Seeing that the University of North Dakota is retaining its Fighting Sioux mascot for now in the midst of a controversy involving laws, the state constitution, and the NCAA I will take this opportunity to say I am confused by the matter of which Indian mascots are OK.
At the moment a lot of schools have changed mascots often going to something else red, see Miami of Ohio Redhawks and St. John’s Red Storm.
Then some schools have been able to keep mascots, most notably the Florida State Seminolles and the Utah Utes, under agreements with the tribes in question.
Then there is Illinois where I think they retired Chief Illiniwek and are now in a mascot free state surrounded by controversy. University graduates in the NFL when stating their university before games have been know to say “University of Chief Illiniwek” in protest over the chief’s forced retirement.
Normally I would support the idea that unless the tribe in question approves, the mascot should be changed, and if the mascot is a generic Redman, Brave, or even Savage then it should definitely be changed. However, this policy involves the NCAA, an organization whose multifarious picayune rules and sometimes random sometimes draconian enforcement strategies lead me to doubt any of its policies.
On the other hand…
One Mascot You Will See & Four You Won't (from "In Whose Honor")
These are of course the ruminations of someone who lives in the Greater Cleveland area, home of the Cleveland Indians and Chief Wahoo, perhaps the most annoying stereotypical mascot of them all. So I perhaps I should get work on getting my house in order before commenting on other mascots. I wonder if I can get opening day off to protest at Progressive Field?
