The Board of Trustees of North Idaho College is considering a proposal to rename the green space to the west of the Student Union Building from Fort Sherman Park to Cheamkwet Park. (I presume this is the green space where soccer takes place.) Cheamkwet is the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe word Hnch'mqi'nkwe' that means “Headwaters.” The renaming proposal is part of a commitment by the college to “better represent the Coeur d'Alene tribe through naming of buildings, streets and gathering places.” Historically, the tribe met on the property where the college now sits. The matter will be discussed by the board at the 6 p.m. meeting in the NIC Lake Coeur d'Alene Room next Wednesday, Nov. 28.
Question: Does it defeat the purpose to use a word that's historically accurate and symbolically noteworthy that few can pronounce or remember?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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