Eighteen colleges whose nicknames or mascots refer to American Indians will not be permitted to hold National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament events unless they change their nicknames or wipe out images of American Indians in their facilities, NCAA officials said today.
Colleges on the list -- which include Florida State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of North Dakota, all of which have refused to change their American Indian team names -- also will be barred from NCAA-sponsored postseason tournaments unless they remove what NCAA officials have deemed to be “abusive or hostile” references to American Indians from their uniforms.
The NCAA’s decision, which was announced at a news conference this morning, was reached by its Executive Committee on Thursday, following a four-year study of the issue. Colleges that wish to appeal the new policy must do so to the committee by February, when the uniform restriction takes effect.
Institutions whose facilities have American Indian images and are scheduled to play host to NCAA postseason events must cover up those images starting next February. By 2008, institutions must get rid of the images if they want to hold postseason events.
The new rules do not prevent colleges from using American Indian nicknames during regular-season play and will affect only the few institutions with facilities large enough to handle NCAA postseason events. Those disparities led some critics of racial stereotyping in sports to criticize the NCAA for failing to banish inappropriate images of American Indians from the field of play.
“The NCAA has missed an enormous opportunity to correct a longstanding wrong in intercollegiate athletics,” said Stephen J. Kaufman, a professor of cell and structural biology at the University of Illinois, in an interview today. “The NCAA is sending a very clear message that they are indifferent to Native Americans and to their own nondiscrimination and diversity policies.”
But T.K. Wetherell, president of Florida State University, whose “Seminoles” nickname has received support from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, took the NCAA to task for considering any change.
In a statement released after the NCAA’s decision, Mr. Wetherell said the university was “stunned at the complete lack of appreciation for cultural diversity” shown by the association.
“That the NCAA would now label our close bond with the Seminole Tribe of Florida as culturally hostile and abusive is both outrageous and insulting,” the statement said.
Other college officials lamented the high cost of covering up American Indian images in their athletics facilities. At the University of North Dakota’s $100-million Ralph Engelstad Arena, the scheduled site of an NCAA postseason hockey competition next spring, hundreds of images of its “Fighting Sioux” logo are emblazoned into marble, rock, and the center of the gymnasium floor.
Under the new rule, the university must get rid of those images, said Phil Harmeson, senior associate to the president. The cost, he said, could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The NCAA’s new policy affects the following colleges and universities:
- Alcorn State University (Braves)
- Arkansas State University, main campus (Indians)
- Bradley University (Braves)
- Carthage College (Redmen)
- Catawba College (Indians)
- Central Michigan University (Chippewas)
- Chowan College (Braves)
- Florida State University (Seminoles)
- Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Indians)
- McMurry University (Indians)
- Midwestern State University (Indians)
- Mississippi College (Choctaws)
- Newberry College (Indians)
- Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Savages)
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Illini)
- University of Louisiana at Monroe (Indians)
- University of North Dakota (Fighting Sioux)
- University of Utah (Utes)
Background articles from The Chronicle:
Opinion:
