The 17-member task force created by San Diego State to review the appropriateness of the Aztecs nickname and Aztec Warrior mascot will work in anonymity for the time being.

The task force is comprised of alumni, faculty, staff, students and presidential appointees. It is to provide a non-binding recommendation to interim SDSU President Sally Roush.

Names of task force members were originally to be announced Feb. 2, according to a university release (which has since been revised online to remove such mention).

Then the names were to be released last week after confirming participation by all those named to the group.


Now, their names will not be revealed until after the task force has completed its work and submitted it to Roush, a university spokesperson said.

“It’s been decided that until the conclusion of their work, the names of this task force are going to be withheld in an effort to allow them the opportunity to deliberate, research and present their final recommendations without disruption,” said Jill Esterbrooks, SDSU director of media relations.

SDSU’s Senate voted overwhelmingly to retire the Aztec mascot in November, just seven months after student leaders voted to keep it.

The resolution was a non-binding advisory to the university president, calling for SDSU to retire the human representation of an Aztec and the use of spears or “weapons that connote barbaric representations of the Aztec culture.”


It also called for creating a task force to investigate and make recommendations about the appropriateness of the continued usage of the Aztec moniker.

The university Senate — comprised of professors, lecturers, a coach, four staff members and administrators —voted 52-15 in favor of the resolution.

Many schools and teams in recent years have dropped mascots that depict different cultures following objections that they are insensitive and/or racist.

The Aztec mascot has been controversial for years, and the school has responded by making some changes to the image, including dropping the old Monty Montezuma mascot in favor of an Ambassador Montezuma in 2002.


The ambassador was not received well, however, and the school adopted a modified Aztec Warrior two years later.

While seen as more authentic than Monty Montezuma, some still found the image of a person dressed in the adornments of another culture offensive.

It remains a very charged topic for the task force to consider.

“I think they were very concerned that if they were publicly identified so early in the stage that there would be efforts to contact them and lobby for particular positions,” Esterbrooks said. “So it was decided that the best way for them to work would be quietly and then after they’ve done all their research and presented their recommendations, which are just that, recommendations, then their report recommendations and the names of the task force will be released.”


The task force has an April 30 deadline for submitting its information and recommendation to Roush, who plans to make a final decision by May 31. New SDSU President Adela de la Torre will take over in late June.


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kirk.kenney@sduniontribune.com / on Twitter: @sdutkirKDKenney