Seventeen 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 eliminate images of American Indians in their facilities, NCAA officials said in August.
Colleges on the list -- which include the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of North Dakota, both of which have refused to change their American Indian team names -- will also 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 announcement caused a furor on several campuses and has already led the NCAA to reverse itself in one instance. The association initially included Florida State University on its list but last week said the college may continue to use its “Seminoles” nickname at NCAA events because the Seminole tribe of Florida does not consider it offensive.
The NCAA’s decision to limit the mention of American Indian mascots at some colleges was reached by its Executive Committee following a four-year study of the issue. Colleges that wish to appeal the new policy to the committee must do so by February, when the restriction takes effect. As of last week, Florida State was the only college to have appealed the ruling, but other colleges are expected to do so soon.
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 on cheerleaders’ uniforms at 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. Football teams will not have to change their uniforms, because the NCAA does not sponsor the season-ending bowl games.
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 biology professor at the University of Illinois and frequent critic of colleges’ use of American Indian images. “The NCAA is sending a very clear message that they are indifferent to Native Americans and to their own nondiscrimination and diversity policies.”
‘A Slippery Slope’?
Officials at some colleges think the NCAA’s ruling goes too far. The University of North Dakota plans to fight the association’s rule, said Phil Harmeson, senior associate to the president.
But North Dakota, whose nickname is the Fighting Sioux, might have trouble persuading the NCAA to remove its name from the list, Mr. Harmeson said, because the two Sioux tribes in the state are split over whether the college should be permitted to use their name.
“Can you see the slippery slope the NCAA is going down?” Mr. Harmeson said. “Somebody at the NCAA has got to get at the real issue here: Are any human images hostile? Once they get at that issue, then we can move on.”
One reason North Dakota officials want to be excluded from the list: the high cost of covering up images in their athletics facilities. At the college’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 emblazon the walls and gymnasium floor.
The cost of getting rid of those images, Mr. Harmeson said, could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Besides Illinois and North Dakota, the NCAA’s new policy affects the following colleges and universities: Alcorn State University (Braves); Arkansas State University (Indians); Bradley University (Braves); Carthage College (Redmen); Catawba College (Indians); Central Michigan University (Chippewas); Chowan College (Braves); Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Indians); McMurry University (Indians); Midwestern State University (Indians); Mississippi College (Choctaws); Newberry College (Indians); Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Savages); the University of Louisiana at Monroe (Indians); and the University of Utah (Utes).
http://chronicle.com Section: Athletics Volume 52, Issue 2, Page A65
