High Schools To Keep Names, Drop Native American Mascots

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Since this is always a favorite topic due to our name change many years ago.  A number of high schools in Connecticut have been addressing the issue in 2015.  Below is the decision and compromise made in one town.


http://www.courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-west-hartford-board-of-education-native-american-mascot-policy-options-0318-20150317-story.html

West Hartford High Schools To Keep Names, Drop Native American Mascots
By Suzanne Carlson

March 17, 2015, 9:41 PM

WEST HARTFORD — The school board voted Tuesday to allow Conard and Hall high schools to continue using the Chieftain and Warrior team names, but eliminate all reference to Native Americans..

The vote came after a decades-long debate over the schools' use of the mascots, which had traditionally been depicted as Indian heads, flared up again this fall.

Controversy over the use of the names resurfaced after students led an anti-Semitic chant at a soccer game between the two schools, leading to a broader discussion about cultural sensitivity.
The issue has been widely discussed at board meetings and at a public forum held in February, with some arguing that the mascots are a deeply-held tradition to be protected.

Others said they felt the logos and related imagery, including sports pep clubs named the Reservation and the Tribe, are outdated and offensive symbols of institutionalized racism.

Board members Terry Schmitt and Bruce Putterman formed a subcommittee that devised three policy options for dealing with the mascot issue: keeping the status quo with additional education about Native Americans; eliminating the names and imagery entirely; and keeping the Chieftain and Warrior names but rebranding them as non-Native American symbols.

More than 50 people, including many parents and students, attended Tuesday's meeting to hear board members give their opinions on the various options, which were sharply divided along party lines.

Republicans Jay Sarzen and Mark Zydanowicz defended the use of the mascots, with Zydanowicz arguing that elimination "ignores the students, teachers and town residents' voices and sterilizes our Native American history."

Sarzen gave a lengthy speech in favor of keeping the mascots.

"Opponents may refer to this imagery as subtle racism, but that would be an opinion. Native Americans face many challenges, but racism as a result of high school nicknames and imagery is simply not one of them," Sarzen said.

But Democrats Tammy Exum, Mark Overmyer-Velazquez, Putterman and Schmitt said the Native American mascots have no place in town schools.

"I think in a multicultural community, in a nation that is slowly, over the last couple of years, awakening to the insidiousness of institutional racism, that cultural sensitivity has to trump tradition," Putterman said.

"It's just not acceptable," Schmitt said. "We stole the identity of these people and we didn't even bother to ask ... Just because decades later we ask permission doesn't make it right. It's still wrong. The decision was then, and still now, is based on a complete lack of respect. So, all the imagery and extra stuff has to go."

"Native Americans are not mascots. It is time for us to find other ways to celebrate and represent our schools, our athletes and all our students," said Overmyer-Velazquez.

Exum said that while some Native Americans may not be offended by the mascots, those individuals would not be negatively affected if they were discontinued.

"I choose the option that allows us not to be offensive," Exum said.

Ultimately, board members voted unanimously to compromise and allow the team names to remain, without any reference to Native American culture.

A final vote on the issue is scheduled for a special meeting on March 25, and Overmyer-Velazquez said that school principals will lead the effort to modify their logos and mascots by June 15.


Copyright © 2015, Hartford Courant

[StillWarriors]

No brainer. This is what we should have done.

[GOO]

No brainer. This is what we should have done.

If we wanted to be on the outs with the NCAA and if we never wanted to host any NCAA events.  That is my understanding. 

[MUfan12]

If we wanted to be on the outs with the NCAA and if we never wanted to host any NCAA events.  That is my understanding. 

In 2005, yes.

If MU would have kept the name and changed the logo in '94, they would have been fine.

[warriorchick]

My kids' high school nickname is The Maroons.  It is the oldest high school in the state, and they "borrowed" it from the University of Chicago over 100 years ago.

At some point, they decided to have a Native American Chief as their mascot, but of course, that is no longer the case.

Today, their mascot is --- wait for it ---- a maroon crayon.

[StillAWarrior]

<------



I'm happy with my kids' school...but assume that a change is inevitable.

[GOO]

In 2005, yes.

If MU would have kept the name and changed the logo in '94, they would have been fine.

Got it.  Opportunity missed, I guess.  I'd still take the Golden Warriors and call it a day if that opportunity was ever offered. 

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

If we wanted to be on the outs with the NCAA and if we never wanted to host any NCAA events.  That is my understanding. 

This is absolute nonsense.

[GOO]

This is absolute nonsense.

Here is the first link that came up on a web search.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ncaa-takes-aim-at-indian-mascots/

[WellsstreetWanderer]

Our high School is still the Warriors. they dropped the indian in a warbonnet and substituted an awesome lance with a feather dangling from it

[ChicosBailBonds]

Our high School is still the Warriors. they dropped the indian in a warbonnet and substituted an awesome lance with a feather dangling from it

So easy.....simple solution.   By the way, Westlake High School?

[keefe]

<------



I'm happy with my kids' school...but assume that a change is inevitable.

That looks like Spike Lee in a war bonnet

[WellsstreetWanderer]

So easy.....simple solution.   By the way, Westlake High School?

 yes

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

I think the consensus is that if we just went back to Hilltoppers, most people would not have had as much of an issue. We could have lived with that.

But I wonder what would have happened if we had a real debate about a new nickname, something original. "Golden eagles" is so deliberately stupid that it just invites outrage from people. It just seems in your face idiotic.

[swoopem]

<------



I'm happy with my kids' school...but assume that a change is inevitable.

That's the same logo as my high school, Brother Rice in Michigan. We're actually called the Warriors because our first principal was from Milwaukee and was a fan of MU.

[GOO]

If we went to the GOLD and had a gold crayon as our mascot, I'd take it over Golden Eagles. 

I'd take Golden Warriors with a golden crayon or a gold bar or gold paper as our mascot over Golden Eagles. 

I'd take no nickname and no mascot over Golden Eagles.  Just be Marquette. I'd actually like this, be different and just be Marquette.

And I am serious. 

[StillAWarrior]

That's the same logo as my high school, Brother Rice in Michigan. We're actually called the Warriors because our first principal was from Milwaukee and was a fan of MU.

That's pretty funny - pretty much a mirror image.  Looking at a GIS, I see that BR uses some color for the face, and I've never seen WJ do anything but a single color for the whole thing (although sometimes the background color varies).

Somebody definitely copied somebody.  I have no idea when WJ started using this logo, but I do see that BR is four years older.  WJ's secondary logo is a total rip off of Florida State's spear logo, so they definitely aren't shy about stealing logos.

[ChicosBailBonds]

 yes

Wow, talk about small world.  That was the high school I would have gone to if I attended public school.  The school was opened a few years before I went to high school, but I opted for Saint Bonaventure instead.   My sister went to rival T.O.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

T.O. still a good but friendly rivalry