In an unexpected move, Marquette University will not be entering the Big East Conference as either the Golden Eagles or the Warriors. Rather the MU Board of Trustees decided Wednesday to change their nickname to the Marquette Gold as of July 1, 2005.

The nickname debate began in 1993 when university officials decided their original nickname, the Warriors, was too insensitive toward Native Americans. In 1994, MU became home to the Golden Eagles. However last May, MU trustee Wayne Sanders pledged to donate $1 million alongside another $1 million anonymous contributor if the school chose to switch back to Warriors.

Father Robert A. Wild, president of the university, said he was pleased with the board’s decision.

“I recognize that some people will be disappointed that we are not reinstating the Warriors nickname,” Wild said. “[But] we cannot teach one principle about respect for human dignity in our classrooms and then fail to act by the same principle when making decisions.”

Still, Wild said the Warriors nickname would always be a part of MU’s proud athletic tradition.

“We live in a different era than when the Warriors nickname was selected in 1954,” Wild said.

However, not all were so pleased with MU’s decision. MU political science professor John McAdams said the decision would be a test of whether any university would be able to step up to political correctness.

“I think if they change back to Warriors, alumni [would have been] reasonably placated,” McAdams said. “On the other hand if they don’t go back to Warriors alumni are going to be really pissed.”

Additionally, McAdams said 80 percent of Native Americans told Sports Illustrated that schools should not change their names and 90 percent told the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Election Survey they did not mind the nickname “Redskins.” McAdams also said the Seminole tribe of Florida endorsed the Florida State University Seminoles.

“The huge irony here is that American Indians themselves doesn’t mind American Indian nicknames and mascots,” McAdams said.

McAdams added the trouble with politically correct individuals on campus is they have been conditioned to immediately cave for any “victim group.”

“The truth is you can stand up to the forces of political correctness in academia if you’ve got the guts to do it,” McAdams said.

In order to gauge the Marquette community’s feeling toward the situation, trustees recently conducted an online survey.

They found 57 percent considered the Golden Eagles nickname boring, 55 percent said it was weak and 52 percent said it was common. However, the board chose against reinstating the Warriors nickname because as a Jesuit university, it wished to hold itself to the highest possible standards of the university’s mission and recognize and appreciate the dignity of every person.

Although many students questioned MU’s decision, others worried over the situation’s general impact.

MU sophomore Megan Ethington said she did not have an opinion over the nickname dilemma since her uncles were Warriors, but she came to MU as a Golden Eagle.

“It’s not about the name of the school, it’s about who we are and what we represent,” Ethington said. “I don’t think a [nickname] will affect that hugely.”

However, others were surprised by the decision to change the name to Gold.

MU sophomore Michele Feltz said she thought it was “weird” that the Marquette community had two options for a nickname going into the Board of Trustees meeting and instead came out with a third.

“It’s kind of cool to be an enrolled student during this controversy but at the same time it gets kind of annoying because this has been talked about since the beginning of the year,” Feltz said. “It just gets old after awhile.”