NCAA ban on mascots

[Dan_ref]

August 24, 2005
Florida State Can Keep Its Seminoles
By ROBERT ANDREW POWELL
There was never any doubt where the Seminole Tribe of Florida stood on Florida State University's nickname. The tribe helped university boosters create the costume for the Chief Osceola mascot, approving the face paint, flaming spear and Appaloosa horse that have no connection to Seminole history.

Yesterday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association agreed with the 3,100-member tribe and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, which had also endorsed the nickname. The N.C.A.A. removed Florida State from the list of universities banned from using what it called "hostile and abusive" mascots and nicknames during postseason play.

"The N.C.A.A. executive committee continues to believe the stereotyping of Native Americans is wrong," Bernard Franklin, the association's senior vice president for governance and membership, said in a statement. "However, in its review of the particular circumstances regarding Florida State, the staff review committee noted the unique relationship between the university and the Seminole Tribe of Florida as a significant factor."

A student dressed as Chief Osceola will ride bareback on the Appaloosa horse Renegade to midfield before the season opener against Miami on Sept. 5 in a ceremony indigenous to only Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.

"The N.C.A.A. recognizes the many different points of view on this matter, particularly within the Native American community," Franklin added. "The decision of a namesake sovereign tribe, regarding when and how its name and imagery can be used, must be respected even when others may not agree."

On Aug. 5, the N.C.A.A. executive committee issued the ban, which is scheduled to go into effect in February. The prohibition concerns logos, signs in stadiums, cheerleader and band uniforms, and mascots.

"It's not about an effort to be politically correct," Myles Brand, the president of the N.C.A.A., said in a statement when the ban was announced. "It is about doing the right thing."

Florida State's president, T. K. Wetherell, immediately protested the ban.

"That the N.C.A.A. would now label our close bond with the Seminole people as culturally 'hostile and abusive' is both outrageous and insulting," he said in a statement.

Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said, "The folks that make these decisions need to get out more often." He added that it was offensive to "the Seminole Indian tribe who support the traditions of F.S.U."

After an emergency meeting, the university Board of Trustees filed an appeal with the N.C.A.A. The hearing was held this week, and the decision was announced yesterday.

Because of the pressure from Florida State and other members, the N.C.A.A. said last Friday that it would consider appeals of the ban on a case-by-case basis. The ban would affect 17 other universities with American Indian nicknames or mascots, including Illinois (Illini) and North Dakota (Fighting Sioux).

Support for Florida State is obvious at the Seminole Tribe's showcase Okalee Indian Village in Hollywood, Fla. The village is a small, modern, concrete zoo on the site of the tribe's Hard Rock Casino, adjacent to an Improv comedy club. Under chickees, grass huts that fan out around a cooking pit, women sew patchwork dresses while sitting on garnet-colored nylon F.S.U. football folding chairs.

Seminoles descended from Creek Indians who lived by rivers in Georgia and Alabama. In the 1800's, the federal government torched trees and crops on Indian land, forcing hundreds of Indians south into Florida, where they mixed with aboriginal tribes. Thousands of other Indians were captured and forced to march to Oklahoma along what became known as the Trail of Tears. Continued conflict with the federal government pushed the surviving Seminoles farther down the Florida peninsula, into the Everglades.

The Seminoles are the only American Indian tribe never to sign a formal peace treaty with the United States. To celebrate this status, Florida State erected "Unconquered," a statue of the Chief Osceola mascot, outside its football stadium.

Tribe members survived for a time by selling otter pelts and alligator skins to white settlers in Fort Lauderdale and Miami. When South Florida tourism boomed in the 1920's, Seminoles capitalized by wrestling alligators for money. In 1979, the Seminoles opened the first casino on Indian land, ushering in what has become a multibillion-dollar industry operated by numerous tribes nationwide.

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida split from the Seminoles in the early 1960's, setting up a 33-acre reservation on the northern border of Everglades National Park, about 45 miles west of Miami. As an independent tribe with historical links to the Seminoles, the Miccosukee could have endorsed the N.C.A.A. nickname ban and forced Florida State to comply. But they did not want to.

"The Seminole name, it just makes you pretty much better," said one female Miccosukee, who had a "NOLES" vanity plate on the front bumper of her husband's Ford F-150. She refused to give her name; public comments are what tribal leaders are for, she said.

There are about 550 Miccosukee. Most live in a straight line of concrete houses along the Old Tamiami Trail. The houses overlook miles of sawgrass broken up by hammocks of pine and cypress trees. Fat gray clouds carry summer thunderstorms toward Miami. White herons glide among the hammocks, flying over deer, alligators and otters concealed in the grass.

Throughout the reservation, loyalty to Florida State is declared on mailboxes with "FSU #1 FAN" stickers, and on pickup trucks with vanity plates. A gold tomahawk leans against the facade of one house, next to a small concrete football player rushing over a field of crushed garnet stones.

Affection for the Seminoles is not absolute. Several houses feature University of Miami mailboxes and banners. Joe Cypress, who called himself an "original Seminole," lives on the reservation with his Miccosukee wife and said he had been a Hurricanes fan all his life.

"It don't bother me," he said of the Seminoles nickname and of his neighbors who support Florida State. "We coexist."



Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[Jurassic Referee]

Great story in the Chicago Tribune this morning....one that made me laugh out loud.

Visit the official NCAA sports website at:

http://www.shopNCAAsports.com/

If you click on various schools, you will find for sale:
1) A lovely Arkansas State Indians beanbag chair- complete with the Indians'logo.
2) For the fan of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, you can buy hockey shirts and wall clocks emblazoned with the face of the Fighting Sioux emblem.
3) And the best one.....for all of you Illinois fans out there, the NCAA is happy to announce that they have all kinds of merchandise available with the likeness of your favorite Indian chief on it-- Chief Illiniwek-- complete with painted face and headdress. You have your choice of bracelet charms, the actual bracelet for only $550, or a very nice headrest. The NCAA also wants to ensure that you are bringing your kids up politically correct too. To that end, they will sell you a children's book featuring Chief Illiniwek.

There's nothing posted anywhere on the NCAA web site that tells you whether if it's OK or not to wear all of this stuff they're selling to NCAA playoff games though. You may want to check that out before attending.

[rainmaker]

There was an article in the paper last weekend that said the NCAA will re-consider its policy as it applies to schools that went to the effort to gain the cooperation and blessing of specific tribes. I hope that is the case.

[TigerBball]

I am sure that the NCAA will forfeit their royalties from the sale of the hostile and abusive merchandise and give all the proceeds either back to the university, or in a donation to the native Americans to whom this merchandise is so offensive.