|
Saigo speaks to NCAA
When SCSU President Roy Saigo spoke to the NCAA’s Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee in Indianapolis on Monday, he reiterated the university’s stand on American Indian mascots, nicknames and logos.
Saigo said SCSU would continue to encourage open and broad discussion on the matter and other important issues, even if the committee members did not agree with the university’s role as a catalyst.
Saigo was invited to speak to the MOIC by its chairman, Eugene Marshall, Jr., as the committee continues its probe into whether or not the use of American Indian mascots, nicknames and logos is discriminatory. While many people have discussed the issue before, the committee was tasked by the NCAA executive committee early last year to look into the issue.
This followed resolutions tabled by Saigo to the sports association’s Division II Presidents Council. Saigo had also tabled similar resolutions to the WCHA and NCC.
Speaking to the MOIC at the beginning of his presentation, Saigo said he was not there on his own behalf, but to represent the “many voices that have called on us, as educational leaders, to continue the process of eliminating racism” from colleges and universities.
“Believe me, in the past year I have heard all sides of this controversy,” he said. “I have received impassioned e-mail memos and letters not only from fans of the University of North Dakota (which uses the nickname “Fighting Sioux” and has an Indian head as its logo), but also from many others asking why I am wasting my time on an issue that’s none of my business.
“I have heard and read messages that claim that this is a trivial issue, or that such nicknames bring honor to American Indians. However, I also talked with and heard from many American Indians as they have shared with me the hurt and degradation they and their children feel when they see caricatures of American Indian persons, culture and spiritual symbols.”
Saigo said the issue could not be trivialized as simply a matter of “political correctness,” but rather as an educational issue.
“It is directly related to the key role of a public university in supporting social justice, equality and educational opportunity,” he said. “Our society has phased out many other discriminatory customs and laws that once were considered acceptable, but now are considered shameful. I believe this evolution will and should continue.”
Saigo also quoted some of the NCAA’s mission and stated values, adding that the continued use of American Indian mascots, nicknames and logos did not fit the mission.
According to several documents provided by NCAA director of professional development Rochelle Collins, who is also the staff liaison to the MOIC, the committee will develop a briefing report on the issue to be submitted to the NCAA for review and to determine the appropriate responses.
Several issues to be addressed in the report are historical background; scope; American Indian organizations, agencies and constituent groups that need to be involved in the discussion and resolution to the issues; issues and concerns from administrators, spectators and alumni at institutions that currently have American Indian mascots or names; and information from administrators, spectators and alumni at institutions that formerly had American Indian mascots or names.
The MOIC appointed a seven-member subcommittee to oversee the preparation of the briefing report. Among the members are Marshall and a student athlete representative.
The subcommittee is expected to draft a preliminary report and recommendations for the full committee by June 15. The recommendations will then be discussed by the MOIC, and a final report will be drafted between June and September.
The final report is expected to be handed over to the NCAA Executive Committee’s subcommittee on Gender and Diversity Issues in October for review.
Among the things Saigo said in his speech at the MOIC meeting in Indianapolis are:
- “I knew this was a topic that deserved a broad forum for discussion and resolution. I also knew this was a controversy that many other campuses were coping with. So, last winter our campus hosted the Midwest Forum on American Indian Mascots to allow regional schools the opportunity to share their challenges and explore solutions.”
- “As you know, many colleges and universities have retired their Indian-related mascots, logos and athletic team names. Stanford and Dartmouth did this 30 years ago, in response to student actions. Colgate, Marquette and Minnesota State, Mankato, are other examples.”
- “They (the institutions which changed their nicknames) like many others, squarely identify this as an educational issue.”
- “Despite the hundreds of high schools and colleges that have made the change in recent decades, at least 42 American colleges and universities still retained their Indian symbols.”
- “I ask you to put yourselves and your own family members in the place of Indian parents, children and college students and imagine what it would be like to experience what they experience.”
- “While St. Cloud State University does not have an American Indian mascot, we do compete in athletics with a university that does. When its teams come to our campus, we are faced with upholding the principle that our campus has long asserted, that we decry any form of racism.”
- “And many, many people do believe that the issue of American Indian mascots in college athletics is one of full-fledged, anachronistic, institutionalized racism.”
- “No matter how noble the official statements about their mascots sound, colleges and universities can’t control behaviors that arise from the use of Indian mascots. American Indian mascots provide numerous occasions for racist and derogatory ‘collateral damage’ to occur.”
Leslie Andres can be reached at: [email protected]
|
|
|
|
Privacy Policy Network Advertising Article Syndication
|
|
