In a move lauded by many American Indian activists, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Executive Committee presented its policy concerning colleges' and universities' use of American Indian mascots on August 5.
Beginning in February 2006, the new policy will effectively bar any NCAA-member school that uses "offensive or hostile imagery" from hosting championship events. In addition, the display of certain images and mascots, such as the University of Illinois' "Chief Illiniwek," will not be permitted in playoff tournaments.
The NCAA Committee on Minority Interests and Opportunities has been investigating the use of Indian mascots since 2002.
"When you look at sports mascots, they include animals, mythical beings, and Indians. But living and contemporary indigenous people have something to say when it comes to how we are represented," said John McKinn, Assistant Director of Native American House at the University of Illinois.
"I think Indian people don't want to be ridiculed, satirized, and denigrated, and that is why you hear our voices on this issue. Indian mascots are romanticized images of who Indian people are and have nothing to contribute to our contemporary issues," McKinn said.
Some college sports fans, including Florida Governor Jeb Bush, responded negatively to the NCAA's decision. Like many critics of the new NCAA policy, Bush believes the mascots honor American Indians, according to an interview published in the Miami Herald.
Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell believes the NCAA has overstepped its bounds, according the St. Petersburg Times. Wetherell questioned why the NCAA should not turn the ban on animal mascots or other cultural stereotypes, such as the University of Notre Dame's "Fighting Irish."
Prominent Native journalists and activists such as Suzan Harjo and Tim Giago have responded that those like Wetherell miss the larger point, which is the question of agency in appropriating Indian names, rituals, and practices for entertainment purposes.
Notre Dame's web site, for example, acknowledges that the majority of students and alumni of Irish heritage have not expressed complaints over the school's mascot, "Fighting Irish."
"Imitation, it is said, is the highest form of flattery. But when it is viewed in the eyes of those being portrayed as hostile and abusive—no matter how well-intended—imitation becomes the lowest form of disrespect and insult," said NCAA President Myles Brand, in an editorial for USA Today.
"A major part of [the new NCAA guidelines] is aimed at initiating discussion on a national basis about how Native American Indians have been characterized and, in some cases, caricatured," Brand wrote.
Eighteen schools will be affected by the new policy, with one notable exception: The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Because UNC-Pembroke was founded to support the Lumbee Indians, their mascot, the Braves, will be allowed to stand.
University of North Dakota President Charles Kupchella issued an open statement to the NCAA on August 12, one week after the guidelines were issued, questioning the association's use of the terms, "hostile" and "abusive." Kupchella says he has no plans to retire UND's "Fighting Sioux" mascot or name, and will appeal the NCAA decision.
Yet, according to anti-racism student group at UND, Building Roads Into Diverse Groups Empowering Students, (BRIDGES), more than 21 American Indian organizations and departments on campus, along with more than seven Lakota, Dakota, and Sioux tribal groups, have repeatedly called for the removal of the name.
While FSU and UND begin filing their appeals applications, other schools, including Southeastern Oklahoma State University, have begun to reevaluate the meaning of their longstanding tradition of using the "Savages" as a school mascot.
