1985 - White peoples perception of Indians as fierce warriors - opinion

Fight over nickname heats up again

by Matthew Burglund

1985, June 18. Indiana Gazette 

      Every few years - when it seems the calm has set in - the war erputs again.
      Armies enlist new recruits. Plans of attack are charted. Battle lines are drawn.
     All because of a nickname.
      The seemingly endless battle over just what the Indiana University of Pennsylvania athletic teams should be called has begun again, fueled by charges of ignorance, greed and disrespect. And it seems it's a war that might never end.
      The latest installment finds the school's student body preparing to vote on a new nickname later this month to potentially replace "Indians," which the university's teams have been called since the late 1920s, when the Indiana Evening Gazette began referring to them that way.
      ... "This has to change at some point," said Laura Cramer, president of Student Congress and head of the Nickname Renaming Committee. "I think it's really time for a change."
      Those were the same sentiments years ago as colleges and high schools across the country began questioning the ethics of nicknames such as "Redskins," "Braves," and "Indians," which were largely based on a perception of American Indians as fierce warriors.