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UI cancels game over nickname
By Phil Davidson - The Daily Iowan
Published: Tuesday, May 4, 2004
Adhering to a policy instituted 10 years ago, but not always followed, the UI athletics department recently canceled a baseball game with Bradley University of Peoria, Ill., because of the school's mascot.
The game was originally scheduled to be played today, but the athletics department canceled the nonconference game in February, recognizing that Bradley's nickname - the Braves - falls under the university's policy to not schedule nonconference games with teams that have American Indian mascots.
Steve Roe, a UI associate director of Sports Information, said the university's Board in Control of Athletics implemen-ted the policy in April 1994 in a response to those who were outraged by the stereotypical portrayal of American Indians in sports.
"At the time, that was an issue that some universities talked about," Roe said. "Some acted, some didn't. We did."
While Iowa played Bradley's baseball team the last two years, he said, he had no explanation why the policy was neglected.
First-year Hawkeye baseball coach Jack Dahm said the university's decision may have been a direct result of him pointing out the Braves' nickname to an associate athletics director. Dahm is familiar with the program after working with Bobby Parker, Bradley's assistant athletics director, at Creighton University of Omaha.
"I think it was basically an oversight," Dahm said. "We decided to cancel the game just to be safe."
According to the policy, "In recognition of the UI policy on human rights, the university bans from its athletics facilities any mascot that depicts or represents Native Americans."
Though Bradley got rid of its mascot in 1989, Parker said, the UI did not have much choice in the matter, adding that University of Wisconsin-Madison is the only other school that won't schedule games against Bradley.
The issue of using American Indian names as mascots or nicknames has sparked much recent debate. Bradley University President David Broski announced last week that Bradley's nickname would remain for at least three to five years.
According to the campus paper, the Bradley Scout, Broski's decision came in response to a Student Senate resolution passed in April in favor of finding a new mascot. The resolution passed in the wake of an overwhelming student vote not to change the Braves' name.
At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which is not held to the UI's policy because of contract and Big Ten conference obligations, results from a March poll show that 13,000 students - 69 percent - voted in favor of keeping the school's controversial Chief Illiniwek mascot.
However, last week, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, said he would consider blocking state funding to the university if Chief Illiniwek is not retired.
UI sophomore Carrie Schuettpelz, a member of the UI's American Indian Student Association, applauded the UI's policy and said supporters of American Indian mascots need to realize that times have changed and those sort of depictions are derogatory.
"I'm glad that [the UI] has this policy," she said. "It's really encouraging and really helpful."
E-mail DI reporter Phil Davidson at:
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