University of New Mexico students aren't too thrilled with their school's seal.

Davy and Ponce imitators hanging out.

Sad news for Ponce de León and Davy Crockett fans.

The University of New Mexico's school seal is being questioned by students for the awkward combination of a conquistador and frontiersman as representatives of the college. You know, the whole colonizer/killer/conqueror vibe sort of lost its luster a hundred years or so ago.

The startling angle to this whole issue is that all sides are approaching the conversation like, well, a conversation. No finger-pointing, no yelling, no arguing--just civil debate.

"This is a university," said Jozi de Leon, the university's vice president for equity and inclusion and no relation to Ponce. "This is the place where we should be having this kind of dialogue. We should be open to listening to the concerns of the students."

Okay, so de Leon is being all upstanding about it. But what does the president of the school have to say? He earned two degrees through the college after all, so it must be time to drop the hammer.

"It's a seal I have always known," President Bob Frank said. Cue the sledgehammer.

"I certainly understand that people may have different points of view," Frank continued. "If they want to talk about it, I am open to the conversation."

Wait-wait-wait a minute, this is not how American discourse works. Where is the verbal Molotov cocktail? The irrational vitriol toward one another? The Wolf Blitzer special report about America crumbling?

This sort of civility you expect from a knitting circle, preschool playdates, or Canada. Especially Canada, where they adorn everything with maple foliage, not conquerors.

Is New Mexico really New Canada?

This is what I'm suggesting.