(U-WIRE) SAN DIEGO — This week may be the beginning of the end of an issue that has plagued the San Diego State University community for more than three years. Or, it could mark the beginning of another three- year period for the only Division I school without an official university mascot.

Wednesday is the first of three days that students and members of the SDSU Alumni Association and Aztec Athletic Foundation can vote on whether they approve of the proposed Aztec Warrior put forth in University President Stephen Weber's referendum.

With the community learning about the referendum just three weeks ago, a lot of people have been left with questions.

Associated Students President Juanita Salas says Weber informed her of this referendum just hours before sending a mass e-mail to students informing them of the event.

"The president has stated that the only thing A.S. has done right in the past three years is have him make the decision," she says. "We've been waiting for him to make that decision for the past three years, and now, with one day's notice, he lets us know what the solution is in his eyes. That to me is unfair."

Weber says this referendum was not planned in secret, as some may believe. He says that since before the beginning of the semester, he has been saying he would have a student referendum on the issue and that he and Salas discussed it when she first came into office.

"We had been talking about having a referendum," he says, "but there wasn't any point in thinking very much more about it until we had a concept."

Weber says he received the concept of the Aztec Warrior just one week before announcing on Nov. 13 that there would be a referendum.

He also says another aspect was developing the capacity to do an electronic referendum.

"We happened to have both those things come together at the same time," he says. We had the capacity, which has never been tried before on this campus, and now we have the concept. If we were to not do it now, we would've had to have the vote during finals, which is not acceptable, or wait all the way until we get into the next semester."

In regard to the fact that he informed Salas of the revelations such a short time before informing the students, Weber says he talked to her immediately after deciding the referendum would be scheduled and that whether having the referendum was possible was a last-minute decision.

"We encouraged Weber to postpone until next semester until we have due diligence of more than one option," Salas says. "The council's position of no human representation is correct with this mascot issue. We've said it once, we've said it twice and we'll continue to say it."

Salas also says she feels there are a lot of issues with this referendum, one being the representation of faculty and staff. She says they have been involved in the process ever since the beginning, and Weber even took their recommendations in a resolution passed by University Senate in 2000.

"We all decided we were going to move forward with informed decisions," she says. "This to me is an informed decision only to those who favor human representation. An informed decision is what I consider taking everyone's opinion and finding compromise. Compromise is not what is being sought after at this university. Compromise is something that involves everybody. If you're going to take this issue to the masses, then you have to include everybody."

Weber says there are a number of reasons the faculty and staff are not voting. He says they, in fact, established the playing field by setting criteria for what the mascot should be, which are historically accurate and culturally appropriate. He says the issue beyond that in terms of how you give ownership is much more, in his judgment, a student and alumni issue.

"We can't have a mascot that's not embraced by our students and alumni," he says. "If you look at the number of employees we have and compare that to the membership of the student body, it's hard to find a proper way to weight that. The faculty established the criteria and it's been my job to fulfill those, and I think I have."

Regardless of the concerns many people, including Salas, have, the referendum is going forward as planned. Weber says he will be happy with the results, knowing both students and alumni had a voice in the issue. He says he wouldn't be holding a referendum if he didn't think the Aztec Warrior was a viable idea for an official mascot.

"I think if both sides of the referendum are positive, we'll proceed to implement this concept," Weber says. "If either party says no, we go back to the drawing board. If the alumni love it and students don't, we don't have a mascot and vice versa."

SDSU Alumni Association Executive Director Jim Herrick says the association passed a resolution supporting this referendum and the group is happy to have a voice in the matter.

"Alumni care about SDSU, and tapping into their expertise, intellect, networking and other resources makes our university so much stronger," Herrick says. "I do think they should have a voice in our traditions."

A.S. Executive Vice President Joshua Miller says he supports this referendum because one of his goals for running for office was getting the university a mascot. Miller says this referendum is almost to a tee what he was asking for in a resolution he authored at the beginning of the year.

"For me, this is great," he says. "This is what I wanted. This is what I asked for. This is the single best way to give all students the opportunity to speak their voice.

"My goal is to get a mascot and once this gets approved, we will have a mascot," he says. "My goal will have been met."

— Stephanie Bauerlein