Tribe debate sizzles on campus

Columnist Dave Fairbank of the Daily Press in Hampton Roads, Virginia:

In that incubator for radicals and educated malcontents tucked into the colonial capital, otherwise known as the College of William and Mary, there is a buzz of activity – and not just because parking spaces are as valued as a final-grade mulligan. …

But the most intriguing athletic issue on campus these days has nothing to do with fields and buildings, and everything to do with perception.

William and Mary is in the process of assembling a report to the NCAA about its nickname – Tribe – and why it should not be judged “hostile and abusive” to Native-Americans.

Thirty-two of the 33 NCAA member schools with Native-American nicknames and mascots recently learned if they were acceptable. W&M received an extension because it was between administrations.

Any school that produced four U.S. presidents and that was judged “hottest small state school” by Newsweek needs no outside help to argue its case, but part of its report will go something like this:

“Tribe” is about as innocuous a reference to Native-Americans as it gets. The closest thing to a mascot the school has is a green, fuzzy creature called Colonel Ebirt (“Tribe” spelled backwards), who obviously was named on a day when all the clever kids slept late.

Area Indian tribes have not protested the school nickname as hostile or insensitive. The only visible Native-American references are a couple of green-and-gold feathers on the school logo.

In the rare instances when inclined, William and Mary fans perform maybe the nation’s most pitiful, half-hearted “Tomahawk Chop.”

Naturally, all of this guarantees that the NCAA will deem “Tribe” hostile and abusive.