If Chief Wahoo’s days are numbered, what does that mean for the Washington Redskins logo? Or, closer to home, to San Diego State University? Aztec for life? Maybe not.

Even as Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred moves forward in talks with the Cleveland Indians to retire the team’s controversial Chief Wahoo logo, a similar (and familiar) push is happening at SDSU where a new student resolution is calling on the school to scrap the Aztec Warrior mascot — a mascot some students believe is a “racialized stereotype of Native Americans” and others see as a symbol of strength and unity.

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The resolution, submitted by the Native American Student Alliance, calls for the school to “choose and accept a new, non-human mascot” and, over three to five years, phase out all current Aztec names, symbols, signs and references.

The resolution was co-written with American Indian studies professor Ozzie Monge, whose thesis last year argued that the university’s Aztec connection causes students and faculty to become “accidental racists” by reenacting “redface” in the name of school spirit. Monge also drafted an open letter to then-President Elliot Hirshman arguing that SDSU lied in 2005 to evade the NCAA’s ban on Native-American mascots and imagery.

https://twitter.com/ozziemonge/status/791416950924517381

On Monday afternoon, students and members of the Student Diversity Commission debated the mascot’s future. Marissa Mendoza, the president of the Native American Student Alliance and drafter of the resolution, told Fox 5 San Diego that the mascot isn’t a legitimate representation of Aztec culture.

“If you really are honoring the Aztec culture, you're not even calling them by their indigenous name. They are the Mexicas. We don't do anything that is culturally of the Aztec culture on campus.”

On the other end of the debate, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Patricia Lozada-Santone said during the meeting that retiring the mascot and eliminating all references to Aztec culture would disappoint the Aztec descendents she knows personally.

“They would be very crushed and devastated to know they've been wiped out of the multitude of thousands and thousands of generations of a place of higher learning, a place that would never speak again about the Aztec nation.”

Since the Native American Student Alliance introduced the idea of ending the Aztecs affiliation at SDSU during an event in late February, some students have taken to Twitter to criticize the school’s Aztecs connection.

https://twitter.com/EdwardHoeden/status/852392225841364992

https://twitter.com/LaneyyBoyyTalkk/status/845071179106934784

Supporters of the mascot and Aztec moniker, on the other hand, have been relatively quiet on Twitter. They’ve been far more vocal on the comment thread of a news article posted on The Daily Aztec’s Facebook page — which, by Thursday afternoon, had generated more than 100 comments.

SDSU Alumnus Victor Castillo commented, “as an alum, I am disgusted that this has reared its head again. Aztecs were a proud and powerful people and THAT is what should be the focus. Aztec for life!”

Check out the comments by clicking through to The Daily Aztec’s Facebook post below.

A short history of the mascot debate

Many San Diegans, of course, will be familiar with the mascot’s celebrated, if rocky, history at SDSU.

In 2014, a similar resolution submitted by the now-defunct Queer People of Color Collective called for the school to abandon the Aztec warrior mascot on the grounds that it helped “perpetuate harmful stereotypes of Native Americans, including the notion that Native Americans are innately violent, dangerous, and ‘savage.’” The motion failed decisively when student government voted 25-1 to keep the mascot.

According to a 2014 article by The Daily Aztec, SDSU adopted the “Aztecs” moniker as a title for the school’s athletics teams in 1925 because it was "considered representative of a southwest culture and supported by the student body.”

The mascot dates back to 1941 when student Art Munzig dressed up as ancient Aztec ruler Montezuma II for a skit at a homecoming game. The mascot later became affectionately known as Monty Montezuma and became a popular fixture at games over the next six decades with no pushback.

Yet in 2000, the Native American Student Alliance submitted a petition to get rid of the mascot on the grounds that it was disrespectful to Native-American culture. The move ignited debate on campus, spurring then-President Stephen Weber to assemble a coalition of students, alumni and faculty members to look into the mascot’s history. Although 95 percent of the student body backed the mascot in 2000, Weber acted to remove Monty Montezuma from school games.

In 2002, SDSU replaced Monty Montezuma with a spearless and pacified Ambassador Montezuma, a move that further agitated the campus community. SDSU alumni, dissatisfied with the school’s new ambassador, established an alumni association called The Aztec Warrior Foundation, whose goal was the reestablishment of the Aztec Warrior mascot.

An unofficial Aztec Warrior mascot made his debut that same year at a football home game. In 2003, following a campus referendum with overwhelming support for a new mascot, a revised Aztec Warrior was reinstated in consultation with Aztec scholars from the United States and Mexico.

Now the debate is back in the halls of student government: should the SDSU mascot — and collective school identity — be considered a source of pride or an expression of racism?

Do you think it’s high time to retire the Aztec mascot? Or do you think the school should keep the mascot and Aztec name?

Twitter: @anthonyberteaux