Redhawks makes top of list for Southeast nickname

Southeast Missouri State University fans would be rooting for the Redhawks if the board of regents approves the new nickname today.

School president Dr. Ken Dobbins said he will recommend the school drop its Indian and Otahkian nicknames and replace them with Redhawks. The school could end up with some type of hawk costume or even a real hawk as a mascot, he said.

Dobbins said Redhawks would stand out.

"There aren't many Redhawks in the NCAA," he said.

The regents will meet at 1 p.m. at the Show Me Center following a mortgage-burning ceremony to recognize the retirement of $5 million in general obligation bonds that Cape Girardeau voters approved 20 years ago to help fund construction of the center.

In addition to the nickname recommendation, regents will hear a plan to reduce tuition by $2 per credit hour for the spring 2005 semester and likely approve a $115.9 million operating budget, which includes pay raises of $600 or 2 percent for university employees, whichever is greater.

Just over 50 percent of students surveyed by e-mail said they opposed retiring the Indian nicknames, while 49.8 percent said they favor scrapping the names.

But 60 percent of alumni who responded to the survey favor retiring the nickname. Forty percent opposed the idea.

The survey -- requested by the regents -- involved responses from 380 students and alumni, about a 38 percent response rate from those who were contacted by e-mail, Dobbins said.

School officials said there could be a sampling error of plus or minus 6 percent regarding the poll results of students surveyed and plus or minus 8 percent on the survey results involving alumni.

Officials reported there was a "95 percent level of confidence" in the survey results of both alumni and students polled.

Don Dickerson, a Cape Girardeau lawyer and president of the board of regents, said he was surprised a majority of alumni voiced support for retiring the Indian nicknames.

Hawks beat wolves

A committee of faculty, staff, students, alumni and athletics boosters narrowed a list of suggested replacement names to Red Wolves and Redhawks.

Dobbins said he met privately with the committee about three weeks ago and explained that he preferred Redhawks. The committee then formally recommended Redhawks.

Dobbins said he didn't want Red Wolves as a nickname or mascot because they can't be found in Southeast Missouri. "They are extinct except in captivity," he said Tuesday.

Red hawks, on the other hand, are native to and still can be found in the region, Dobbins said.

Dickerson said some regents probably still haven't made up their minds on the issue, which has been a topic of campus debate for a year now.

Dickerson said the regents must decide two questions: Do they want to change the nickname? Do they want to adopt Redhawks as the new nickname and mascot?

The regents, he said, want to put the issue to rest today. "I don't see any advantage to stringing out the issue," Dickerson said.

In addition, he said, the regents need to make a decision so that if a change is made, the university would have time to put a new mascot in place by the start of football this fall.

Following the advice of the committee, Dobbins said he would recommend the university develop a way to better honor the American Indian culture and heritage of the region.

Dobbins said some critics have argued that the university would be going against tradition to replace the Indian nicknames.

"I think it is better to look at it as the beginning of a new tradition," he said.

The nickname recommendation comes on the advice of the school's alumni council, booster club, student government and a committee appointed by Dobbins that spent the past several months exploring the issue.

The effort sparked public criticism from alumni who wanted to keep the Indian and Otahkian nicknames. The men's teams are known as the Indians. The women's teams are called the Otahkians. The Otahkian name refers to a Cherokee woman who died on the Trail of Tears forced march to the Oklahoma territory in the 1800s.

School officials and committee members have said Indian nicknames and mascots are offensive to many American Indians and inappropriate for higher education institutions.

Southeast is one of only three NCAA Division I schools that use an Indian nickname.

Athletics department officials have pushed for a name change, arguing that they could better market the university and its sports teams with a new nickname and mascot.

Southeast's Indian nickname dates back to 1922. For many years, the school dressed up students in Indian chief and princess costumes to cheer on the sports teams.

Southeast hasn't dressed up a student as an Indian mascot since 1985. The university doesn't put the nickname on school T-shirts or in its publications.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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