From fighting ferrets to fighting okra and red hawks to red wolves, Southeast Missouri State University students, staff and fans have submitted over 800 suggestions for a new nickname and mascot to replace the Cape Girardeau school's traditional Indian nickname.

Some have proposed golden eagles -- the name of the school's marching band. Another suggestion is to call teams the copper domes, a reference to the dome on the school's historic Academic Hall.

An unidentified student said in an e-mail to the school that okra is "the meanest vegetable known to man."

Another suggestion is the fighting squirrels, complete with a "Ninja squirrel" as a mascot; or crusaders with a Batman mascot.

The list goes on: Mud cats with a catfish mascot; explorers; steamers with a steamboat mascot; walnuts; storm; and cardinals.

The cardinals and red wolves have been mentioned frequently on the list of suggestions submitted online to the committee.

It's all part of an effort by a university committee to retire the Indian and Otahkian nicknames for the men's and women's athletic teams and replace them with one that can be better marketed and doesn't demean American Indians, school officials said.

Committee members acknowledge that some of the proposed names are more humorous than serious suggestions. But they say it's all part of the process.

"What we are trying to do is get as many people involved in the process as we possibly can," said Diane Sides, director of university relations and a member of the committee.

A 17-member committee of faculty, staff, students, alumni and boosters, appointed by school president Dr. Ken Dobbins and chaired by health and recreation professor Ed Leoni, concluded last month that the Indian nicknames should be retired. That decision follows similar recommendations reached last year by the school's National Alumni Council and student government and narrowly in February by the Boosters Club board of directors.

Unlike the other groups, Leoni's committee is charged with finding a suitable replacement nickname and mascot. "We are trying to build an identity," he said.

Dobbins has said he won't recommend that the regents scrap the Indian nicknames unless there is a replacement name and mascot that has widespread support by the university's employees, students and fans.

Leoni said he hopes the committee can make a recommendation to Dobbins in May and the board of regents can consider the matter in June.

Sides said the suggestions will be narrowed, hopefully to a top five or top three by the end of April in order for the committee to conclude its work in May.

Public input then will be sought on those names before the committee makes any final recommendation to the school's president, she said.

Indian history

The Cherokee-inspired nicknames have been used for Southeast sports teams at least since 1922. The men's teams are referred to as the Indians. The women's teams are nicknamed the Otahkians, a reference to the legend of a Cherokee woman named Otahki who died near Cape Girardeau on the Trail of Tears forced march to the Oklahoma territory in the 1830s.

Don Dickerson, a Cape Girardeau lawyer and president of the board of regents, believes many Southeast Missouri fans and residents don't want to give up the Indian nicknames. Several of those offering suggestions on a university Web page have urged the school to keep the traditional names.

While the Web pages lists a wide variety of possible nicknames and mascots, Dickerson said he hasn't seen evidence that a majority of the residents in the region served by the university want a name change.

"One thing that troubles me is the whole concept that there is something demeaning about using the Indian name," said Dickerson, a graduate of both Jackson High School and Southeast. Both schools use the Indian nickname.

Dickerson said any change should be based on "solid marketing principles" rather than a philosophical belief that using the word is demeaning to American Indians.

Changing the name likely would require the school to pour money into a marketing campaign to sell it to the public, Dickerson said. The cost of a such campaign would have to be considered in deciding whether a name change should be made, he said.

"It certainly is not a done deal," Dickerson said.

Offensive Indian name

While Dickerson doesn't view the nickname "Indian" as offensive in any way when used with college sports teams, many of those on the mascot committee disagree.

The majority of American Indians who have lectured or performed at Southeast over the past decade have indicated they find the nickname offensive to their culture, Sides said.

The name change effort at Southeast comes at a time when the National Collegiate Athletic Association is encouraging colleges to quit using American Indian symbols. Only 33 NCAA schools still have Indian nicknames.

Don Kaverman, athletics director at Southeast and a member of the university committee, said more than 30 colleges have dropped their Indian nicknames within the past decade.

Sides said even national church groups have come out against using Indian nicknames.

"The United Methodist Church has a resolution against using Native American mascots," she said. "It has become a moral issue."

Student government leaders and athletics department officials insist it isn't an issue of political correctness.

They argue that the name should be changed so the school can have a mascot to promote school spirit since the university won't trot out an Indian mascot.

The university hasn't had a student dress up in an Indian costume since 1985. The university doesn't put the nickname on school T-shirts or in its publications. Cheerleaders don't yell the nickname in their routines.

The only visible reference to the nickname is at Houck Stadium where "Indians" is painted in one end zone.

"We have a nickname in name only," said Sides who said she isn't aware of any written policy on the matter. The regents have never voted on it.

But she said top administrators at Southeast have chosen to avoid use of the Indian nickname and any depiction of an Indian on school publications or campus bookstore merchandise for more than a decade.

Kaverman, Southeast's athletics director, believes the lack of a mascot hampers the school's ability to market its sports teams.

The committee plans to meet this month to review suggestions received online through the university's Web site as well as any names suggested directly to committee members.

Sides, who has been responsible for posting suggestions online, said nearly 300 of the approximately 800 suggestions haven't been put up on the Web page because they are "rude and crude," are repetitious entries or propose keeping the Indian nickname.

Sides said early on she posted a number of suggestions to keep the Indian nickname just to show committee members the strong feeling that some university fans have for the name.

But Sides said the Web page isn't intended to serve as a referendum on the Indian nickname. The committee already has concluded a change is needed, she said. The Web page was set up to solicit suggestions of new nicknames and mascots, she said.

Some students have provided handwritten suggestions at the encouragement of the committee. Students covered a 20-foot roll of brown paper with suggestions at the Student Recreation Center last week.

Matt Specht, associate director of the Student Recreation Center, joined in the name game. Like a number of others, he favors red wolves as a nickname.

It goes with red, the main color of the university's uniforms. Athletics department officials have said they want to keep the school color.

In addition to the color, the red wolf is a good fit for the school because it once roamed as far north as Southeast Missouri, Specht said. "I think the part I like is the educational, conservation attitude to it."

Specht said he's researched the name and discovered that there are no colleges in the United States with a nickname of red wolves.

Miah Shelford, who plays basketball for the Otahkians, objects to a nickname like okra.

"I don't want to be food," she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123