish Inquisition, San Francissie style.
Posted by mt1
LV
Member since Nov 2006
7786 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:20 pm to
Sounds like mostly peaceful natives with good aim.
Posted by BZ504
Texas
Member since Oct 2005
14876 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:29 pm to
Don’t give them any ideas.
Posted by Everyday Is Saturday
Member since Dec 2025
2837 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 12:30 pm to
New Mascot:

Freddy Mercury’s fighting mustache
Posted by mtntiger
Asheville, NC
Member since Oct 2003
30049 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 1:26 pm to
quote:

The resolution says the Don symbolizes the “history of colonization on the indigenous Ohlone land occupied by the university.”


Then give it back, assholes.
Posted by soccerfüt
Location: A Series of Tubes
Member since May 2013
77195 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 1:28 pm to
quote:


I love this gif.

Get used to seeing it folks.

Galaxy Quest was great.
Posted by cypresstiger
The South
Member since Aug 2008
14879 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 1:33 pm to
When do we hear how the redefine Jesuits to leave that pesky religious connection out?
---It won't be long. TCU isn't Christian. Harvard and Yale started as seminaries. Not anymore. The list is long
Posted by biglego
San Francisco
Member since Nov 2007
86361 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 1:36 pm to
quote:

Oh who cares?


I mean, just another little piece of our society being deleted by the wokesters. These things do add up. I’m sure you’re a huge Washington Commanders fan.
Posted by SOBmustpay
North Louisiana
Member since Jun 2026
764 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 2:18 pm to
quote:

Keep up with the times and call them the Sidewalk Shitters


Posted by Chucktown_Badger
The banks of the Ashley River
Member since May 2013
37911 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 2:33 pm to
quote:

Don Francisco, after complaints that the character represents Spanish colonialism in California.


So shouldn't the city of San Francisco be changing its name too?

quote:

San Francisco is named after Saint Francis of Assisi (San Francisco in Spanish). 
The name traces back through local history:
• The Mission: The Spanish founded the Mission San Francisco de Asís in 1776, naming it in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan order


Literally named after Spanish colonials
This post was edited on 11/3/26 at 2:35 pm
Posted by Sus-Scrofa
Member since Feb 2013
11714 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 2:37 pm to
quote:

Doesn't the name "San Francisco" represent Spanish colonialism in California?



I think their logic would make the entire Spanish language in the western hemisphere fairly offensive.
Posted by HeadSlash
TEAM LIVE BADASS - St. GEORGE
Member since Aug 2006
57210 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 3:13 pm to
Posted by Bigdawgb
Member since Oct 2023
5026 posts
Posted on 11/3/26 at 5:43 pm to
quote:

Shocking a school in San Francisco would act like figs


Dead-on & straight to the point.
AI can never replace the beauty of TD.
This post was edited on 11/3/26 at 5:44 pm
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