The Board of Trustees will meet this week against a backdrop of ethnic tension to consider resurrecting the Marquette Warriors.

According to Director of University Communications Bridget O'Brien, the Board of Trustees is meeting to discuss a number of topics. The possibility of changing the team name from the Golden Eagles back to the Warriors will be on that list of topics.

A group of faculty and Mitchem Fellowship Committee members wrote a letter to University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild and the Board of Trustees formally opposing the change. According to the letter, the committee is named for honorary degree holder Arnold Mitchem.

The group includes Associate Professor of Theology Christine Firer Hinze, School of Education professor Robert Lowe, Associate Professor of English and Co-director of Honors Program Heather Hathaway and Biological Sciences Institutional Bio-Safety Committee Chair and Office Research Compliance Professor Jim Courtright. The letter was sent to faculty members to ask if they wanted to go on record to oppose the change.

The letter highlights the reasons for the name change, which include: a commitment to diversity, a consideration and respect of current and future Marquette minority students and a respect for the culture and religion of these minority groups.

"Our commitment to uphold the university's mission by promoting justice and diversity on campus, which is shared by many other faculty, staff and administrators, compels our opposition," the letter said.

The history of the name goes back to 1953 when the team mascot was called "Willie Wampum" and the team name was the "Warriors," O'Brien said. The university changed the name because it believed the name and mascot to be offensive to American Indians, according to the letter.

The mascot wore American Indian attire and traditional dress at games and on the team's logo, according to the letter.

O'Brien said the university administration changed the name to the Golden Eagles in 1994.

Board of Trustee member Wayne Sanders re-opened the debate at the commencement ceremony in May. During his commencement address Sanders said he and another board member would each pay $1 million if the Warriors team name was restored.

The letter said such organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the American Anthropological Association, the National Education Association, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church as organizations agreed that the name and mascot were offensive.

Marquette Student Government entered the debate when they decided to survey students about the name change pending the Board of Trustee's discusion, MUSG President Tim Lefeber said.

The Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday, according to O'Brien.

Students have mixed feelings.

"I'd say that people are used to the Golden Eagles now so why should we change it?" said College of Communication sophomore Rheanna Martinez, president of the Multicultural Association of Communication Students. "We've already gone through it, and the Warriors name creates too much controversy. We don't need that extra problem."

Mark Hope, sophomore in the College of Engineering would like to switch.

"I would like to see it switched back to Warriors, but I mean it's not like we'll get more applications just because we switch it back. They shouldn't do it if they're just going get a million dollars."

Freshman in the College of Communication Evelyn Bohan doesn't think students care as much about the name.

"I don't see why it should be changed back to the warriors," she said. "I also think that because it has not been the Warriors for such a long time, many of the current students don't even know that it's an issue."

O'Brien said no definite plan will be reached at this meeting.