Dear Editor: Re: Should SFU ditch its Clan name? Burnaby NOW, Sept. 22.
I am a Burnaby resident and have been for most of my 65 years. I completed all my schooling in Burnaby, including five years at university to become a teacher. Following that, I spent 35 years teaching in Burnaby. My post secondary education was completed at SFU. That’s Simon Fraser University, named after the explorer Simon Fraser, whose heritage was Scottish. Scottish families are called clans so we adopted that name for our teams to further honour Simon Fraser, along with tartans and our pipe band.
Miriam Webster definition of clan: a group of close-knit families especially associated with families of the Scottish highlands. This has nothing to do with any other clan except for the fact that certain people are trying to make an issue of it. SFU and the Clan teams are part of our B.C. and Canadian history. Why should we have to give up/change/negate our own pride of Scottish heritage because someone decides to take offense and tries to make it into something it is not?
Before people attack a facet of our history and try to force us to change it, perhaps they should learn more about it. Please, enough already.
Ila Appleby, Burnaby
