A new slogan for the University of Wyoming has not been well-received by some staff and faculty who say the new motto excludes women and people of color.

The controversial slogan, 'The world needs more cowboys', is part of the university's new $500,000 campaign which they say is based on inclusiveness.

Now, the those criticizing the slogan are receiving criticism from those defending the school and the history of cowboys.

While faculty and Native American groups say that the slogan includes only white men, others have come down hard on them saying there is nothing wrong with the phrase.

The University of Wyoming revealed their new slogan: 'The world needs more cowboys'. Their mascot cowboy Pistol Pete is pictured at a sporting event

Ellen Currano, professor of geology and geophysics at University of Wyoming, said she received an email in April with the slogan and asking her to appear in a promotional video for the marketing campaign.

'Honestly, I thought it was a joke at first,' Currano told the Chronicle of Higher Education.

'I thought it was a joke. And then I looked it up on the university web page and saw that no, this was, in fact, serious,' she said.

Other faculty, including Christi Boggs, who works as the school's ski coach and is also co-chair of the Committee on Women and People of Color, said the group's members were 'very upset' by the slogan.

Boggs wrote a letter to the university president, asking administrators to 'embrace a slogan that takes us into the 21st century.'

In response to the criticism, university spokesman Chad Baldwin told Reuters: 'In a vacuum, the term ''cowboy'' appears gender and perhaps race specific but in the context of the branding campaign it is connected to images and words that show our cowboys are diverse, of every sex and background.'

The campaign describes the slogan as 'inclusive, by design', identifying famous key figures such as Galileo, Mary Wollstonecraft and Martin Luther King Jr as cowboys.

According to the Chronicle of High Education, a proposed promotion video features young people, women and minorities taking on scientific and creative fields of work.

'The world needs more cowboys, and not just the kind that sweep you off your feet and ride off into the sunset,' a voice narrates. 'Our cowboys come in every sex, shape, color, and creed. It's not what you are that makes you a cowboy; it's who you are.'

People on social media are defending the school and their new slogan, bashing those who oppose it.

Faculty, staff and Native American groups say that 'cowboys' refers to only white men and excludes women and people of color, but Twitter has come to the school's defense

Twitter users in Wyoming say the problem is modern day political correctness and feminism

One woman considers being called a cowboy a compliment

The university's mascot is a cowboy names Pistol Pete, while Wyoming is called the Cowboy State

The University of Wyoming's mascot is a cowboy names Pistol Pete, while Wyoming is the so-called Cowboy State.

Wyomingites took to Twitter to show their support of the slogan.

One woman named Dalle Rutlege, wrote: 'This is Wyoming folks, get tough or get gone.'

Meanwhile, others find being called a cowboy a positive.

Savannah Birkle, also from Wyoming, wrote, '''The world needs more Cowboys'' literally is a slogan that means “The world needs more students from the University of Wyoming” .... how is that a bad thing????'

Others are pointing to modern political correctness and feminism as the problem.

Jay Lowry quipped: 'In other news, the mascot Pistol Pete is being replaced with an androgynous flower wielding gardener named Pistil Pat, and Ragtime Cowboy Joe has been rewritten to use the term cowperson and the unpronounceable gender-neutral pronouns Xe and Xyr.'

The new slogan is part of a $1.4million marketing strategy and is set to launch Sept. 14.