Mascot issue proves to be a bear for IUP

Redskins. Indians. Braves. Savages. Seminoles. Warriors. Raiders.

Tomahawk chops, war paint, spears and feathers.

For decades those terms and accoutrements have been applied to sports teams and their mascots; in recent years some have been phased out, sometimes by student or public demand, sometimes out of concern of offending Native Americans.

At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the sports teams are called the Indians. But three years ago, after almost a decade without a mascot, the school's trustees voted to identify the teams with a bear. The bear is referred to as "Cherokee."

According to IUP spokeswoman Michelle Fryling, the name Indians was bestowed upon the school's sports teams in the late 1920s or early 1930s by a local sportswriter. The Indian mascot was first used in 1937. In 1991, it was decided to continue using the same name, but to abolish the Indian head mascot.

In 1999, IUP President Lawrence Pettit formed a task force of staff, administrators, alumni and students to talk about marketing and choosing a mascot "to build school spirit and identity," Fryling said.

The bear was recommended to Pettit, who recommended it to the trustees, who made the final decision. Pettit was in Harrisburg last week and unavailable for comment.

The students actually chose the name "Cherokee," Fryling said, as part of a contest to name the new mascot. She said the college band often plays the song "Cherokee," recorded by Glenn Miller, at school and sports events.

Cherokee appears on a link to IUP's athletic Web site, performing the various sports (swimming, football, basketball, etc.) of the school's teams. A student dons a bear costume and performs on the sidelines during sporting events.

The bear has proven confusing to some students, disheartening to others. Some students, and faculty, say they think both the team name and the mascot are inappropriate.

Corey Davis, 22, is a senior at IUP. A resident of Tunkhannock in Wyoming County, he was unfamiliar with the mascot controversy until he arrived on campus. He is a member of the school's Student Congress and of the Mascot Renaming Committee, what he described as a "self-selected" organization. He said the Indiana bear has not caught on, and "does not work for a number of reasons (including) marketing. We feel when that (mascot) change was made years ago, they should have gone the whole way and changed (the name as well)."

He said students were a little more active last year in trying to change the mascot, from bringing in speakers to having petitions signed. One petition, which he said garnered hundreds of signatures, was from students who vowed not to contribute to their alma mater if the name Indians was not changed.

"I feel that we've tried to work with (the administration) on every level," Davis said. "I don't think we are being radical. Yet we feel blocked at every step. They are not responsive to what the students want."

Davis said he does not personally find the Native American reference offensive, but said he has discovered that some Native Americans consider such monikers to "be poking fun at them. It needs to be changed to something realistic that people can get behind."

He said the mascot and its name are "not such hot button issues" this year, but said it is still a popular topic of student discussion.

Laura Cramer, Student Congress president, agreed. She said Pettit put her in charge of forming a committee to come up with a new name, and the group began meeting last semester. She said the most popular names submitted were the Bears, Crimson Thunder, the Miners, the Fighting Squirrels and the Red-tailed Hawks. She said she was then told that Pettit wanted the name Indians to be included in a survey, so she eliminated the Miners.

After an administrative review of the submissions, she said she hopes to make a Web site survey available to students sometime this semester.

"We decided we wanted the opinion of the entire campus," said Cramer, a senior from Stroudsburg.

"My feeling on the whole thing is that it's like ripping off a Band-Aid," she said. Changing the name and/or the mascot might make some students or alumni angry, but not likely for long.

She said some students are still confused. "I've had students say, 'But I thought we were the Bears,'" she said.

Cramer said she finds the name Indians racist, and thinks it's time for a change. "I think it might boost morale and do a lot for school spirit," she said.

As for the name Cherokee being selected by a student contest, she said, "Even though they'd gotten that name, I'm not so sure they should have used it."

She said she's heard some suggestions to call the teams' bear "Paws," but added that her own preference is the Fighting Squirrels.

She said, laughing, that the school "could do so much with that."

Phil Neusius, chair of IUP's anthropology department, said the department believes the "use of derogatory or stereotypical nicknames should be discontinued." He added that several faculty members have spoken out about the issue in public forums.

Several IUP students did not see the mascot issue as particularly divisive.

"From a political standpoint, maybe we shouldn't," said Amber Plowden, referring to the name Indians. "Maybe because I'm not a Native American, it doesn't offend me personally. I think if they were going to do anything with it, they should have changed both (name and mascot). But we have been represented by the Indians for so long."

Plowden, 21, of Pittsburgh, said the name Cherokee "preserves tradition. It's kind of cute."

"It's a good idea to have the bear named Cherokee," agreed Erin Gabrielson, 19, of Clearfield. "It keeps the (Indians) tradition. The name is not meant in an offensive way."

The Internet has several Web sites devoted to the use of Indian references for sports teams and mascots, sometimes listing those uses as acts of racism.

Various organizations have decried the use of Native American names for sports teams. The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Society of Indian Psychologists, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the United Methodist Board of Church have all supported the elimination of the "stereotypical " and "derogatory" use of American Indian names and images as mascots in sports and other events.

Locally, several high school teams still use such nicknames. Indiana High School teams are referred to by some as the "little Indians." Uniontown Area School District teams are known as the Red Raiders. Teams from North Hills School District are known as the Indians. Penn-Trafford teams are called the Warriors.

Tina Vojtko, spokesperson for the North Hills School District, said the teams have been known as the Indians for more than 60 years, and the name likely came from Indians who established themselves in the area.

She said she hears about the issue regularly, particularly on a national basis, but that locally she knew of no backlash against the name. "It's not meant to be derogatory," she said, but rather to represent "bravery and courage and all of those wonderful traits."

She said taxpayers in the Allegheny County district are involved in reassessment and concerned about their local taxes.

"They have bigger fish to fry," she said, than worrying about the teams' name or mascot.

"People are very tied to tradition here," she added. "We would have much more of an uproar, I believe, over changing it."

Scott Inglese is a principal at Penn-Trafford High School, where a student dressed like a warrior works with the cheerleaders to rouse spirit at school sporting events.

He said the warrior symbol has been used in the district since at least the early 1970s, when the Penn and Trafford districts joined.

"I don't know how the name came about or was selected," Inglese said. He noted that the area is famous for Bushy Run Battlefield, site of a pivotal battle between the British and Native Americans.

"I know there have been a couple of calls here and there (about the name), but there are no plans to change it," he said.

And in Uniontown, the sports teams have been known as the Red Raiders since before the 1930s, Superintendent Darrell Uphold said.

Uphold, whose great-grandmother was a Native American, said that history shows that Uniontown was part of the migration trail for the Cherokee and Catawba tribes.

"There is no movement, and no desire," he said, "to change the name."

In 1996, the Miami University (in Oxford, Ohio) board of trustees voted to end the use of the nickname "Redskins" for the school's sports teams.

"It was not as traumatic as some folks feared it would be," said Claire Wagoner, university spokeswoman. "We are named for a Miami tribe that now lives in Miami, Okla., and they requested (the name change)."

The university had used the Redskins nickname since 1931, a successor to the name Big Red.

Alumni and community members submitted 700 suggestions for a new nickname, and in 1997, the name "RedHawks," which is actually a nickname for red-tailed hawk, was selected. The team mascot, Swoop, is a red-tailed hawk, a bird common in southwestern Ohio, Wagoner said.

Wagoner said several forums were held about the name change, and discussions were under way prior to the Miami tribe's request. She said it was the viewpoint of many people on campus that teams and mascots "should not be named after humans."

On the other hand, she said, she still sees the occasional student wearing a T-shirt declaring "Redskins Forever."

Any fears that alumni would financially balk were quickly laid to rest. "Giving did not go down," she said.

Wagoner estimated that the cost for the name change was approximately $100,000, primarily for new uniforms.

Shippensburg University responded to a similar controversy in 1993 by changing its Red Raiders logo from that of an Indian to a ship. John Alosi, school sports information director, served on the committee pondering the changes.

He said that the former nickname dated back to the 1930s, but that its adoption had no Indian link. Former football players of that era said the "Red" referred to the uniform color. Sometime during the mid- to late-1950s an Indian logo was adopted.

Alosi said that he was unsure what prompted the adoption. He said a totem poll was erected in front of the old gymnasium at the time. He guessed the name may have stemmed from Shippensburg having been on the frontier during the French and Indian War.

In 1993 a committee formed to consider the logo and nickname. There was considerable support for "Red Raiders," he said, but it was decided to eliminate the Indian logo. Alosi said the term "raider" is defined as "a fast, lightly armed ship operating against merchant shipping." That logo ties in to the university's commonly applied nickname, "Ship." The new logo also had historical connections to the community, founded in 1770, in part, through town namesake Edward Shippen's money, made from shipping and related services.

At the time of the change, university President Dr. Anthony F. Ceddia stated, "My reason for this recommendation stems from the fact that it is difficult to continually justify the use of the Indian symbol while the university continues to stress both morally and philosophically the university's commitment to diversity, multiculturalism and human understanding.

"The university cannot in one situation speak to the appreciation and respect for others while utilizing an athletic logo that, regardless of our personal feelings, offends others. Unlike the Washington Redskins or the Atlanta Braves, Shippensburg University is not a business. It is an educational institution that has to teach by its actions, policies and values."