UNM seal is offensive

Editor,

UNM's official seal offends me. I would like to use this letter as an opportunity to express why I am offended by it and to ask other UNM community members what they think about certain images that appear in the seal.

The seal I am referring to is the one with a frontiersman and a conquistador standing to either side of "UNM," with the letters joined together. This seal appears on all manner of official UNM publications, merchandise and even the paper that grades and schedules are printed on from at the ATM machines in the Student Services Building.

I am offended by what the images represent on the UNM seal. What are the possible meanings of a frontiersman and a conquistador? I will suggest a few. Both are males, carry weapons of death - the frontiersman is armed with a musket, the conquistador with a sword - and can be associated with the murders of American Indians. Is that what UNM stands for - sexism, racism, violence and the celebration of the conquest of native people and, by extension, other minority groups. Is this seal meant to memorialize and glorify the pride of successive waves of conquerors?

Sure, the frontiersman and the conquistador are figures from the overall history of the state of New Mexico, but whose history are they representing? They stand on either side of the University's name in proud, defensive postures - who are they guarding UNM from? Savages and infidels?

I find it hard to reconcile the images on the UNM seal with its supposed celebration of diversity - or even the seal's Latin motto, "Lux hominum vita."

One of the elements of "The University of New Mexico Vision" is that "UNM will demonstrate that diversity and excellence go hand in hand" (see the University Catalog, 1999-2001 edition, page 10). The seal, with guns and swords and bearded male murderers, seems to suggest that diversity will be killed, not celebrated.

Another passage from the University Catalog is instructive in this regard: UNM is "located in a region in the United States in which many cultures have developed in concert for centuries." In concert for centuries? Interesting. I have never seen this sweeping assertion of cultural harmony reflected in any reality of the Southwest, historical or contemporary, that I am familiar with.

I think the UNM seal contains a despicable choice of images to represent the diversity of the UNM community, and it should be replaced with something more appropriately representative. Or who knows? Maybe my comments are offending all those frontiersmen and conquistadors running about campus.

Lance Arney

UNM student