Posted on 08/12/2005 2:03:43 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A controversial NCAA decision restricting Florida State University's use of an American Indian mascot was based on incomplete information and will be reconsidered, a top NCAA official said Thursday.
Walter Harrison, who chairs the committee that approved a policy directed at 18 schools with "hostile and abusive" American Indian mascots, said FSU has "good grounds" to appeal.
Among the reasons, he said, are that the NCAA Executive Committee thought the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma opposed FSU's use of the Seminole image as a mascot.
That was based partly on letters the committee received from David Narcomey, a member of the General Council of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
But Narcomey was not authorized to speak on behalf of the tribal nation and "misrepresented" its view, the tribe's attorney general said Thursday.
In fact, Narcomey pushed for a tribal resolution condemning the use of American Indian mascots and imagery, specifically at FSU. It was defeated last month by an 18-2 vote.
Harrison, flooded with hundreds of e-mails from FSU fans, also said Thursday he wants to better understand FSU's history with the Seminoles.
FSU has vowed to fight the NCAA decision.
Trustees voted Thursday to appeal the rule that, starting February, would bar the use of American Indian symbols at championship events. University president T.K. Wetherell has lined up powerful opposition, including Gov. Jeb Bush, and hired powerhouse lawyer Barry Richard.
"If there are appeals or attempts to change legislation, I can listen to different things," said Harrison, who is also president of the University of Hartford.
Harrison said he decided the NCAA should listen to FSU's arguments even before he discovered Thursday's news about the Oklahoma Seminoles.
But the new information won't necessarily change the outcome, he said. The Executive Committee's decision, he added, did not hinge on whether the Oklahoma group opposed FSU's use of American Indian mascots.
"I don't know how we would vote on it," Harrison said. "But it would seem to be good grounds for a waiver request."
FSU and the other 17 schools, including Illinois and Utah, can appeal to the Executive Committee or seek an amendment to the new rules. That would need the Executive Committee's blessing.
Two other members of the 19-person Executive Committee said the matter needs further review in light of the stance of the Oklahoma Seminoles.
"I think this is material new information," said committee member Arthur Kirk Jr., president of Saint Leo University in Pasco County. "It is not only new, but it is counter information from what we had earlier."
Could it have pushed FSU off the NCAA's list of 18 schools?
"I think that is a very valid question," Kirk said.
Executive Committee member Sidney McPhee, president of Middle Tennessee State University, said he also would consider the new information. He also has been swamped with e-mails from FSU boosters.
The NCAA has been studying the issue for years and, in November 2004, asked 33 schools to submit a self-evaluation about their use of American Indian mascots. A special committee developed recommendations that were considered by the Executive Committee last week.
That's when Charlotte Westerhaus, the NCAA's vice president for diversity and inclusion, told the Executive Committee that the Oklahoma Seminoles opposed the practice at FSU. She was relying on letters from Narcomey, including one dated June 1 in which he said he was crafting a resolution condemning FSU's use of the Seminole name and imagery.
"We are part of the Five Civilized Tribes Council and have joined the other four nations, the Chickasaw, the Cherokee, the Choctaw and the Creek nations, in condemning the use of American Indian sports team mascots," he wrote, according to the NCAA's Westerhaus.
Narcomey's letter did not mention that the Intertribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes passed that resolution in 2001 and that it spoke generally about derogatory images that perpetuate stereotypes. It did not name specific schools or mascots.
Nor did he mention that he sits on boards of organizations with a political agenda, including the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism, and that he has protested at FSU in the past.
Narcomey soon became the one speaking for the 14,000 Seminoles in Oklahoma.
But he was "unauthorized" to speak on behalf of the nation and "misrepresented" its view on the issue, said Jennifer McBee, the attorney general for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
McBee said the tribe has numerous students at FSU.
Narcomey, who last month was elected to another term on the General Council, didn't return a call from the Times.
Oklahoma Seminole members had contacted several newspapers saying Narcomey did not speak for the Seminole Nation, said Lee Hinkle, FSU's vice president for university relations.
NCAA's Westerhaus defended the committee's handling of the matter. "We didn't get a letter nor did we see anything in newspapers," she said.
The NCAA did not follow up with Narcomey on whether his resolution passed.
But key members of the Seminole tribes in Florida and Oklahoma apparently were not communicating either.
"We did not concoct this," Westerhaus said. "We acted in good faith and we'll continue to do so."
The NCAA provided the 18 schools with a letter Tuesday detailing how they could appeal their inclusion on the list.
Aside from being unable to host championship events, such as baseball regionals, student-athletes will be prevented from displaying "hostile and abusive" imagery on their uniforms in post-season games as of Feb. 1, 2006. Cheerleaders, dancers and band members must remove such images from their uniforms by Aug. 1, 2008.
The new policy will not affect FSU football, the school's signature sport. The NCAA doesn't control the Division I-A postseason, the bowls or league championship games watched by millions on TV.
Times researcher Carolyn Edds and staff writers Curtis Krueger and Tom Zucco contributed to this report.
As a Seminole alumnus, I'm hopeful that FSU will fight the NCAA decision in court regardless of whether or not they win their appeal. In fact, I'm not sure they should even appeal at all, because by doing so, they may be legally acknowledging the NCAA's right to enact this ban and may lose standing to seek a remedy in court.
Assume FSU wins on appeal, which they surely will if they NCAA actually looks at the facts. Will it be acceptable to Seminole fans that the NCAA could, at any time, ban the FSU nickname and mascot again if the political conditions change? Say, if the Oklahoma Seminole Nation were to have a change of heart a couple of years from now and vote to condemn FSU's use of the mascot - would that be grounds for the NCAA to revisit the issue and ban FSU's mascot again? Giving the NCAA this power is unacceptable and must be fought to the highest level.
I think the court of public opinion is rising up to speak and be heard.
starting February, would bar the use of American Indian symbols at championship events.
I don't suppose there would be any takers. Yet universities that rent luxury box suites in their football stadiums for $100,000/year have banded together to do exactly that to young athletes. Worse yet, the two sports that generate almost virtually all of revenue (football and men's basketball) are populated in disproportionate numbers by players who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and ethnic minorities. The funds generated by these sports are used mainly to subsidize sports like golf, tennis, soccer, and lacrosse that are populated by upper middle class kids whose parents could afford to pay for their hobbies.
The tigers of the world have asked the Cincinnati Bengals to change their name and stop using tigers in their logo because, well, the tigers were just embarrassed to be associated with the Cincinnati team. A spokestiger said "We're fierce carnivores. Cincinnati's football team should be named after a slow, crippled herbivore." A reporter asked the spokestiger about the eating habits of "Tony the Tiger" who lives on a diet of baked corn flakes and sugar. The spokestiger responed by leaping over his lectern, pouncing on the reporter and starting to eat him. "That's how a carnivore is supposed to act" stated the tiger to the remaining reporters as they fled.
lol
In a moment of extreme fiestiness yesterday, I actually called the NCAA headquarters and demanded that they cease and desist in using any ethnic name whatsoever as I, an American of Scandanavian descent found terms such as "Viking" to be derogatory and as the mother of four children of Irish American descent, could not abide the term "Fighting Irish" and I was sure that every other ethnic group in America, no matter small, felt the same way that I did.
I left my phone number. But I won't be waiting by the phone all day for them to call me back ;-)
I totally agree. The schools need an overseeing body but not a group of PC activists answerable to no one.
"Rethink" carries the false implication that they actually were thinking at all in the first place.
Oh, and every time my former college calls for donations I refuse. Why, because a few years ago they changed their name from the Quinnipiac Braves to (gee, I'm not even sure) I think the Quinnipiac badgers, bobcats, something like that. Heck, when did the term "Brave" become dergatory?? The whole school, and many other locations and groups in this area, is named for the local Indian tribe, the Quinnipiacs for goodness sake.
I'm also still a bit miffed they didn't use my suggestion, the Quinnipiac PC's (politically corrects)
Good catch!
here's the NCAA committee chairman Walter Harrison's email harrison@hartford.edu
I know. Don't these people have something important to contribute?
I always thought the NCAA was sort of the police department of college athletics, busting schools who cheated in recruiting football and basketball players and other shenanigans. I didn't realize they'd assumed authority as thought police as well. I'm no FSU fan, but I think you're right in saying they should take this to court, even if those PC clowns do back down.
If the NCAA is supposed to reign in out of control programs, somebody needs to reign them in, because this is the epitome of an out of control organization.
Agree. At the minimum, the NCAA should force these teams to prioritize academics ahead of athletics before they start worrying about mascots. These "big name" teams are nothing but minor leagues for the NFL and NBA, and it is ALL about money. The hypocrisy of these pin heads is stunning.
Fighting Whites On-Line Store at the University of Northern Colorado
Oh, nonsense. They're backpeddaling as fast as they can because of the s**tstorm that ensued over their idiotic decision, largely spread by places like FR and talk radio.
and hired powerhouse lawyer Barry Richard.
Anybody remember who "powerhouse lawyer Barry Richard
" is.?
I'm an alum of the U. of illinois. I've seen the some-years-ago video where the tribal leaders of the Illini Indian tribe (more precisely, the leaders of their descendants tribe) were interviewed about the "Fighting Illini" controversy. They hadn't heard that anyone objected to the nickname, couldn't believe anyone would be so crazy as to object, and said they had no trouble with the school using the nickname. That has not stopped the forces of censorship in IL, notably the Chicago Tribune, from calling on the university to change its nickname.
Incomplete information? Like maybe they didn't know that Florida State would be ranked 15 in the Sports Illustrated pre-season poll and is most likely a lock for a Bowl game of some sort? That kind of incomplete information?
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