TIM GIAGO Colleges keep mascots; NCAA loses spine

Under pressure, the NCAA is folding one college at a time to the fanatics insistent upon retaining their Indian mascots.
The key letter in NCAA is the "C" for "collegiate." When it comes to sporting activities, it is the responsibility of the National Collegiate Athletic Association to work with and respond to the needs and requests of college students everywhere in America.
This must also include the 36 colleges based upon the sovereign grounds of the Indian nations. Without exception, every Indian-controlled college in this country opposes the use of Indians as mascots.
The National Congress of American Indians, representing more than 400 Indian nations, passed a resolution opposing the use of Indians as mascots. The Seminole Nation of Florida is a member of NCAI.
The National Indian Education Association, representing nearly every educator, principal, superintendent and student in the country, also passed a resolution opposing the use of Indians as mascots.
The representatives of all the Indian nations in North Dakota recently approved a resolution supporting the NCAA action against the University of North Dakota by asking that the "Fighting Sioux" nickname be changed. The resolution calls on the NCAA to deny an appeal by UND seeking an exemption from the new policy.
Promotes hostility
Now I ask those who think it is "traditional, cute or their God-given right" to use human beings as mascots consider the following: The Indian nations of North Dakota included in its resolution that the use of the "Sioux" nickname "promotes an atmosphere of hostility on the campus of UND that has resulted in numerous ugly incidents including beatings, vandalism, death threats and other incidents directed toward the American Indian students on campus and others who advocate for changing the name." Before a football game last year students from the opposing team held up posters that read, "The Sioux Suck."
While covering a protest of Native Americans prior to a football game at the University of Illinois, a college infamous in Indian country for its Chief Illiniwek mascot, I observed and photographed angry white Illini students and alumni spitting at and flicking lighted cigarettes at the Indian protesters. My question then and now is, how can educated people honor and praise an imitation of an Indian, a white boy dressed in costume, and be so vile to the real American Indians protesting their use as mascots for a sports event?
Let's consider some of the arguments I received by mail and e-mail after a previous column on mascots. What about the Fighting Irish? The University of Notre Dame, in its early days, was composed of many Catholic priests of Irish heritage. The school mascot was chosen from within by the Irish priests. At sporting events the "Irish" mascot does not depict the worst characteristics of the Irish people. The Fighting Irish sports fans are not waving whiskey bottles in the air as weapons or as a demonstration of a supposed Irish trait.
Now witness the fans at a Florida State University Seminoles game where fake tomahawks or extended arms are swept up and down doing the infamous "Tomahawk chop." This horrendous replication of violence honors Indians? Tell me how?
What about the Minnesota Vikings? There are no more Vikings. They are part of a history long gone. Steelers are a profession, Cowboys are not an ethnic minority, and -- yes, folks -- Packers is also a profession.
Un-American and racist
To use the color of a people's skin to celebrate a mascot is un-American, racist and a horrible example of ignorance. I ask anyone reading this column to look up the word "redskin" in any dictionary and they will find that the word is an insult to American Indians. Many of the Indian organizations I have mentioned in this article consider the word demeaning, racist and equivalent to the "N" word.
When I appeared on a national call-in radio talk show on mascots I experienced some of the most pointed hatred I have ever experienced in my lifetime. The one thing I learned is that some of the callers claiming Indian blood who were fully supportive of the use of Indians as mascots were generally from eastern tribes and when I in turn questioned them about their tribal affiliations I soon discovered that nearly all of them had been totally assimilated into the mainstream and spoke as non-Indians.
A caller told me last week that in the 154-year history of Florida State University, only two students of Seminole blood have graduated from that college. The caller, a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, also informed me that his tribe opposes the use of the "Seminole" name by FSU.
And so while the hierarchy of the NCAA is arbitrarily allowing some schools to be exempted from the recent ruling, I suggest that they at least hear the other side of the story before caving in wholesale. The powers-that-be at the NCAA must understand that the vast majority of American Indians rigidly opposed the use of Indians as mascots for America's sporting events. If one or two tribes think it is all right does that mean they then become the majority? Isn't this a nation where majority rules?
I suggest that the NCAA take a poll of the faculty and students at the 36 Indian colleges and then decide whether any college should be exempted from its prior ruling. As I said at the beginning, the "C" in NCAA stands for collegiate, not for collapsing in the face of controversy.