WAZZU
Wazzu – I love the name. It defines what Washington State College (University) is and was. Namely one of the first, if not the first, agricultural colleges in the United States. Ag is not a term just for crops but also all the farm animals so necessary for our well-being. WSU is and was well known for its studies on domestic animal behavior, breeding, diet, etc.
Where better to establish a cow-college than on the border of Washington and Idaho? It could and does serve millions of acres of farm lands, including Oregon, Montana and the Dakotas.
I write from experience having spent four years there, graduating in 1934 with a BA in music, speech and English. I taught for 43 years, retired in 1978 and just celebrated my 90th birthday. I took one year of Vet 1, which we called Zoo Class. Among other things, we visited the animals, especially the cow with the window in her side.
What else would you call a large gathering of various breeds of animals but a zoo – hence Wazzu (phonetic)!
The name has nothing to do with booze. The unfortunate incidents of the last few years at WSU have no bearing on changing the time-honored nickname. Too bad the reporter who first associated the name with booze wasn’t smart enough to delve into history and respect the real meaning of Wazzu.
If people outside the school’s community use it as a negative reference, that only came about as a result of the blatant notoriety aimed at WSU at the time of the booze parties. Are we to believe that the same or worse scandals have never occurred at other universities? At least WSU openly acknowledged its shortcomings.
The new president of WSU, V. Lane Rawlins, must have known about the nickname before he signed on as president. Was it offensive to him then? To be blunt, I resent a newcomer, whatever his good intentions, presenting it as a problem now. Deleting or changing time-honored traditions should be left up to the Alumni Association. I think we need a better reason to purge it than that it seems to be “vaguely derogatory.”
Granite Falls
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