Don’t sunset Ranger tradition

The office of student life wants a mascot who can dress up in costume and drum up spirit at athletic events.

Student Life Director Jorge Posadas has charged organizations with coming up with ideas for a suitable character.

He shies away from a "ranger" because he associates it with the Texas Rangers law enforcement agency with a background he refers to as a "vigilante group" whose actions were in conflict with the Mexican-American community the college now serves. He has removed the word Ranger from athletic uniforms.

Posadas argues that the college does not have a mascot despite the depiction of a Ranger painted in the center of the basketball court in Gym 1 in Candler Physical Education Center and the name of the student newspaper you're reading either in print or cyberspace.

True, the college doesn't have a student dressed up as a ranger, however that would be depicted, to boost revelry at sparsely attended games. But the association of San Antonio College with a ranger mascot goes back to 1926 with the founding of this campus newspaper.

The type of ranger that represents the college has never been defined, and T-shirts and other illustrations have varied widely. An astute observer defined the word "ranger" in comments on The Ranger Online:

"ranger |rān´jr| noun: 1) a keeper of a park, forest, or area of countryside.

2) a member of a body of armed men, in particular a mounted soldier or a commando or highly trained infantryman.

3) a person or thing that wanders or ranges over a particular area or domain as in rangers of the mountains."

So if Posadas wants to pinpoint the concept of a ranger to better design a costume, that wouldn't be high on our list of ways to spend students' money. But it's understandable.

But to kill off the San Antonio College Ranger?

No way, podnuh.

A college that's planning its 85th anniversary and beefing up its alumni association needs to capitalize on its traditions, not send them riding into the sunset.