Comments on Mascots, Indians and Adults-Only Cartoons

• Posted by George on December 27, 2006 at 12:25pm EST

• Too funny!

• Posted by jay on December 27, 2006 at 2:05pm EST

• It's hard to make people, especially alumni, happy when you change a nickname. Lehigh changed a perfectly good and politically correct nickname,Engineers,to Mountain Hawks, thus baffling most grads, including my brother, who had no memory of mountains or hawks from their time on campus

• Posted by Bill on December 27, 2006 at 4:25pm EST

• When will the NCAA quit wasting everyone's time and money with this PC uselessness. How much money are these schools having to spend to fight this, then give in, then create a new logo. How many students could have had tuition paid for the with amount spend because of this stupid crusade by Miles and his gang of do gooders.

  If only Miles and his PC buddies at the NCAA has some money. (Note the sarcasm) They could help the Native Americans that they say are so offended. I haven't heard of any money being sent to reservations from the NCAA to help with education. Maybe the NCAA could send a percentage of the licensing dollars to a Native American Education fund from these schools with the "bad names." A "bad name tax" if you will. We don't see any public service messages during a bowl game or the final four showing support for the Native Americans. Why? It would cut into the money taken in by commercials selling things like Dodge Dakotas, beer almost all of the student body isn't old enough to drink, and ultra violent video games.

  If a mascot is shown in a honorable way, what is offensive about it? If it is a cartoon Native American like the Cleveland Indians have, I can see it. But a noble Chief like North Dakota has on it's hockey jersey it not offensive.

  For all the schools that are left to make the mascot name change may I suggest the Soaring Neutrals, the Fighting Non-Offenders, or the Dispassionates. Surely none of these names will be turned away by the NCAA nor be confused with adult cartoons.

• Posted by Sue on December 31, 2006 at 5:20am EST

• There is no way to have an "honorable" Native American mascot.

• Posted by Susan Weisberger on January 2, 2007 at 8:25am EST

• As an IUP alum, I wish the university had taken this opportunity to not only choose a new mascot carefully, but also to rename the institution Keystone State U. Then we could stop explaining that it's not the IU in Bloomington. Give it another try-new name and new mascot.

• Posted on January 3, 2007 at 9:31am EST

• Why aren't any Americans with Irish blood in them upset about Notre Dame's "Fighting Irish" mascot. Aren't they afraid that they'll be stereotyped as short, loud, and green?
  I think its an honor to have a mascot in remembrance of one's heritage. It can also be a point of learning and a communication of cultures. It seems that the political correct crowd would rather we don't communicate with each other.
  The PC crowd needs to back down and allow diversity within the American culture. Everyone else needs to accept each other for their own unique heritage and respect their fellow human being, even if they came from a different background. Everyone is different and that's not a bad thing. It's a beautiful thing.

• Posted by Sam D. on January 3, 2007 at 8:25pm EST

• I find the comments interesting and enlightening. Sure, it is honorable to pay homage to the multiple cultures that make up the US. However, how can a predominantly Caucasian campus decide how to portray the culture of Native Americans? How is it noble to portray Native Americans by using singular symbols and images? This only furthers a stereo-type by portraying Native Americans as “one” when in fact there are many significant differences between the heritages and lineages of the many tribes—for example, different languages, different religions, different customs, etc. Hopi, Navajo, Seminoles, Lenape (the Indians that used to live in the Indiana, PA area—who, by the way, asked IUP to discontinue the use of the mascot 20 years ago) Pueblo, etc. are all different and to have one word and symbol represent them all is ludicrous. An analogy would be to have the nickname “Asians” and have one symbol that would equally and holistically represent Japanese, Koreans (North and South), Chinese, Malaysian, etc. Each of these are separate and unique cultures with their own histories, languages, values, religions, etc. How do you take one nickname and/or symbol and have it represent all of these cultures? I am positive that many Native-Americans don’t care about this issue of the NCAA…but, what about the individuals who do find it offensive? Should we just say, “Sorry, not all of you do, so deal with it” or do we make an adjustment. A true sense of diversity would be to embrace all of these different cultures and allow them to be represented fairly and accurately—not to further some stereo-type that is based on Hollywood images and misconceptions. For example, how is that we honor someone’s history and traditions by developing cartoon characters (aka, Cleveland’s, “Chief Knock a Homa, “Brave Tommy Hawk”) and having them lead cheers and run around to a laughing crowd? How is it an honor to have a nickname “Redskins” when that was the word used by explorers in a very derogatory manner? I am glad IUP made the decision and is moving on. Their selection a new mascot is good as well…and the real story behind that is the porn is 80% of the web!

• Posted by Homer Berkowitz at FSU Seminoles on January 9, 2007 at 5:10am EST

• I am a fellow IUP alumnus, now attending graduate school at Florida State University, which is home of the Seminoles. Their mascot is a Renegade Native American that rides around the stadium on a horse and carrying a big spear.

  Why does the NCAA find the IUP Indians not politically correct, when the FSU seminoles has no problem. To say that the IUP indians is politically incorrect would also infer that the name of the town is also politically incorrect (indiana). I agree with most of the previous comments that such scrutiny on IUP's mascot by the NCAA is uncalled for and discriminatory.

• Mascots, Indians and Adults-Only Cartoons
• Posted by David D on April 2, 2007 at 8:50pm EDT

• I tend to agree with Sam D. that while the majority of native Americans find it a non-issue, we should not offend the few. Therefore as an American of both Scottish and Irish descent who is highly offended at the negative stereotypes thereby connoted, I call on the NCAA to forthwith impose sanctions on the Edinboro University (PA)fighting Scots and the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

  From a Nittany Lion - wait! That's offensive to both native Americans and the PETA nuts.