Texas Christian University’s mascot — the endangered, indigenous horned frog — is one aspect of campus tradition that Native American students easily identify with.
“A mascot does have meaning,” especially to indigenous students carrying the weight of their ancestors, says Annette Anderson, whose roots are Chickasaw and Cherokee. Her words are quoted in a book about TCU’s efforts to incorporate Native American perspectives into campus life and the university curriculum. “Imagine my relationship with the university if the mascot was the Apache, the Indians, or the Warriors.”
The horned toad is actually a lizard, an 8-inch-long reptile with bony spikes on its head. It is a survivor, the subject of colorful stories. It can shoot blood from its eyes. Its image is painted on ancient Southwestern pottery and chiseled into prehistoric petroglyphs that line Texas canyons…