Shoreline Cc Drops Mascot -- `Samurai' Nickname Thrown Out As Offensive After 26 Years

SHORELINE - At last, the Samurai is ancient history.

Students at Shoreline Community College have decided to throw out their 26-year-old nickname and symbol, which some have denounced as offensive and demeaning and whose picture hasn't been seen for years.

"I believe in tradition, but if something's hurtful to a particular class of people, then we've got to pay attention," said Ron Bell, president of the 7,800-student community college. He commended student-government members for taking a creative approach to a potentially negative situation.

Students will vote Nov. 25 and 26 for one of three finalists among the replacement mascot names - Dolphins, Sea Lions and Tsunamis - selected by a number of groups that included the student senate, SCC's executive board, the vice presidents of academic affairs and student services, and a classified-staff representative.

The winner will be submitted to the college's cabinet and board of trustees for final approval.

"It's definitely time for Shoreline to address the issue," said SCC spokeswoman Mariko Kakiuchi.

Objection was first raised by SCC's student senate four years ago, and students voted then to hold a contest to name a new mascot.

A caricature of the Samurai as a ferocious, sword-wielding warrior with hairy legs had prompted outcry from students and faculty, who denounced the drawing as derogatory and bearing little resemblance to actual samurai or Japanese culture.

Given the potential for abuse and offensiveness, Kakiuchi said, it's probably better to avoid a symbol based on an ethnic group. When it comes to creating caricatures, or team chants or motions, she said, "it just starts to become personal."

She said the controversy during the World Series over the Atlanta Braves' tomahawk chop brought the issue home. "What should be a noble aspect all of a sudden became comical," she said. "It somehow takes away from the dignity of that symbol."

Mike Orders, chairman of the committee pushing for the name change, said few objections have come from the school's Japanese-American students. But interviews with local Japanese-American community leaders convinced him the mascot was potentially offensive.

As for himself, Orders described the Samurai mascot as "basically rude." It's not so much the nickname itself that bothers him, but the caricatured symbol the school's sports teams phased out five years ago.

"He had hairy little legs and looked really silly," he said.

The symbol also was removed from school notebook designs, and last year a faculty newsletter called Samurai Soundings quietly dropped `Samurai' from its name.

In an informal survey conducted this week by Ebbtide, the student newspaper, students were asked whether the "politically incorrect" nickname should be changed and whether the contest to rename it is appropriate given, current economic belt-tightening. The competition is expected to cost about $300.

One student said he thought the nickname was "really stupid, but the reason for changing it is even stupider." Another noted that Samurai is also the name of a popular car and that there is a motorcycle model called the Ninja. "They're just symbols," he said.

Among the nicknames mascots that did not make the final cut were the Golden Dragons, the Sharks, the Seals, the Sounders and the Blue Herons.

Rene Nordeen, student-body president, said her personal favorite is the dolphin because of the animal's reputation for intelligence.

"And for a community college, what better thing to tie yourself to than an intelligent animal?" she said.

Not everyone is caught up in the issue, however. "You'd be surprised how many people on campus don't even know we have a mascot," Nordeen said.