Mascot news from the Chronicle of Higher Education today (below and here:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/tweed/old-sports-icons-never-die-not-these-ones-anyhow/28173?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en.
BTW, how do the Fighting Irish get to keep that name? Just sayin'.
Old Sports Icons Never Die. Not These Ones, Anyhow.
January 28, 2011, 3:16 pm
Way up north and deep down south, state legislators have introduced bills that would reverse the state flagships’ decisions to change nicknames, logos, and mascots that some people consider racist.
A proposal to overturn the University of North Dakota’s decision to stop using the Fighting Sioux as its team nickname sparked an impassioned, eight-hour debate in the statehouse on Wednesday, the Grand Forks Herald reported.
Members of the State Board of Higher Education, the Sioux Nation and the University of North Dakota Alumni Association showed up at a hearing of the North Dakota House Education Committee to debate getting rid of the name.
Several Native American students testified to the committee that the use of the name contributed to an atmosphere of racism and prejudice on the campus. Rep. David Monson, the Republican lawmaker who introduced the bill, said he thought the nickname and logo “show great honor” to the Sioux Nation.
The higher education board voted unanimously in late 2009 to drop the Fighting Sioux moniker, ending a four-year battle with the NCAA over its ban on the use of “hostile and abusive” imagery at sporting events. The university began the process of finding a new one last April.
The independent panel charged with finding a new nickname and logo is still in the process of making a decision. If the legislature doesn’t intervene, the transition will be finalized in August.
In Mississippi, Rep. Mark DuVall, a Democrat, introduced a bill to require the University of Mississippi to bring back Colonel Reb — a Southern gentleman who reminded some people of a plantation owner in the Antebellum South — as its official mascot, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis reported.
The university’s teams still play under the nickname “the Rebels,” but now use a black bear as the logo and mascot. The changes were made final last year, seven years after Ole Miss decided to get rid of the Colonel.
This legislation has little chance of passing however, as party leaders in the Mississippi House of Representatives have vowed not to consider it for debate. Kelvin Buck, House Universities and Colleges Committee chairman, said he didn’t want the legislature to waste time micromanaging state universities’ songs, logos, or nicknames.
“We’ve got too many important issues to deal with in higher education,” Mr. Buck said.
College athletics has a history of odd nicknames and mascots. Which ones would you like to see outlawed? Tell us in the comments.
—Derek Quizon
