Do as we say, not as we do
School with Indian name won’t play ‘Braves’
The University of Iowa teams are nicknamed the “Hawkeyes”. The name is of Indian origin.
The policy � initiated in 1994 in response to outrage over stereotypical portrayals of Native Americans in sports � reads: “In recognition of the UI policy on human rights, the university bans from its athletics facilities any mascot that depicts or represents Native Americans.”
The baseball team canceled a recent game with Bradley University, ostensibly because the Illinois school teams go by the nickname of the Braves. Bradley actually got rid of their Indian mascot in 1989, well before Iowa went politically correct. They have also played against Iowa the past two years without incident.
The University of Iowa’s assistant athletic director, Steve Roe, also could not explain to the Daily Iowan why the Hawkeyes have played Bradley’s baseball team the last two years.
The Hawkeye’s new baseball coach, Jack Dahm, thinks action was taken this year because he pointed out the nickname to a school official.
“I think it was basically an oversight,” Dahm told the campus paper. “We decided to cancel the game just to be safe.”
So the policy is about mascots but they cancel a game they’ve had no problems with for years because of the team nickname. Because the new coach wants “to be safe”. This is about the most blatant example of politically correct idiocy I’ve come across.
Of course there is a time when PC convictions must be put to the wayside. There is one thing that always trumps moral outrage in the college setting.
An Iowa rival, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has a controversial mascot, Chief Illiniwek, but contractual and Big Ten conference obligations require the teams to play each other.
The Chief has been around for a long time and is an actual mascot, the thing specifically mentioned in the PC policy. But Big Ten games mean money so Illiniwek will continue to get a pass.
Gotta love that good old fashioned hypocracy.
As James Taranto pointed out (see link), “Actually, if they were really going to be consistent, they’d change the name of their own university. After all, Iowa itself is named for an Indian tribe.”
Iowa better hope they never have to play the Univeristy of Forida, the Seminoles, for the National Title some year. It wouldn’t be PC.
They’ve played the Seminoles before and likely will again. That matchup is allowed because it’s an “outside scheduling obligation”. That is, it’s a Conference obligation (pronounced “revenue stream”).
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