"Last week, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced that it would ban the use of Native American team names and mascots in all NCAA-sponsored postseason tournaments. If a team turns up wearing uniforms with words like 'Indians,' 'Braves' or similar nicknames the association deems 'hostile and abusive,' that team will be shown the locker-room door. Surely I was not the only reader who noticed that this edict came out of the NCAA's headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.

One might suppose that any organization with an Office of Diversity and Inclusion would welcome mascots and team names reflecting the Native Americans among us. But no, the NCAA is on a moral mission -- the less sensitive might call it a warpath -- to pressure colleges and universities to adopt its standards for iconic correctness. Cheered on by moralizing sportswriters like George Vecsey of the New York Times, Jon Saraceno of USA Today and the entire sports department of the Portland Oregonian, which will not print 'hostile' nicknames of teams (e.g., it calls the Washington Redskins 'the football team from Washington'), several member schools have already caved in."

Get the Story:
Kenneth L. Woodward: Today's Puritans Attack the Indian Mascots (The Wall Street Journal 8/11)

NCAA Announcement:
NCAA Executive Committee Issues Guidelines for Use of Native American Mascots at Championship Events (August 5, 2005)

Relevant Links:
NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee - http://www1.ncaa.org/eprise/main/
membership/governance/assoc-wide/moic/index.html
National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media - http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm

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