On Thu, 10 Feb 1994, Greg Sorenson wrote:
 
> My question was going to be, what is the current debate on
> these campuses regarding their nicknames? I guess that
> still is the question, actually.
 
Three years ago at Merrimack the staff of the school paper changed the
name from "The Warrior" (which is also the athletic nickname) to
something else.  The campus literally erupted into a furor at the time
(well, the alumni did) because it was perceived on campus that we (the paper) were seeking to
eliminate the Warrior from the sports teams, as well.
 
We changed the name not *just* because we felt the use of stereotyped
images of native americans for an athletic team or a newspaper in a
region from which those people had been driven was a little unfair, but
because the paper needed to change its image.  We felt it was not
unreasonable to give the newspaper an identity separate from the athletic
teams'.  Many schools do.  Many don't.
 
 
>
> I seem to recall U-Minnesota and Wisconsin announcing,
> a few years back, that they would no longer schedule games
>  against teams with politically incorrect nicknames, with
>  the exception of traditional rivals and conference opponents.
>  This sounded like an empty gesture to me...if you want to
>  make a ballsy stand, forfeit the games to the Sioux! (Like
>  Gopher football would ever be stoooopid enough to
>  schedule Florida State...)
>
You're right, that sounds like a spineless position to take.  Riding
current trends, though, is a current trend... I guess.
 
> The article Mike uploaded seemed typical for a region of
> the country not particularly known for a tradition of racial
>  tolerance (busing, anyone?). Massachusetts high schools
>  still use many Native American nicknames, and aren't under
>  much pressure to change because, well, the Indians were
>  all but wiped out of the region quite some time ago.
 
Which is, of course, the point.  Some argue that the use of Indian names
and so forth in some way commemorates them.  I'm not entirely convinced.
Use of the name "Merrimack" as a derivative of native american place
names seems certainly proper to me.  However, many of the mascots and
team nicknames aren't in the same vein-- tomahawks, war-painted faces, or
names that are little more than racial slurs-- "Redmen" and such.  That's
not an Indian term.  At the least, that simply takes one aspect of Indian
culture, the warlike aspects, and blows it out of proportion until that's
all that's left.
 
Merrimack uses "Warrior" along with an Indian head, but I have argued
before that the word "Warrior" itself is not of Indian derivation, and is
in itself appropriate for athletic teams.  IMO, the thing to do would be
to keep the name and discontinue the Indian head logo.  Last year, I
thought Merrimack was going to do that, when they began using a stylized
Warriors logo made from the same typeface that the San Diego Chargers
use.  Those who have been to Volpe Center may have noticed it under the
ice.  However, the Indian head still appears on the Zamboni and in a few
other places.
 
 
> It sounds like Mass-Lowell took the right path by allowing
>  the university community to CHOOSE the switch, rather
>  than having it dictated by an outside group. That's the
>  path my present employer will take, if and when we
> ever stop using our PI nickname.
 
That is also true.  The initiative to stop a tradition that may be
insensitive needs to come from within an institution, not from outside
it, and not just from the top down.
 
David M. Josselyn
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