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Saigo was right to speak at NCAA
University Chronicle
EDITORIAL BOARD
The issue: SCSU President Roy Saigo spoke to an NCAA committee in Indianapolis about the racist nature of American Indian mascots.
What we think: Saigo is doing the right thing by trying to educate people on the problems with these mascots.
SCSU President Roy Saigo made a trip to Indianapolis Monday to speak to the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee. It was his second trip to NCAA headquarters in a month.
He was representing the many voices that he has heard calling for an end to racism within colleges and universities.
Speaking to the NCAA committee was the right thing to do. Saigo is choosing education as the route to eliminate American Indian mascots. This is the only method that will be able to rid our society of racist mascots.
As soon as the majority of people realize that these images hurt, it will be only a matter of time until professional, collegiate and prep teams, who still have racist mascots, leave them behind.
Saigo has been criticized by many saying that this issue has nothing to do with SCSU and to leave it up to the schools who have racist mascots, like the University of North Dakota or the University of Illinois. Others say that Saigo needs to just stay home and pay more attention to the problems at SCSU.
These statements could not be further from the truth. Saigo pointed out that this is an educational issue for every institution. Schools with racist mascots affect people from all over the nation and not just the region where the school happens to be located.
“This issue cannot be trivialized as simply a matter of political correctness,” Saigo said to the committee. “Rather it truly is an educational issue. It is directly related to the key role of a public university in supporting social justice, equality and educational opportunity.”
The SCSU student body should be proud to have a president who is willing to stand up for the rights of people who have been discriminated against.
As other leaders of educational institutions join Saigo and stand up against racist mascots, they will soon become a thing of the past.
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