Oregon high school, tribes discuss keeping Indians mascot

EUGENE, Ore. – Officials at one Lane County high school are optimistic a recent change in state rules may let them keep the school’s long-held Native American mascot name and image after all.

The Marcola School District is one of 14 in Oregon that was slated to drop its Indian mascot name and imagery by 2017 after the state Board of Education ruled in 2012 that all schools with such mascots must do away with them.

But the board changed its mind in January, saying school districts could seek to keep the mascots if they can get written approval from any one of Oregon’s nine federally recognized Indian tribes.

But working out such agreements, it turns out, is not easy.

Mohawk High School, in the Marcola School District northeast of Eugene, is home to the Mohawk Indians, a mascot it’s used since the school was established in the late 1920s, district Superintendent Bill Watkins said.

An image of an Indian with a mohawk and feathers in his hair adorns the floor of the school’s gym.

In an attempt to ensure the district won’t have to resurface the gym floor and do away with other elements of its mascot, Watkins met with the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, based in Polk County, in August.

But the discussion has not yet yielded a clear, written deal.

“They said they would support us and that they were not a group that was against school districts using anything associated with North American Indians or North American natives,” Watkins said. “I’ve never met a finer group of people who embraced me and embraced the fact that we wanted to talk with them.”

Grand Ronderepresents five tribes – Kalapuya, Molalla, Rogue River, Shasta and Umpqua – that were consolidated on a reservation in 1856.

Tribal status was terminated when Congress passed the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act in 1954, according to the Oregon Historical Society. The tribe remained unrecognized for 29 years until Congress passed the Grand Ronde Restoration Act in 1983.

Justin Martin, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde spokesman, confirmed that tribal leaders met with Watkins. But he said the tribe has not given an official affirmation of the Mohawk mascot.

“I don’t think it would be accurate to say that as of now there’s been an agreement,” Martin said. “Until we start those discussions and something is formally approved, I wouldn’t want to say that any agreement or conversation would be official.”

Under the new rules approved by the state education board in January, a school district must enter a written agreement with a tribe for official approval. The district also must hold a public hearing before any agreement being finalized. Plus, the agreement needs to win state board approval.

Another Lane County school district, Oakridge, says it, too, is trying to work a deal with the Grande Ronde.

Schools that want to keep their mascots have until Jan. 1, 2017, to reach an agreement with a tribe or risk losing state education money.