Controversy at UMass



by J. M., Suffield, CT

The latest team nickname to be under fire is the Minuteman. This particular controversy began earlier this month when a group of students, in the interest of political correctness, tried to convince University of Massachusetts' president to dump the Minuteman because it is sexist (the Minuteman is a man), racist (because he is white), and violent (because he carries a musket).When the students gave their spiel to the school's president, the president said that he agreed with them, but he wouldn't go so far as to dump the logo. Any student of history should know that the Minutemen helped the colonists defeat the British in the Revolutionary War and is by no means sexist, racist, or violent in any way.

If we decided to disband any nickname that offends anyone, then in all probability we would have to get rid of most teams' nicknames. When I read the sports page, I want to see what happens on the playing field, and not read about protests over a team nicnname. This kind of stuff is absolutely ridiculous. I hope the next time I read about UMass on the sports page, it's because they won something, instead of this nonsense.