San Diego State endured a controversial mascot issue earlier this decade that created fierce debate and heated exchanges for more than three years. The nickname Aztecs came under scrutiny and the university even went 2 1/2 years without an official mascot.

The contentious process eventually resulted in the current Aztec Warrior mascot becoming unveiled 18 months ago, and the new image, determined by a task force to be historically accurate, likely kept San Diego State from being identified Friday as an insensitive university in the eyes of the NCAA.

On Friday, the NCAA executive committee went on the offensive and adopted a policy that prohibits NCAA members from displaying hostile and abusive racial/ethnic mascots or nicknames in NCAA postseason tournaments. Division 1-A football is excluded because there is no NCAA sanctioned tournament.

The new policy goes into effect on Feb. 1.

"Colleges and universities may adopt any mascot that they wish, as that is an institutional matter," NCAA executive committee chairman Walter Harrison said in an NCAA press release. "But as a national association, we believe that mascots, nicknames or images deemed hostile or abusive in terms of race, ethnicity or national origin should not be visible at the championship events that we control."

San Diego State was one of 33 universities asked to submit self-evaluations regarding the extent of American Indian imagery or references on campus. University president Stephen Weber outlined the steps San Diego State took in a letter dated April 27 to NCAA vice president for education services Ronald Stratten.

"San Diego State undertook an exhaustive review of its mascot during the 2000-01 academic year," Weber wrote.

"As a consequence of that review, San Diego State abandoned its 'Monty Montezuma' mascot as neither culturally nor historically defensible."

Weber was at the NCAA meetings in Indianapolis on Thursday. He wasn't available for comment Friday.

"There have been alums who have been tracking this and who had expressed concern that we'd be included," said Jack Beresford, SDSU's assistant vice president of marketing and communications. "It's good news that the NCAA agrees with us on our position."

The executive committee determined that 18 universities are subject to the new policy. Among the higher-profile schools still using American Indian imagery are Florida State (Seminoles), Illinois (Illini) and Utah (Utes).

Florida State president T.K. Wetherell was irate with the NCAA's ruling and said the university will pursue legal action. In a statement, Wetherell called the NCAA ruling "outrageous and insulting." The NCAA said that schools not meeting the policy won't be allowed to host any future NCAA tournament games. In the case of any previously awarded events, the school must cover up the logos and not display their nicknames.

San Diego State will host an NCAA men's basketball subregional in March at Cox Arena. Based on Friday's ruling, the university doesn't expect any problems although the teams assigned to the eight-team subregional won't be known until the Sunday prior to the start of tournament.

"We're looking forward to hosting the event," Beresford said. "It's the NCAA's issue, and we'll leave it to them on how to put it in motion. They will definitely run the show on the tournament."

Contact staff writer Mike Sullivan at (760) 739-6645 or msullivan@nctimes.com.