A university in Virginia has taken political correctness to extraordinary extremes with a pledge to examine whether its wasp mascot (yes, the insect) is hampering “inclusion and diversity” on campus.
In the fraught atmosphere of America in 2020, Emory & Henry College has promised its students that it’s doing its part to address “systemic oppression.” As part of this noble endeavor, the powers that be in the liberal arts college have trained their sights on the ferocious insect that has been the university’s mascot for around 100 years.
The university’s president, Dr John Wells, explained in an email to students that, while the bug itself is OK, it’s also an acronym for America’s traditional privileged class, and some people might not feel welcome at the institution.
“The little wasp itself isn’t offensive, but the acronym WASP stands for White Anglo Saxon Protestant… it stands to make us seem exclusive of those not in that category,” Dr Wells wrote in emails to students that were published by the Young America’s Foundation.
The crest worn by the college’s sports teams clearly shows that the mascot is an insect so the abundance of caution displayed by the institution prompted an outpouring of disbelief on social media.
One mystified commenter wrote: “I’m so confused. Aren’t mascots normally removed because people claim they’re offensive to the group of people they may represent? But this one is offensive because it’s offensive to the people it supposedly doesn’t represent?”
Many others shared the article while specifically noting that it is not a parody. “The mascot is a literal insect,” Kara Zupkas of Young America’s Foundation stressed.
Now this is just silly. https://t.co/l9BLIq66me
Omg. This is not a parody. Seriously click the link. https://t.co/DuxAhG9K8w
Emory & Henry’s website explains that the college football team was bestowed with the nickname in 1921 because of its ferocious defensive unit. Since then all the university’s teams have adopted the moniker. Prior to being called the Wasps, the team was known as the Whitetoppers, a name that definitely wouldn’t fly in 2020 America.
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