SEMO mascot change is marketing move

Recent news out of Southeast Missouri State University has put the institution at the forefront of casual conversation and this very Opinion page.

No wonder the National Alumni Council warned members to keep their vote last month quiet.

But word got out that the council had taken the first step to find new nicknames for the university's sports teams.

The teams once were officially known as and still are popularly called Indians and Otahkians, the latter taken from the name of a Cherokee princess.

There haven't been any officially suggested replacements, just a vote to move the issue forward to the boosters club, the faculty senate, the student government and, finally, the board of regents.

Alan Zacharias, vice president of university advancement and university liaison with the alumni council, said the move didn't have anything to do with "political correctness." Instead, he said, it was about other schools' disrespectful treatment of the Indian nickname.

Most people would disagree. Recent moves to change Indian nicknames across the nation -- mostly prompted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association -- have everything to do with political correctness. Specifically, some American Indians are upset over those nicknames, or at least college officials believe tribes are upset over the names.

Locally, the Indian and Otahkian names have been treated with great respect and honor. The athletes who have competed under those names have done so with pride. And while we have plenty of area residents with American Indian heritage, none of them seem to be coming out against Southeast's team nicknames.

Southeast stopped promoting the Indian nicknames a long time ago. A Southeast Missourian photographer had to struggle to find a picture of an Indian at the university and finally did so at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex. It's the last Indian remaining on a wall anywhere on the university campus.

Southeast hasn't dressed up a mascot since 1985, and officials have vowed they'll never dress up another. They don't even refer to the team as Indians anymore. Shoppers won't find the word "Indians" or a picture of an Indian on any of Southeast's T-shirts, sweatshirts or other merchandise.

Six years ago, a drive put an end to the use of the team nickname was abandoned under intense and emotional pressure, but perhaps for the wrong reason.

Southeast has made its marketing decision. New names that are honorable, respectful of this area's heritage and least likely to offend others are now the goal. It's time to find one that everyone can enjoy.

Mizzou has its Tiger. Southern Illinois has its Saluki.

It's time to give Southeast a real mascot.