In honor of Hispanic Heritage month, UC Santa Barbara has announced that they will pick a new mascot to replace the Gaucho — one that offends a different minority. 

For a long time, UCSB has been considered an HSI, or Hispanic Serving Institution. Despite their title and UCSB’s large Latinx student population, the Gaucho has had a long reign of being a vaguely Latino cowboy character representing a mostly white community. Latinx students have long been victims of this character, since its arrival as our mascot back in 1936. Olé, as the mascot is so named, doesn’t even really have a connection to UCSB. It was chosen to represent our esteemed university because of some white guy who played a cowboy in an old movie. 

“I’m glad to see the Gaucho gone. One less word I have to hear white people mispronounce,” Stephanie Escobedo, a third-year economics major, said. “I was never really the biggest fan.”

Now, finally, UCSB officials have stated that they are ready to offend a different group of students instead. It has been promised that the mascot will be niche, and only raise the occasional eyebrow. Hopefully, this one will last for quite some time, while still ruffling feathers along the way — just like our good ol’ Gaucho! 

“Although it will be hard to say goodbye to Olé, I’m certain that this next mascot probably won’t be offensive to Latinx people. Probably,” UCSB official decision maker Yor Mauma said. “And if people don’t like it, they can just deal with it for a couple decades before we pick a new one!” 

The change will be made official at the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, giving Latinx students time to properly mourn the mascot that represented them for so long. 

As students gear up for their new mascot, many are excited to see if they will be offended. Students have begun removing Gaucho signage themselves to make room for whatever this university may disappoint them with next. Keep your eyes on your emails in the meantime, and cherish these last moments we can spend together as Gauchos. 

Fart Tent hopes the new mascot is a girl, at least.