In the summer of 2018, roughly two dozen professors at the University of Wyoming (UW) railed against the school’s new slogan, “The world needs more cowboys,” making claims that the term “cowboy” had racist, sexist, homophobic and genocidal undertones. But instead of backing down, the university’s Board of Trustees stood unwavering, voting unanimously to keep the slogan, and that decision paid off. As The Wall Street Journal reported:
The university bookstore sold out of “the world needs more cowboys” T-shirts the first week they hit the shelves. Responding to demand, the University of Wyoming put the slogan on other products and sold roughly 5,000 items in the first six months. Between July and December 2018, royalties were up $38,000 over the same period in 2017 as the school licensed 143 different products with the tagline to third-party vendors … A campaign ad video had half a million views online—nearly the equivalent of Wyoming’s state population. … Enrollment numbers won’t be in until later this year, but “it’s pretty clear there’s been an increase in interest,” spokesman Chad Baldwin says.
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