-
Another ‘Green Energy’ Failure?
May 2, 2012 | 57 comments
-
A Peek Into the World of Fangirling
February 21, 2012 | 54 comments
-
Man vs. Beetle
November 1, 2011 | 45 comments
-
Draft Koss for President
June 1, 2011 | 116 comments
-
An Inconvenient Truth: A Fifth Anniversary Tribute
May 17, 2011 | 61 comments
The Nation's Pulse
The NCAA Political Correctness Witch Hunt
Luckily, the Fightin’ Whities are going strong.
Now in its seventh year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s battle with the University of North Dakota may be reaching a final conclusion. In 2005, the NCAA announced a complete ban on hosting post-season competition by 18 colleges that were using Native American mascots, logos, or nicknames. The ban was to become effective in February 2006 (TAS, November 23, 2009).
The college sports governing body backed off its strident demand regarding some schools after learning that Native American groups endorsed use of their tribal names by their adoptive schools. The NCAA relented and gave the go-ahead for Florida State University, 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.
However, the NCAA continued its feigned moral outrage at the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname. The association was unmoved by the fact that the nearby Spirit Lake Sioux tribe and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe bestowed the Fighting Sioux nickname on the university in perpetuity during a pipe ceremony held on the UND campus in 1969 and tribal members actively campaigned for the school to continue to use the nickname.
There is seemingly no rhyme or reason to how the NCAA compiled its lists of Native American mascots, logos, or nicknames that the organization found acceptable and those that were deemed offensive. Consider, for example, Bradley University and the University of North Carolina-Pembroke. Both schools use the nickname “Braves” yet Bradley landed on the NCAA banned list and UNC-Pembroke got a free pass.
The most recent development in the NCAA-North Dakota battle was a federal lawsuit filed by Spirit Lake Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux tribal members. The plaintiffs requested a reversal of the NCAA ban and monetary damages. In May, U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson dismissed the suit, ruling the tribes had no standing in the matter.
This political correctness wackiness is not restricted only to the NCAA and colleges. The Oregon state Board of Education recently ruled that all public schools would have to cease using Native American imagery and nicknames.
Earlier this year, the students’ choice of mascot for the Corner Canyon High School was axed by the local school board. Located in suburban Salt Lake City, Corner Canyon is a new school set to open in the fall 2012. Students slated to enroll in the school overwhelmingly voted for “Cougars.” However, the board felt the name would be offensive to older women (Cougar is a slang term for older women who are attracted to younger men) and instead gave the school the nickname “Chargers.”
Opponents of Native American imagery claim its use is racist and offensive. Eager to prove this point, minority students at the University of Northern Colorado in 2002 adopted the nickname “Fightin’ Whities” for an intramural team that was complete with a logo depicting a Ward Cleaver-like character. The students were confident Caucasians would be in uproar over the offensive moniker. In fact, their effort had the opposite effect. The logo and nickname were wildly popular with whites and a nationwide demand to purchase the t-shirts emblazoned with both led to robust sales and profits of more than $100,000. A thriving business continues 10 years later.
Perhaps the most obvious example of how absurd this witch hunt has become is illustrated by the NCAA’s position that the University of North Dakota’s “Fighting Sioux” is offensive while the University of Notre Dame nickname “Fighting Irish” is not.
Illustrating the college sports governing body’s hypocrisy in this matter are the scores of schools among the NCAA’s more than 1,200 members that have mascots, logos, and nicknames that identify with race, ethnicity, or culture that the NCAA has deemed acceptable. These nicknames include: Aggies, Aztec, Braves, Cavaliers, Colonials, Cornhuskers, Cowboys, Crusaders, Diplomats, Dons, Dutch, Dutchmen, Flying Dutchmen, Engineers, Fightin’ Engineers, Fighting Irish, 49ers, Friars, Gaels, Gauchos, Generals, Highlanders, Indians, Jaspers, Knights, Leathernecks, Lumberjacks, Miners, Missionaries, Monks, Muleriders, Norse, Ole Miss Rebels, Oilers, Orediggers, Paladins, Pilgrims, Pioneers, Poets, Quakers, Ragin’ Cajuns, Railsplitters, Rebels, Redmen, Rivermen, Saints, Savages, Saxons, Scots, Fighting Scots, Sooners, Spartans, Texans, Tribe, Trojans, Vikings, Warriors and Yeomen.
UPDATE (6/13/12): CNS News reports that North Dakota voters on Tuesday approved scrapping the University of Dakota’s “Fighting Sioux” nickname.
About the Author
Mark Hyman hosts “Behind the Headlines,” a commentary program for Sinclair Broadcast Group. You can follow him on Twitter at @markhyman.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (51) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Mark Hyman
More Articles From The Nation's Pulse
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/06/12/the-ncaa-political-correctness
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- The Demise of Money and Credit
- The End of the Castros?
- The Vast and the Tiny
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
mike 3/505| 6.12.12 @ 6:38AM
NCAA probably should devote more of its time to developing student athletes with some sort of moral sense, rather than getting embroiled in this useless controversy. It sure would be nice to have a whole week pass, without hearing about some professional athlete (product of the NCAA) being arrested for drugs, battery or sexual assault. Priorities.
TLP| 6.12.12 @ 4:08PM
Two words.
Tech School.
Quartermaster| 6.13.12 @ 7:37AM
NCAA should lose it's tax exemptions for engaging in political activity. It should be retroactive to the time it started the witch hunt.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 6.12.12 @ 7:00AM
There is nothing more humorous than watching liberals create solutions when there aren't any problems.
Appleby| 6.12.12 @ 7:09AM
Perhaps somebody could bring up the idea that by banishing the mention or depiction of any Indian Tribe or its members, Whitey is sneakily trying to erase the very knowledge that there ever were any such people as Indians. That oughta fire up the tom-toms, eh?
Maybe they could start focusing instead on the fact that most athlete-students can do everything with a baw-ell except autograph it.
fmm| 6.12.12 @ 7:18AM
I vote that some school use "Craven Politicians" as a nickname to see if any one notices.
DTOM| 6.12.12 @ 7:24AM
I notice that the Fighting Illini were omitted by Mr. Hyman.
There are no surviving Illini "Indians." They were all massacred around 1802.
I have friends at Florida State and was often amazed at how much FSU 'gets away with' so much seemingly-politically-incorrect stuff at the apparent expensive of the Seminoles. They explained that the University engages the surviving 'Noles to make sure that they do not offend them. And this seems to be working.
Unfortunately the U of I's Chief Illiniwek could not avail himself of the support of the Illini heirs, as there are none.
Oh, yea, they were massacred by the Shawnee, not white people...
Don't Tread On Me...
Albert Constantine Jr.| 6.12.12 @ 8:21AM
One might think that a team which desired to be perceived as threatening or successful might be more tempted to identify as "The Fightin' Shawnees" instead of the losing side.
Al Adab| 6.12.12 @ 11:16AM
Once in my many travels I came upon a High School far up on the Navajo reservation near four corners at the town of Red Mesa. There the local high school proudly proclaims itself, "Home of the Red Mesa Redskins". If the Navajos have no problem with such, why should any of us second guess the matter?
lost| 6.12.12 @ 2:49PM
The ones who have a problem with it are those who make themselves feel superior with faux moral causes
Hardcard| 6.12.12 @ 8:45AM
Isn't that elizabeth warren's uncle "two tongues willie" on that indian head logo?
TLP| 6.12.12 @ 4:10PM
Yeah.
One 32nd of that picture is him
Cobalt| 6.12.12 @ 8:50AM
Amazing! UNC-Pembroke gets a free pass. Why?
UNC-Pembroke was organized as The State Normal School for Indians in 1887. Today, UNC-Pembroke still proudly serves the Lumbee Tribe, as well as the general public.
What do prominent Native Americans, such as Elizabeth Warren, think about this issue? After all, she claims to be 1/32 Cherokee. However, some people question the validity of Ms. Warren's claim to Cherokee ancestry, and others think she might be a desendant of Chief Yellow Snow of the Natural Light Tribe.
Occam's Tool| 6.12.12 @ 2:09PM
Ms. Warren is known as Princess Albino Wolf.
Cobalt| 6.12.12 @ 2:46PM
Warren is also known as "Fauxcahontas".
TLP| 6.12.12 @ 4:12PM
She's a SLUT, a fake, and a Phoney, like ALL Liberal Whores.
KyMouse| 6.12.12 @ 10:00AM
Many moons ago, when I was in high school, our teams were the Rebels. Team logos depicted an irritated Southerner in a gray uniform, carrying the Confederate battle flag.
Some years later, the school changed his clothes and took away his flag. Now the Rebel wears a tri-cornered hat, carries a Kentucky long rifle, and longs to shoot some Redcoats.
The moral in our case was, I suppose, keep the mascot -- but change the war.
Occam's Tool| 6.12.12 @ 2:08PM
Yeshiva University is "The Fighting Maccabees." But of course.
TLP| 6.12.12 @ 4:13PM
I thought they were The Fighting Attorneys?
Peppermint Tea | 6.12.12 @ 10:16AM
"The Oregon state Board of Education recently ruled that all public schools would have to cease using Native American imagery and nicknames."
Uh-oh. My high school has the "White Buffalo" as its mascot. Being 1/4 Native American, the community chose the mascot "white" due to the Native American prophecies of a White Buffalo. I wonder if anybody has told the state board that this is blatant Native American imagery. Probably not, if the idiots on the Oregon Board of Education ever considered the White Buffalo, they would think it is a racial nod to whitey.
Col Bat Guano| 6.12.12 @ 10:37AM
Dang! I'm getting me one of them Fightin' Whities t-shirts. Hopefully I don't get shot wearing it!
TLP| 6.12.12 @ 4:15PM
I've got a "Fighting Rednecks" shirt, if you want it.
ahab| 6.12.12 @ 11:21AM
On which side of this issue does "Lying Squaw", Elizabeth Warren come down on?
TW in SC| 6.12.12 @ 2:05PM
Not sure, I'd have to look it up but her Native-American name, I think is, "Moccasin In Mouth".
Seriously, the names of college sports teams has long been a tradition in this nation and I was pleased to find out years ago that the Native Americans thought it a good thing.
topcat| 6.12.12 @ 11:30AM
The most amusing incident along these lines was the University of Massachusetts. They were originally named the "Redmen," but the PC crowd deemed this offensive to Native Americans. So they changed to "Minutemen." The same PC crowd denounced this as "glorifying" white men.
Bill84728| 6.12.12 @ 11:56AM
"Cougar" is a slang term for older women who are attracted to younger men?
I didn't know that. Now that attention has been called to the nickname, I now know something I didn't know before and don't find particularly rewarding to know now.
Thanks PC types, for bringing that little tit-bit of new knowledge to my attention. Had I continued ignorant for the rest of my life, I would have lost nothing by it. Oh well, you put your long noses in something and now you need to rub my nose in it. Thanks a lot.
Bill84728| 6.12.12 @ 12:01PM
So I suppose "The Fightin' Fag Hags" is a no-no for the Wellesley lacrosse team, right?
TLP| 6.12.12 @ 4:16PM
I'm thinking: The Fighting Bull Dykes.
Petronius| 6.12.12 @ 12:01PM
I have no brief for academic institutions. But I'd love to see some school field a team called the Raging Skinheads just for effect. Maybe a Manhattan high school can have the Bitching Occupiers. Let Georgetown dump their mascot in favor of the Activist Amazons. I doubt the boys would mind since they can't say anything anyway.
RAM| 6.12.12 @ 12:04PM
What would the PC folks at the NCAA make of this team name if this was a college and not a high school:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ent.....e-1.226275
RAM| 6.12.12 @ 12:07PM
By the way, when I attended Stuyvesant HS, one of the intramural bowling teams was the Brutal Demons.
Who Knows?| 6.12.12 @ 12:25PM
Hey, the name matters!
The high school I attended, Roosevelt, was know as the Teddies. I’ll never forget the time at the state basketball tournament, when the few of us at a game were exhibiting the old school spirit by singing,
“Fight for, fight for, Teddy High,
That’s the thing to do.
You can’t give up,
You’ve got to try!”
This dude from another school mocked us---the “Teddies”! What a wuss of a name!
Then, it was on to the U of Oregon, whose nickname, the Ducks, was roundly scorned, in particular when we went to play at Oregon State—ducks, not a ferocious cougar!
Bad old identification, differentiation and desire, always bite us, and bite back.
By dint of being born to specific parents in a specific place at a specific time, with everything that implies---especially all the ALREADY adopted cultural norms, including school nicknames---one must THEMSELVES adapt, going forward.
Ergo, Christians are born to Christians, Muslims to Muslims, etc etc---except for the rare few who get the relativity of ALL OF IT.
“I” am not a Teddy or a Duck, any more than “I” am a Tiger or a Trojan.
Or else, “I” am as much a Beaver as I am a Duck, despite the fact I never attended Oregon State.
I am an American. I am a human. At least I THINK so.
KyMouse| 6.12.12 @ 1:58PM
Maybe your team would have gotten more respect as the Big Sticks. "Beat 'em with a Big Stick -- go, team, go!"
Teddy's Big Stick hunting rifle is on display in Louisville's Frazier International History Museum, by the way.
I disagree that "Christians are born to Christians." A Christian is anyone who puts his faith (obedient trust) in the Jesus of the Bible as God, savior and lord of his life.
Being born to Christian parents, putting up a Christmas tree, being baptized, belonging to a certain denomination, going to church -- such cultural or external things are no substitute for personal faith in Jesus. And that requires a personal decision. Pertinent verses include Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:8 and John 3:14-18.
2Anglico| 6.12.12 @ 1:38PM
It is funny how organizations who try not to offend anyone wind up offending the hell out of loyal fans. NCAA and NFL rule changes are going to ruin football. The 3 point shot has ruined basketball (along with no traveling being called and no charging). Layer this PC baloney on top and you have a real s..t sandwich. Sorry, not hungry.
Occam's Tool| 6.12.12 @ 2:10PM
Hillary went to Maine Township East for High School for a year or two (graduated from South, I believe). The mascot for Maine East is The Demons. Fits, no?
TLP| 6.12.12 @ 4:18PM
The Fat Assed Demons, seems a better fit, to me.
TLP| 6.12.12 @ 4:18PM
It's a Fit.
It's just a Tight Fit.
lost| 6.12.12 @ 2:31PM
What about the Marquette Warriors? They changed their nickname because it is offensive to native americans . When did warrior become specific to native americans? Then there is a high school in the same state that has student body that has high percentage of native americans that had to change their name. Guess which group fought to keep their nickname and mascot? Yup the group that was supposed to be offended.
cicero| 6.12.12 @ 2:43PM
The comments by my fellow bloggers were better than the article. What a riot. I think we have reached the point where we have to start tearing down colleges, and disbanding oversite commissions before we all die from laughter. Either that, or have the equivalent of a "Three Stooges Commission" on each campus to lampoon silliness as it happens, and before it gets entrenched into the educational (?) culture.
Petronius| 6.12.12 @ 3:04PM
Soittinly! Nyuk x 3.
Bob S| 6.12.12 @ 3:36PM
If you think this is bad, just wait until the uproar over injuries in football hits the NCAA the way it did the NFL. The PC and don't offend/hurt anyone culture is ridiculous.
I agree that the NCAA shouldn't get in the business of banning schools based on their name, except on Florida State. They can rot.
Disclosure: Gators Fan.
Cobalt| 6.12.12 @ 4:56PM
Perhaps the Leftists PC advocates will make the NCAA do like some youth teams do, and stop keeping score during games, in order not to hurt anyone's feelings, or bruise anyone's self-esteem. No one could shout or make negative comments during the game, and everyone would have to hug when the game ended.
Of course, the occasional metrosexual hissy fit would still be allowed.
drofdarB| 6.12.12 @ 4:12PM
In between Highlanders and Indians he left out Hoosiers. We're people too!
Skippy| 6.12.12 @ 4:24PM
San Francisco's Castro District's HS team is named(or should be)The Screaming Queens.
Chicago schools could use The Marauding Thugs.
Richmond Ca. is ready for The Chalk Outlines.
Morley| 6.12.12 @ 5:34PM
What about the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest?
Ronsch| 6.12.12 @ 6:49PM
too funny today...My HS are the West Lafayette (Indiana) Red Devils...Back in the 1920's they were called the "River Rats."
Is Purdue going to have to stop using "Boilermakers" because of the reference to the alcoholic drink, as opposed to people who manufacture boilers? Actually, i think Purdue has switched on some clothing from "Purdue Pete" (who looked like a brawny ironworker) to a steam locomotive.
Appleby| 6.12.12 @ 9:36PM
Hockey has the Chicago Black Hawks. I am not sure if they ever had any Indians on their team, though. The LA Kings had one (Gary Sargent , called "Sarge", from Bemiji MN) in the 1970s, and so did the Boston Bruins; I have forgotten his last name, but his first name was John and they called him "Chief". The Buffalo Sabres are not Indians, but they had a coach, Ted Nolan, who was.
I suppose one day they'll abolish names and insist that we give the teams numbers.
Dean V| 6.12.12 @ 11:26PM
My favorite team nickname is the Ishpeming (Michigan) Hematites, in the heart of the UP Iron Range.
bartlebee| 6.13.12 @ 1:50AM
If anybody wants to contact the NCAA, their headquarters are located in INDIANapolis, INDIANa.
ChuckL| 6.14.12 @ 6:10PM
How do we convince both the NCAA and politicians that nicknames for schools are chosen for reasons that honor the name chosen as being that of a strong, honorable, and desirable group? This nickname ban is even worse than the "excess celebration" penalty for expressions of joy for a good move. This is especially bad when one considers that the "Delay of game" penalty would solve the problem of excessive delay in line up for the next play.