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Thursday, October 20! 1994
UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
RESPECT: Mascot debate continues
Continued from Page 1A
earliest memories growing up in Oklahoma was of Little Red, a costumed, comic Native-American character who lingered on the sidelines at University of Oklahoma football games.
Oklahoma did away with Little Red in 1970, but the memory remains, he savs.
"Why, if you are an institution of higher learning, do you use stereotypical images?" says Means, a Lakota Sioux.
Put another way, would KU and its students object to playing teams with names such as the University State Negroes or the Northern Timbukto Fighting Chinks? What if the Fighting Chinks' fans used "Chop-chop" as a rally cry, or the Negroes' fans used
the "Watermelon Chop?" Somebody might put a stop to it, but nobody spoke up in August 1993 when KU's football team faced the Florida State Seminoles and its Tomahawk Chop. For Means and many other Native Americans, it amounts to the same racism.
The issue of Native-American mascots began not at the gates of the Washington Redskins' stadium but on college campuses — still the effort's most important ideological battleground, organizers say.
"Most of us have seen a lot of activity around college campuses," Means says. "And the changes that occurred because of that inspired parents and the American Indian Movement to get involved."
Assuming any minority has a mono-
little stance on an issue is dangerous. To assume that about Native Americans is ludicrous. Several nations have passed resolutions or otherwise shown support for universities that use their likenesses as symbols. Just two weeks ago, Ottawa University, which is 27 miles from KU's campus, reinstated Diego, a costumed Native-American mascot, with the aid and blessing of the Oklahoma Ottawa tribe. Diego was pulled in 1971 for fear he was a stereotype of Native Americans.
Ray Favre, instructor at Haskell and a Mississippi Chocotaw, hears all sides of the issue from his students in his Native-American current issues class. He says television shows images of white spectators, wearing feathers and paint, yelling and drinking alcohol.
"The students feel it simply reinforces a stereotype a lot of people have of Indians," Farve says.
The college movement to do away with Native-American mascots has seen successes
Mascot names "Indians" is the most common Native-American mascot name among the nation's universities and junior colleges.
Indians 26
Chiefs 12
Braves 11
Redmen 6
Apaches 4
Redskins 2
Chieftains 2
One each:
Tribe, Sun Chiefs, Super Chiefs, Tomohawks,
Fighting Sioux, Chootaws, Silwash, Chippewas,
Seminoles, Fighting Illini,
Brown Indians, Artecs,
Pequots, Mohawks.
In the early 1970s, Stanford University switched from the Indians to the Cardinal, and Dartmouth College switched from the Indians to the Big Green. The issue then went dormant on campuses until the late 1980s — about the time political correctness debates were breaking out over a wide range of sensitivities.
Should a mascot be retired if only a small group is offended? What would KU do, a University of Illinois official asks jokingly, if the
Source: The National Directory of College Athletics
Audubon Society got wind of the Javahawk?
Supporters, who call the mascots "symbolss," say they tailor the symbols to make them as as noninsulting as possible.
Noah Musser/KANSAN
"We'll retain the name and use it with dignity," says Terry Wanless, the athletic director of the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. "It brings a positiveness to the Native Americans in the area."
Some Native-American mascots
eventually will pass away. Some will survive by dignifying their symbols. And some will continue to offend Native Americans.
"When it comes to people doing things in the stands, like cheers and the Tomahawk Chop, they shouldn't do it," says Mike Primus, Haskell sophomore and an Oglala Sioux, as he huddles in his jacket during the recent Haskell game. "Some of those things have meanings they don't realize."
File Photo / DAKOTA STUDENT
Above: North Dakota State University students mock the University of North Dakota's team—and mascot—during a North Dakota women's basketball game.
Right: Chief Illiniwake performs at halftime at a University of Illinois football game.
RESPECT OR RACISM?
File Photo / DAILY ILLIN
October's bad weather and the smell of sugar beet processing plants mean homecoming in Grand Forks, N.D.
— the time for floats, parties and the beginning of hockey season.
But two years ago, it was the time for dissension and a renewed debate about the Fighting Sloux, the Universi-
tv of North Dakota's mascot
ed the removal of the Fighting Sioux as North Dakota's mascot, claiming that its presence inspired such moments of intolerance.
Members of the University of North Dakota Indian Association were ready to perform traditional dances during the 1992 Homecoming parade. But as they waited for the parade to begin, fraternity students waiting with them began to mock the Native Americans, giving them the Tomahawk Chop and telling them to go back to the reservation.
But mascot incidents have continued to pop up. In late 1969, a fraternity created an ice sculpture of a pair of female breasts with "Lick 'Em Sioux" written across it
"There always will be incidents," says Bill Gourneau, a counselor for North Dakota's Indians into medicine program and a co-founder of the anti-mascot group Students Organized Against Racism. "I'll never die as long as the name remains."
ne association and its supporters promptly demand-
And in 1699, the university even received permission from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to use the Fighting Sioux as its mascot.
In 1930, North Dakota changed its mascot from the Flickertails to the Sioux after prompting by the campus newspaper. Letters printed in the Dakota Student suggested the change because the Sioux were "a proud race." Sioux also were adept at killing bison, the mascot of cross-state rival North Dakota State University.
that inspired blues between Sioux students and the sculptors. And in the winter of 1975, another ice sculpture, of a Native American with a grinning face and large nose, caused renewed demands to drop the masque.
In January, Native-American students at North Dakota spoke out when North Dakota State students showed up to a women's basketball game in Grand Forks with the words "SIOUX SUCK" written across their T-shirts.
"When you have an Indian mascot, you're giving your opponent ways to dehumanize them," says Mike Saunders, a part-time instructor in Indian Studies and a Cherokee.
But North Dakota wants to fight that mentality, says Terry Wanless, athletic director. After the 1992 homecoming incident, Kendall Baker, North Dakota president, conducted forums and met with mascot opposition leaders. He convened a committee to study the mascot issue. He also created lessons on multiculturalism for students and on Native-American culture for the athletes who carried the Sloux name.
North Dakota also reevaluated team symbols. Wanless said the university settled on a less-caricatured symbol, a stylized profile of a Native-American face. It stopped using the Blackhawk, a smiling Native-American profile still used by the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team.
But North Dakota will not budge on the name itself In 1993, the administration rejected a petition to drop the name signed by more than 1,000 of North Dakota's 11,000 students. About 300 Native Americans are enrolled at North Dakota, one of the highest percentages in the nation.
"There's a segment of people who don't agree, but I don't think it's shared by a majority of people or a majority of Native-American people." Wanless says.
But division of opinion does not mean the symbol is appropriate. Gourmand says
"As Indians, we're held up to this higher standard," Saunders says. "Unless we're in 100 percent agreement, we can't win."
Chief Illiniwek can't seem to find a welcome.
The universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota won't let the Chief, the University of Illinois mascot, appear at games. This year, the University of Iowa will stop welcoming him as well. Each university has decided it no longer will schedule athletic events against universities with racially insensitive mascots or symbols, including those depicting Native Americans.
But they schedule the Fighting Illini because all four universities belong to the Big Ten Conference and contractually have no choice in the matter.
So the three universities simply told Illinois that the Chief had to stay home
Chief Illiwkew was born in 1926, when the illini had no mascot to perform at halftime to complement Pennsylvania's William Penn. So Lester Leutwil, a band member interested in the culture of the Sioux, dressed himself
The Chief attends road football games only once or twice each year anyway, Illinois officials say. But the bans raise the ire of Chief supporters and underscore the prediction of both supporters and detractors that the Chief will eventually die a quiet death.
in the garb of a Lakota Sioux and performed a dance at halftime.
Today, the Chief strides onto the football field or the basketball court at halftime and performs a dance.
The image stuck.
Chief Illiniwek has kept Tony Rodriguez, a graduate student and a Mescalero Apache, away from football games. He went once, he says, but the spectacle of the Chief was just too much.
The spectators drink before the game, dress up in Native-American costumes and perform the Tomahawk Chop. In the parking lot before the game, fans put on headaddresses and let out war yelps.
"They take this picture of a dancing Lakota Sioux Indian and say, 'This is the image of all Indians,'" says Rodriguez, a representative of Native American Students, Staff, and Faculty for Progress.
Rodriguez and other members of the group have protested at home games for the past five years. But in 1980, the Board of Trustees voted 7-1 to keep the Chief.
"This university kept faith with native people who made sure the Chief was never a caricature," says Levy, who as vice chancellor defended the Chief. "Sometimes that meant blowing the whistle on some businesses who
Stan Levy, who was vice chancellor of student affairs until the summer, says the protest began at a point when the university's control over its own mascot had slipped.
were using the Chief in a derogatory manner. Then the university got sloppy."
But Illinois, which had 65 Native Americans enrolled this fall, has taken steps to curtail the offensiveness of the Chief, says Alexis Tate, associate director of public affairs for the Illinois university system. She says the university also has cut down on the number of times the Chief makes appearances.
Among the merchandise available in 1988 were foam tomahawks and Chief Illiniwek toilet paper.
"He never did open used car lots or anything like that," says Tate. "But we've limited him even further to only halftime at football and basketball games."
Tate also says that looking at the Chief as an offensive mascot is missing the point. Younger undergraduates are encouraged to try out to be the Chief, and students who become the Chief usually stay until graduation. The Chief actor then is sent to spend a few days with Native Americans, who educate the student on spirituality and current issues.
But regardless of how anybody feels about the Chief, he probably will disappear within the next 20 years. Tate says. The Chief's core of loyalty is with older alumni. The younger generations attend fewer football games. Therefore, she says, the next generation of Illini alumni won't be as attached.
"He's not going to go in some cataclymic act," Tate says. "He's just going to slowly go."
File Photo / DAILY ILLINI
Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign protest the school's continued use of the Chief Illiniwik mascot
For sale for a limited time:
an official Florida State University National Championship Seminole Scalp.
protest the university's use of the Seminole as its official mascot. To emphasize his point, he marked them with the emblem of the Scalphunters, Florida State's independent booster club.
The scaps — bits of hair glued to fake skin — were on sale at a men's basketball game last January. Paul Anthony Olive, an art student at Florida State, made and sold the scabs to
Olive, posing as a Scalphunter salesman, set up his booth outside the Tallahassee, Fla., Civic Center. He sold the scalps for $5 and handed out fliers explaining the scalps.
"A lot of people looked at me and just walked by," Olive says. "But a lot stopped, too. I felt it was a good way to prove a point."
Olive sold two scalps before the police appeared. They arrested him for solicitation without a permit, and Olive eventually paid a fine.
As the defending football national champions, Florida State has the highest-profile Native-American mascot in the NCAA. The Torahawk Chop, now used by many professional teams, was born in Dork Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. But protests didn't begin there until 1983, after guest speakers openly criticized the mascot.
The first was Michael Haney, a member of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media. In a series of appearances in 1992, he denounced the Seminole and its images. He was especially critical of Chief Osceola, a costumed northern plains Native American who rides out on a pony and plants a flaming spear at the 50-yard line during halftime.
Although the vast majority of the university still supports the Seminoles, a loud and active minority appeared at games at the beginning of the 1993 season. But Seminole fans weren't receptive. Near the end of the year, fans beat several protesters.
The protests grew from that point.
Then came Olive, whose protest was aimed at the Scalp hunters in particular.
"Things suddenly clicked with me," says Olive, now a graduate student at Florida State. "Irealized this wasn't just 'fun.'"
Florida State officials say Chief Osceola and the Seminoles are respectful of Native Americans. University administrators have publicly separated the university from the Tomahawk Chop and have created a task force to study the issue. Chiefa James Billie of the Seminole Nation of Florida and Jerry Haney of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma both have publicly supported the use of the Seminoles.
But William Means, president of the International Indian Treaty Council in Minneapolis, says the Seminoles have no reason to protest Florida State's use of the mascot. He says the Seminoles, who are native to Florida and once traveled in boats through the Everglades, don't resemble the Florida State symbol or Chief Osceola.
The Seminole people, I argue, only support that because Osceola looks like a Lakota Sioux, he says.
Beverly Spencer, vice president of university relations, says Florida State is comfortable with the use of the Seminole. She says because of the renewed attention on the subject, the Scalphunters are working with the Seminole nation to pick a new booster club name. She says the name will be Native American and reflect the service role the Scalphunters perform in the community.
"We work with the Seminole tribes," Spencer says. "We make sure everything we do is in good taste."