Demand that Central Michigan University's Mascot change from the "Chippewas"

Introduction:

Despite the claim that Native American mascots are meant to honor those whose image they evoke, every study meant to determine the psychological effects of Native American-based mascots on Native American communities has found that they serve to lower self-esteem and harm the perceived value of those communities. Central Michigan University, despite having taken measures to dampen their mascot's, the "Chippewas'," negative effects, still needs to change it in name as to best serve the Native American community as a whole.

Origins and History:

Central Michigan's mascot originally was meant to be racist caricature. Lawrence Sweeney, the line coach in 1941, introduced the name as a means of bringing more potential for iconography, saying that the "Indian chief would be an outstanding marker for athletic uniforms, the Indian pow-wow could replace the pep-meeting, and Indian ceremonies could be conducted on many occasions" (1). He cited this as well as the tribe's locality as reasons for changing the name from "the bearcats" (prior to this name, CMU's prevalent nickname was "the dragons"). In short, from its beginning, the Chippewa nickname wasn't meant to honor.

There were talks of changing the name in the late eighties, when the Michigan Civil Rights Commission recommended doing so, and when there were massive calls to do so. It was at this same time that Eastern Michigan University changed their mascot to the Eagles (2). Instead of doing the same, CMU decided to remove the imagery from their merchandise and provide education surrounding Native American history and culture, while keeping the title "Chippewas." Looking back, it may be easy for faculty and administration to wish those in their position in the past had done the same as Eastern, but years from now, if nothing changes, people will be looking back on the administrators and faculty of today, wishing the same thing.

Effects:

Ethnicity-based mascots are harmful to those that they absently reference. According to a study by Davis-Delano et al., "regardless of the stated intent of those who support Native mascots and regardless of opinions about them, these mascots induce or correlate with negative psychosocial outcomes" (3). These outcomes include lower self-worth and success for the students whose identities are being exploited along with higher potentiality to have violence committed against them. Education and outreach is fantastic, but these effects cannot be erased simply by doing some good. Being committed to supporting the Native American in educational and financial pursuits while also changing the mascot of CMU is the best way to serve and work with the Native American community.

Solutions and the Future:

With the changes that are taking place right now, the banning of Native American and ethnicity-based mascots is inevitable given enough time. Those schools that will shamedly shuffle out their problematic mascots won't be seen as sympathetic to anyone in the upcoming generations. Whether Central Michigan will show that it is intentional about taking proper steps or whether it will simply stagnate is yet to be seen.

By taking initiative and phasing out the Chippewa nickname and instead replacing it with a separate mascot (whether new or old) Central can prove its commitment to the success of the Native American community and discourage the prejudices and harms that are carried in just the name. This process does not have to be immediate; being able to remove the name from the school's websites, scripts, etc. can be done without cost, but proper budgeting for removing the name from everywhere where it is not used to refer to the real, living peoples it originally denoted can be done over time. I want to be proud of my schooling both in education and name. We all do. By signing this petition, students can help get the message to administrators and faculty and promote the best life experience possible for all.

1 https://cmuchippewas.com/sports/2018/7/6/ot-chippewa-name-html.aspx

2 https://tonyjwittkowski.wordpress.com/2014/09/09/the-mascot-mess-a-history-of-cmus-controversial-mascot/

3 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2020.1772221

4 http://www.ncai.org/proudtobe

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