Regent president - Decision on mascot not made yet

Southeast Missouri State University needs to make sure that the views of those wanting to keep the traditional Indian nickname are heard, the head of the board of regents said Wednesday.

A recommendation could be presented to the board of regents on June 25, Dr. Ken Dobbins, university president, said.

But Don Dickerson, regents board president, said the regents might not be ready to decide the issue until a later date.

Dickerson said the ultimate decision rests with the regents.

"The committee may make a recommendation, but this board is free to accept or reject it," said Dickerson, who has received letters and telephone calls from some athletics boosters and other supporters of the university who want to keep the Indian name.

The committee process could come under scrutiny from the regents when they meet at 10 a.m. Friday in the University Center Ballroom.

A university committee, appointed by Dobbins, is recommending that the Indian and Otahkian nicknames be scrapped and replaced with a new nickname that will allow the school to once again have a mascot. The university hasn't had a student dress up as an Indian mascot since 1985 and the school's administrators have repeatedly said they won't allow such a mascot to parade on the sidelines of football and basketball games or be portrayed on university T-shirts.

The committee has narrowed the list of suggested names to five: Red Hawks, Red Birds, Red Wolves, Explorers and Sentinels.

Ed Leoni, committee chairman and Southeast health and recreation professor, plans to discuss the committee's process at Friday's meeting.

"I want the board to know what the committee is doing," Dobbins said. The regents, he said, will have an opportunity to hear the rationale for retiring the Indian and Otahkian nicknames.

Alumni opinions

Dickerson worries that alumni and supporters of the university who favor keeping the Indian and Otahkian nicknames don't feel they have an opportunity to be heard since the committee publicly has said it will vote to retire the traditional nicknames.

"It made them feel like they were disenfranchised," Dickerson said of those who favor keeping the Indian names.

"We want to make sure that everybody who wants to be heard has a chance to do that," Dickerson said.

The public has the mistaken perception that the Indian name is certain to be scrapped, he said. "No decision has been made one way or another," Dickerson said.

While the issue has generated a flood of coffee shop comments and news stories, Dickerson said it isn't as important to the regents as budget issues.

Leoni said the committee is seeking public input through forums, a Web page and paper ballots that will be available around campus. The Web page and paper ballots allow people to indicate which nickname they favor from among the five new nicknames. The Indian nicknames aren't on that list.

Leoni said the committee welcomes all opinions, but its research and that of other campus groups has concluded that it is demeaning to American Indians to refer to sports teams by Indian nicknames.

Some people may want to keep the Indian nickname because of tradition, but Leoni said that doesn't make it less offensive to American Indians.

"It does not change the evidence," he said.

Southeast's men's teams are nicknamed the Indians and the women are nicknamed the Otahkians after a 19th century Cherokee Indian woman who is reported to have died on the Trail of Tears forced march near Cape Girardeau.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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