BU to consider retiring mascot's name due to connection to one of history's most racist movies

Yet Yale somehow goes unscathed.
(Yale was a known slave trader)

But the dog named after a movie character.

It's time for Mike "I scored one goal and made it into a career" Eruzione to step down as the other mascot of BU. Not only is he a proud and public MAGA hat wearing Trumpster but said he thinks the racist in chief is doing a great job and he intends to vote for him again.

Yes, everyone has the right to vote for whoever they want, but Eruzione is the public face of BU Athletics and much more recognized than Rhett. Every time Eruzione makes a public appearance or meets with recruits, with or without the MAGA hat, he is supporting and
promoting racism and everything else Trump stands for.

Everyone in the BU community knows Mike doesn't actually do anything. He smiles and shakes hands and delivers motivational speeches written by others. It's tough financial times for the academic world. His do-nothing job should be eliminated anyway.

In the film, he owned no slaves. He thought war was foolish, knew the South would lose and that the economic system it was built upon was crumbling and wrong. He stood with prostitutes and gamblers, and was by his own admission loyal to no state, country, or system beyond himself. Even when he signed up for "service" to the South, he did so after the war was lost. By his own admission he wanted the kind of respect of Scarlett's slaves that must be earned through fair and noble action and not bought or forced with violence and fear. He was likely one of the only decent white characters in that film--and perhaps the truest definition of "rebel" in the film as well. No other character, except Belle the madam, genuinely liked him. The character, at least in the film, is more decent than most of the characters out there demanding a shallow form of justice today. And Rhett Butler, the character, had a bit of wisdom and understanding few of the other characters did--and few characters have today, for that matter.

Sportsball important.

A classic 1982 movie called White Dog delivered an anti-racist message examining the question of whether racism is a treatable problem or an incurable condition.

Does anyone actually care if BU renames their mascot? Go ahead! Glad I went to a working class univ. where people juggled jobs and academics and were more interested in learning and future careers rather than sports and their sports mascots. Maybe I'm jealous I didn't have that life of leisure college experience though... but I think not.

Best.Skit.Ever.

I went to BU in the mid 90s - I didn't really attend more than 4-5 games but...I had no idea that the dog had a name until last fall (my son entered BU and a bunch of the promo material referred to Rhett) and did not know where it came from. It seems a bit of a reach, honestly - and though I agree Confederate symbols (as well as nazi ones) should be banned and torn down, this seems a little silly - they could just rename him 'Riff' and be done with it (Brett would make people think of Brett Kavanaugh but anyhow)

Diversity at BU is a good topic - I was sort of surprised that Black was only 4% considering that BU's feeder schools are the immediate area (esp Boston or Quincy) - by and large the largest growing minority at BU in the 90s was international students (Asian specifically) but I think saying that BU isn't diverse isn't really fair. I would like to see them do more, of course.

When we were looking at colleges from here to Virginia and did college visits, each one started off talking about diversity. NYU was way over the top where they showed a 5 minute rap video with a semi famous black rapper and how he went back to NYU to understand the music biz after he was famous. They said "We are diverse with a capital D!" to a room fully of almost entirely white and Asian families. I feel like it has become a commodity selling point which sort of devalues it. Yes I want my kid to have an experience and meet people from all over the world, or across the US, but I don't say, "How was school? Did you make any out of state African American friends? How about from Nigeria?"

I had a few black friends at BU, but my 'African' friends were from South Africa, and though they were interesting and really smart, they were white - my point is that diversity should benefit people of color getting accepted, not so white kids wear dashikis - but that's me.

God as my witness, I will never be racist again.

Let the name of Rhett be stricken from every book and tablet, stricken from all pylons and obelisks, stricken from every monument of BU. Let the name of Rhett be unheard and unspoken, erased from the memory of men for all time.

people are reacting to this so strongly. I graduated in '07 and thought Rhett was a stupid name for the mascot from the time I was a freshman. It was a dated reference to a close to 70 year old movie, and basically a dad joke on top of that. It was cheesy and outdated 20 years ago. Even before we culturally reexamined Gone With the Wind, how many 18 year olds had seen it? This year's freshmen were born in 2002/2003: the movie is from 1939. It's older than many of their *grandparents* at this point.

There are a lot of clever people at BU and I am sure they can come up with a name more creative than Rhett, personally.