Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2000/10/30/the_mooses_national_rampage.php
Monday, October 30, 2000
Dartmouth College is the originator of many of the politically correct crowd's favorite initiatives—'a groundhog of sorts,' William F. Buckley called the College in these pages, 'a kind of PC super-vane, which tends to advise us seasons ahead of anybody else what it is we're to do in order to be upright.' Dartmouth took the lead in its intolerance of campus conservatives and hostility to ROTC programs, and now has launched an assault on fraternities and created special deans' offices exclusively for particular ethnic and sexual identities.
The College's most salient contribution to the movement, however, was the notion that it's unconscionable to retain an American Indian as the school's emblem. And so, despite student and alumni resistance, the Dartmouth Indian has been increasingly absent at Homecoming games.
Dartmouth changed its moniker from the Indians to the 'Big Green' in 1968—imitating its colorful Ivy League rivals the Harvard Crimson and Cornell Big Red—and, from there, the thought police began a march across academe.
Other schools around the country have also changed Indian-related nicknames to more PC names within the last few decades.
Stanford, Syracuse, Miami-Ohio, Marquette, and Nebraska-Omaha have all changed from an Indian mascot to the Cardinal, Orangemen, Redhawks, Golden Eagles, and Mavericks, respectively. Some work better than others—the Stanford Cardinal with a tree mascot isn't much different from the Dartmouth Big Green's moose.
Nationwide, activists are trying to rid the country of what are ostensibly derogatory nicknames, such as the Chiefs, Braves, Warriors, Redskins, and, of course, Indians. They are achieving only limited success, however, and meet much resistance from alumni and concerned students. Many argue against the changing of Indian monikers for sports teams because the emblems are respectful and honor the group; many Indian tribes, in fact, ardently defend the universities. Others cite ethnic mascots such as the Vikings, Fighting Irish, or Quakers, which are not considered derogatory, and contend that 'Indians' is no different.
Since the professional squads are under no pressure to change their names as long as they remain profitable, the major battlegrounds for the debate are in the nation's high schools and colleges.
Several high profile cases among public universities have occurred at Florida State, the University of Illinois, San Diego State University, and the University of North Dakota.
Activists at Florida State claim the name (Seminoles) and actions of the school degrade the Seminole Tribe—which ignores, of course, the fact that the university adopted the Seminoles as its official mascot only with the support and blessing of the Seminole Tribe itself.
'We are proud to be Seminoles, and we are proud of the Florida State University Seminoles,' says James E. Billie, Chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. 'We are all winners.'
Other Indian groups have tried to force Florida State to change its mascot, but the university says it won't change as long as the Seminole Tribe of Florida supports them. 'Let other tribes solve their own problems,' suggests Jim Milton, president of the FSU Alumni Association.
At the University of Illinois, the situation is more complicated since there is no official Illini body, the tribe having been devastated by intertribal warfare long ago. The campaign to change UI's nickname started in 1989 when a Native American graduate student attended a basketball game and felt that the Illinois mascot, Chief Illiniwek, 'took away' her identity.
The movement against Chief Illiniwek claims that the mascot and others like it are a form of racism that has ruined the educational environment for Native Americans.
But others claim that it's the anti-mascot activists who create the hostility and tension. Businesses that painted the Chief on their windows have been routinely vandalized, and several people burned the mascot off the middle of the football field in 1989. Supporters of the mascot are threatened in and out of the classroom.
The anti-mascot movement also trumps other (more important) problems. The American Indian Movement, an activist group, urged a Native American women's shelter to reject a $2,000 donation from a pro-mascot group at UI.
A similar debate rages at San Diego State University, whose athletic teams are called the Aztecs. A recent meeting by the university's student council resulted in a 22-8 vote against the current mascot, leaving the decision in the hands of SDSU president Stephen Weber. Weber withheld judgment, saying he would let the discussion continue so he could gather the opinions of numerous students, faculty, and alumni.
The Aztecs became the campus symbol in 1925, and the image is visible nearly everywhere on campus—from students' clothing to university buildings. Officials at SDSU have not publicized an estimate of the cost of changing the mascot, though the prevailing opinion is that it would be considerable.
In Grand Forks, North Dakota, the debate over the use of the Fighting Sioux by the university reemerges year after year, even as the defenders of the mascot think it has finally been settled. The protesters usually focus on the university's hockey team. Hockey is the only NCAA Division I sport in the state and the North Dakota team is the defending national champion.
Protesters gather around the arena before a selected home game in the spring, usually one that has a significant impact on the conference or national playoff picture.
The university has yet to give in to the protesters, despite the student council president's opposition to the use of the Fighting Sioux.
And it is unlikely they ever will, thanks to distinguished alumnus Ralph Englestad. Englestad is the largest benefactor of the university, and is single-handedly financing the new state-of-the-art arena for the school's hockey team—scheduled to open by 2002. There is one condition, however: the university must retain the Fighting Sioux name for its sports teams or else all of Englestad's money disappears—and the new arena along with it.
The mascot battles are not limited to colleges. High schools around the country face some pressure to change their athletic names as well. Removed from the strange world of the academy, though, most efforts to change team names don't receive much support.
In Winchester, Massachusetts, for example, voters overwhelmingly supported keeping the Sachem nickname—83 percent of voters voted to keep the appellation in a recent referendum. Voters, in a pro-mascot backlash, also elected school board members who supported keeping the nickname.
It appears that no major name changes will happen this year, but the activists continue to push, and one will likely see more changes in the future. But 'Big Green' alumni can take pride in Dartmouth's status as the progenitor of this branch of the political correctness movement.
Wah-hoo-wah!