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 [log in to unmask] GO MERRIMACK! GO ARGUS! /\ / \ /(*) \ / \ /________\