The controversial naming of the SMU mustangs on Thursday, Aug. 26 has sparked antagonistic feelings in the student body.

The debate begun last academic year by the donation of the mustangs seems to have been incited again by the recent naming ceremony.

Instead of uniting the student body, the naming of the new mustangs has resulted in dissent for a variety of reasons.

While there are students like Mayela Trespalacios who are mostly ambivalent about the naming of the two mustangs, many others are opposed.

Some, like Sofia Miro, state that they would have preferred “more festive names.”

Dedman II Senator Alex Ehmke wishes that “the mustangs had been given a name that is more unique to SMU.” Daniel Windham agrees.

They believe that “Liberty” and “Justice” are cliché names with no distinct relevance to SMU.

President’s Scholar Daniel Lopez claims that the names “Liberty” and “Justice” are “tacky and unoriginal.”

He believes that the root cause of the problem, however, is not the names. “This is clearly just an attempt to coerce students into accepting the mustangs as mascots,” he explains.

Peruna handler Chris Manthey could not agree more. 

He strongly asserted his refusal to go to the ceremony, and he hopes others made the same choice.

He explained, “This is just another attempt to push these horses on the student body, to make them more accepted.”

Furthermore, he and fellow Peruna Handlers were incensed by the e-mail invitation to the naming ceremony sent earlier this week to the entire SMU community. According to him, the issue is simple: “It’s not really SMU’s mascot. I hope people see what they are trying to do.”

Feelings in defense of Peruna, the university’s historic mascot, are strong as a result of the recent naming ceremony.

Whether the student body will accept the mustangs remains to be seen. Integrating them into the SMU community might turn out to be a more challenging endeavor than anticipated.