At 10:19 AM -0400 7/25/96, D.B. Erickson wrote:
> As to the impending(?) change of Miami's mascot, I find it to be just another
> chapter in the Political Correctness Handbook.
 
The big concern I have with regard to this situation is that it appears to
be a change in leadership that resulted in the Miami tribe pulling their
support.  The school, from what I recall before, had worked out an
arrangement that was acceptable to them and to the former tribe leaders,
but the new leaders have a different agenda.  It certainly does not look
good that the school has to be at the whim of whoever is currently in
charge of the tribe at any given time.
 
Given that, it might be best for the school to just change the name and be
done with the political aspect, not so much as a PC measure but more so to
end any chance that they might again be dictated to in the future like this.
 
The question is, how much should colleges allow themselves to be dictated
to by special interest groups.  UMass is a good example.  The school
changed its nickname many years ago from a Native American name to
Minutemen, which lasted for about two decades until it was claimed that
even that was offensive to Native Americans.  UMass held out and didn't
change, but that situation does point out why D.B.'s tongue-in-cheek
commentary might not be so tongue-in-cheek after all.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
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