The world needs more cowboys," the University of Wyoming says in a new marketing slogan.

But apparently not everyone agrees.

The slogan has drawn backlash from critics, including faculty members and Native American groups, who call the catchphrase sexist, racist and counterproductive to university recruitment -- because it excludes women and people of color, Reuters reported.

"Honestly, I thought it was a joke at first," associate professor Ellen Currano told the Chronicle of Higher Education. "I thought it was a joke. And then I looked it up on the university web page and saw that no, this was, in fact, serious."

The university’s mascot is a “cowboy” riding a bucking horse with hat in hand.
logo

The official logo for the University of Wyoming is a cowboy riding a bucking horse. (University of Wyoming)

But Darrell Hutchinson, a cultural specialist, told Reuters that people who do not fit the stereotypical image of a cowboy – “a white man with a wide-brimmed hat riding the range on horseback” – are not made to feel welcome.

“If you’re not a white person, and especially if you’re an Indian, it would make you feel out of place -- it wouldn’t make you feel too good about yourself,” said Hutchinson, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming.

“If you’re not a white person, and especially if you’re an Indian, it would make you feel out of place -- it wouldn’t make you feel too good about yourself.”
- Darrell Hutchinson, Northern Arapaho Tribe

But university officials in Laramie defended the tagline, which they said was created by a Colorado-based marketing firm.

“In a vacuum, the term ‘cowboy’ appears gender- and perhaps race-specific, but in the context of the branding campaign it is connected to images and words that show our cowboys are diverse, of every sex and background,” university spokesman Chad Baldwin said, according to Reuters.

He said the university wants to “throw away” the stereotype of cowboys, updating what it means and looks like to be one.

"A cowboy is not what you are, but who you are."
- Chad Baldwin, spokesman for University of Wyoming

“A cowboy is not what you are, but who you are,” Baldwin said.

The campaign cost $500,000 and is part of a more than $1.4 million investment to advertise the university, located around 50 miles northwest of Cheyenne.

Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said ranchers are worried the dispute may cast “aspersions on a time-honored way of life and work,” according to Reuters.

“We are proud of the true image of the real cowboy or cowgirl, often of very diverse race or ethnicity, riding the range on a well-groomed horse while sporting a cowboy hat, chaps, spurs and a rope,” he said in a statement.
pete

Pistol Pete is the cowboy mascot of the University of Wyoming. (University of Wyoming Athletics via Facebook)

Wyoming, the so-called Cowboy State, hosts the university’s sports teams, also called the Cowboys; a cowboy mascot named Pistol Pete also appears at games.

But Donal O’Toole, a university professor, said he believes the critics make a valid point.

“This is a sexist slogan,” O'Toole told the Chronicle of Higher Education.

"As with many universities, the higher you will go up in rank, the higher proportion of men you find within the university," said O’Toole, who is president of the Faculty Senate.

He said that in a state where the official motto is “'Equal Rights' … we need to make an effort to reach everyone.”

"It’s very 1950s to think that ‘boy’ somehow includes ‘girl.'"
- Christine Porter, associate professor at University of Wyoming

To associate professor Christine Porter, the slogan simply sounds outdated.

“It’s very 1950s to think that ‘boy’ somehow includes ‘girl,’” Porter said, the education publication reported.

Christine Boggs, co-chair of the Committee on Women and People of Color at the university, told Reuters that she had no criticism of cowboys, since her father was one. But she pointed out that the committee’s 50 to 60 members were “very upset,” the Chronicle reported.

“If we’re striving to be a diverse university, exposing our students to a broader scope of ideas, we have to invite them in a more positive, inclusive way,” Boggs told Reuters.

A group of female scientists also wrote a letter to university administrators, asking them “embrace a slogan that takes us into the 21st Century,” according to the education news site.

Despite the pushback, the new slogan is set to launch Sept. 14.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Amy Lieu is a news editor and reporter for Fox News.

I'm offended horrifically.

"Women and People of Color" exclude men and those not of color.

So there!

Liberal doo doo heads...

Too bad they don't know history. After the Civil war, thousands of newly freed slaves went west. A large number of them became buffalo soldiers and cowboys. Large western ranches had lots of black cowboys. It was liberal Hollywood, starting in the 50's, that depicted all cowboys as being white. That wasn't true at all. They need to blame the liberals for racism, not the conservatives.

Stop saying things like this, or I'm going to call CNN. No need for truth, it goes against the agenda for destroying our country's culture.

That's very true.

One in 4 cowboys in the old west was black.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lesser-known-history-african-american-cowboys-180962144/

I wonder what the new slogan will be?

How about Wyoming Marxists?

What a bunch of hooey over "perceived lack of diversity" in their recruitment slogan.

The folks with multiple degrees and important chairperson status are not advising the U of Wyoming properly when they show that they really don't know what a cowboy does. Nor when they suggest what a cowboy might look like.

The best cowboys that I have ever worked with have been a highly diverse mix of age, gender, appearance, color and educational background. Some were barely literate, a few were well educated. And most sort of fell into the middle of the learnin' scale. Their "costume" was practical . . and usually well-worn. That is, somewhat tattered, clean when possible, and appropriate for the climate, season and job to be done.

Sounds like the Urban Cowboy Advisory Group, who are seeking a slogan and a logo to replace the Wyoming Cowboys, need to remember that what a cowboy does, everyday, determines that hesheit IS a cowboy. Hard work, which seems to be in short supply for the critics, is standard.

Others need not apply.

The Complaint department is maybe in upstate Vermont and the Payroll folks are very frugal, wherever they might hang their hat gender-appropriate headwear.

Recruitment, H & R style, has a picture of the best cowboy. They tear it up every day and go looking for someone who will ride for the brand.

Good vaqueros are not hard terribly to find, but I wouldn't go looking for them with the help of these O of W's cultural advisors, faculty critics and SJW wannabes.

For those of you in the Mountain Time Zone, the California Marxists are on the march and are ready to infect your way of life. More of them will be heading your way to thanks to the shows like Yellowstone (#1 Summer show). Leave the dirty needles and s$hit piled streets filled with bums and head to your neighborhood for better scenery and a new start.

Those were my exact thoughts as I read the article. Not only were there black cowboys, but plenty of Mexicans, a scattering of Chinese and if the truth were known, likely a few girly men as well. Anyone with any exposure to ranch life at all knows that the women do the same work right alongside the men and are fully capable of cowboying if the need arises.
History is no longer taught in schools for the most part, in some states you can go through from kindergarten to a Master's degree without ever having taken so much as one semester of history of any kind.

This has not gone over too well in Wyoming, most people here dont have much patience with the goofy twits who push these liberal agendas, they have become laughing stocks , the University is getting hammered with pro-Cowboy emails and such, the program will go on.

PS, the mascot "Pistol Pete" is a caricature of a cowboy figure seen at all Wyoming Cowboy games. He used to carry a huge foam revolver in his hand, but that got nixed several years ago as it "sent the wrong message".

How about vacqueros or caballeros? Those Indians ought to be real glad it wasn't the Spanish who did come into the country. Did that Ellen think the joke was the need for cowboys or the bitching?

I better move to Wyoming before it is gone, they seem to be hiring out of state. I will have to get my wife's cousin, who is an alumni, to weigh in.

Despite being old and married, I actually like cowGIRLS.

Some of those learned folks want us all to look like the Village People...

Snowflakes and the politically correct, are alive and well....even here! Especially in the universities! memtb

dip shidts would probably be shocked at the number of native "cowboys" there were and still are.
total PC bullshittt!

How about the Wyoming Creedmoors?

Quick!

Someone tell me which side Wyoming was on during the Civil War.

Evidently, the dumb bastids have never been on the Navajo Nation !

Spanish and Mexicans, the original western cowboys?
I read somewhere that 1 in 3 cowboys was Mex/Spanish.

The Wyoming Bovine Persons has a nice ring to it.

I'd love to see some organizations push back on the PC culture and just say thanks, but [bleep] off

Near all university administrators have a liberal business background. Also, it appears they have nothing of substance to worry about. Pretty cushy job when an issue like that dominates ones day.

No mention either of the LBQTXYZ cowboys if they really want to be inclusive.



I doubt there is a single soul in India that got out of bed today with this issue on their mind.

Might have been at least one native American though.

I'm a native American as were my parents and 3 of my 4 grandparent.

adjective
1. being the place or environment in which a person was born or a thing came into being:
one's native land.
2. belonging to a person by birth or to a thing by nature; inherent:
native ability; native grace.
3. belonging by birth to a people regarded as indigenous to a certain place, especially a preliterate people:
Native guides accompanied the expedition through the rain forest.

1 carries equal importance with #3.

noun
one of the people indigenous to a place or country, especially as distinguished from strangers, foreigners, colonizers, etc.:
the natives of Chile.
a person born in a particular place or country:
a native of Ohio.

That's like calling a Kleenex a "tissue".

New class of incoming freshmen gals think that a cowboy is half cow and half boy.
Locals gals know that a cowboy is all bull.

I think them whiny A$$ admin/professors need to Cowboy Up. They might need to see their gyno to get some salve for that sore spot they have.

KC

I live about 40 miles south of he Wyoming line and I see loads of cowboys in the local Costco, Walmart and the grocery store. There can't be a real shortage!

So true!

I’m gonna insert another word for the recent movie “The Rider” which deals with the cowboy culture on and around a rez. Using locals as actors.



I dunno if it has played in Wyoming yet.

Cowpeople is sexist, gotta say bovine people. (Have known a few - too many- of them.)

Cowboy is a profession populated by all races, genders, and creeds. Its members are hard-working, low paid, honest, trustworthy, and humble. They speak few words but with great meaning.

College professors are the exact and total opposite.


(If anyone wishes to submit that to the Cheyenne newspaper, you have my permission.)

Bovine people? Did Angelina Jolie ever do a western?

Don't know about a western but she might have made a few cowboys. Ed k

There is a little old lady in Montana that herds buffalo.
She drove to town, came into a gas station where I was, and yelled, "I need some of you big strong men to lift some tires off the back of my truck."

I know there are guys on the fire who know who she is.

Just make it “Cowpokes” but then I guess the females will be offended ‘cause they can’t😮

About 30% of the cowboys after the Civil War were black. They needed jobs.

We are the Cowboy State with our Bucking Bronc image on our Lic plates. Fugg em with there diversity BS. They are the Cowboy teams. Who cares about a bunch of prof's that are queer and libs? They can go to hell too. It is time we have more real Cowboys .

""But Darrell Hutchinson, a cultural specialist, told Reuters that people who do not fit the stereotypical image of a cowboy ""

Typical "SPECIALIST" I'll bet money he don't even know what "COWBOY" means.

Wyoming Bovinites

Again we hear the cry of the liberal over some perceived slight; Wah, wah, wah. GD

Washington Redskin fans feel that the Dallas Cowboys name is also "sexist, racist and counterproductive"

I agree on the need for a different slogan. It doesn’t flow as well as:

We need more racially, culturally and gender diverse woke herders of livestock.

And I’m pretty sure the UW football team would love to have that on the front of their jerseys.