Name-a-Day Calendar, September 18: UIW Cardinals

Page 316 of 365

Chosen in: 2004

Chosen by: School administration following a community-wide poll

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The current University of the Incarnate Word was originally established as a small, private, Catholic girls’ school in 1881, known as Incarnate Word School at the time. The school’s curriculum gradually expanded as its name changed to Academy of the Incarnate Word in 1900 and then Incarnate Word College in 1909.

Incarnate Word didn’t begin admitting men to all of their programs until 1971, and as far as I can tell, intercollegiate sports didn’t pick up at the college until after this happened; men’s basketball began in 1980. On account of the college’s Catholic roots, these teams were originally known as the Crusaders. This continued through the school’s renaming as University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) in 1996.

Wherever it’s been used, the “Crusaders” nickname has drawn criticism for its association with religious conflicts, and UIW was no exception. Somewhat unusually for a university with its religious background, UIW got ahead of the curve in replacing the nickname, starting the process in 2004 as part of a schoolwide effort to be more culturally accepting. As university president Louis Agnese stated after the switch:

“24 years ago … the student population was largely Anglo, Catholic and from the United States (more specifically, from South Texas).

“While today’s Incarnate Word remains grounded in its Catholic heritage, we now have students from many different Christian denominations as well as non-Christian faiths. The student body is approximately 60 percent Hispanic and African-American. Another nine percent of the students are international … representing nearly 40 countries, including several in the Middle East.

[We] wanted a symbol that would better reflect not just the university, but also the international component of our academic mission. So with much of the discord in the world generated by religious and cultural differences, the Crusader was not an appropriate image because of its historical ties to conflicts based on the very differences we’re trying to bridge.”¹

Community members submitted new nickname suggestions to UIW administration, who placed 46 of them onto an online poll to be voted on by students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Of those, “Cardinals” became one of four finalists, and from there, UIW administration picked it to become their new athletics identity. The announcement came in May 2004. More from Agnese:

“[We] decided the Cardinals were the most appropriate choice for us for several reasons, most importantly that, as birds, the Cardinals represent an ideal we promote – that a college education can make your dreams take flight.”

UIW’s mascot is a costumed cardinal named Red.

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1. Before you comment something like “Louis Agnese sounds based as hell”, I feel like I should also tell you that he was summarily fired from his position in 2015 after making Michael Scott-level comments regarding students of color.

At a luncheon, while Agnese was speaking to the crowd, he pointed out a Black student who wasn’t wearing school colors and told her “you’re lucky you’re Black, so you are, in a way, wearing Cardinal black”. He then asked if any Native American students were present and said, “Indian-red skin color would also count as wearing Cardinal red”. Later in the program, Agnese incorrectly referred to a Hispanic faculty member named Jaime as “José” and, when corrected, retorted, “close enough; you look like a José”.

Agnese insisted these comments were not offensive, but the president of the university board put out a statement apologizing for them anyway. Agnese then threatened to sue him before I guess someone told him that would be a bad idea.