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Opinion: Moral outrage over use of Indian mascots
Monday, November 23, 2009
Filed Under: Opinion

"A North Dakota judge will hear arguments next month in a case of political correctness that has embroiled the state university for a number of years.

In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced a complete ban on hosting post-season competition by 18 colleges that were using Indian mascots, logos or nicknames. The ban was to become effective in February 2006.

The NCAA made an assumption, jumped to a conclusion and adopted the politically correct viewpoint that using Indian heritage in such a manner was "hostile and abusive." The problem, it appears, is that no one bothered to check with the assumed aggrieved parties to determine if they were truly offended. Since the original announcement, the NCAA's political correctness offensive encountered the stiff defense of several universities and common sense.

The college sports governing body backed off its strident and absolute demand after learning that some Native American groups endorsed use of their tribal names by their adoptive schools. The NCAA relented and gave the go-ahead for Florida State, the University of Utah and Central Michigan University to continue using Seminole, Ute, and Chippewa, respectively, without the risk of facing the post-season ban.

Sensitivity toward the use of Native American symbols goes back a few decades. In the early 1970s, Stanford University and Dartmouth College jettisoned the nickname "Indians." Stanford chose as its replacement mascot the innocuous color, Cardinal. Dartmouth went so far as to select a dark shade of green formally known as PMS 349 and frequently referred to as Dartmouth Green as its official school color to complement its nickname of the Big Green."

Get the Story:
Mark Hyman: So Sioux Me (The American Spectator 11/23)

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