NCAA Mascot Question

Well how about this - our own Georgia Tech President - Dr.Wayne Clough - was on at least one of the three panels that discussed the whole Indian mascot thing. Not exactly a feather in his cap - although it is not clear the level of involvement he had. Maybe he smokem too much peace pipe.

More embarrassing was the NCAA's ignorance of how Seminole Indians view Florida State's nickname and mascot. The university has a long-standing and mutually profitable relationship with its home-state Seminoles, but in rebuking Florida State, the NCAA's vice president for diversity and inclusion, Charlotte Westerhaus, said "other Seminole tribes are not supportive."


Well. The other Seminole tribe resides in Oklahoma, and last month its General Council rejected 18-2 a resolution condemning Florida State's use of Seminoles.


This rather salient fact, discovered by Florida reporters in about five minutes, escaped the finger-on-the-pulse NCAA, specifically the Executive Committee and the Minority Opportunities and Issues Committee. Three ACC representatives, by the way, serve on those panels: Georgia Tech president G. Wayne Clough and Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman on the executive group, Virginia executive associate AD Jon Oliver on the minority group.


Their collective oversight has at least one executive committee member, from Florida no less, ready to reconsider.


"Now I've learned that one member of the (Oklahoma) Tribal Council spoke loudly and vociferously but really wasn't representative of the entire council," St. Leo University president Arthur Kirk Jr., told the Orlando Sentinel. "For me, that's a very significant factor in this decision relative to Florida State."