AIC still working on Wahoo Issue
To the Editors:
Yes, spring is almost here and with it comes the media blitz by Oberlin trustee
Larry Dolans baseball team. Just to be clear, the issues that students, faculty and staff
have with Mr. Dolans team has nothing to do with the sport of baseball or the players (although
it would be great if players followed Hank Aarons lead and develop a social conscience).
What is important for the Oberlin community to know is that Mr. Dolan became a trustee in the spring
of 2000, buying the team in the summer of the same year. Dean Clayton Koppes was acting president
then and issued a statement on Nov. 21, 2000 that included: The College is working with Mr.
Dolan and the Cleveland Indians to provide appropriate forums, meetings, and other ways in which
to discuss the use of symbols such as Chief Wahoo as sports icons in our culture. American
Indian Council members, student leaders, and faculty did meet with both Mr. Dolan and his son,
Paul Dolan, in December of 2000. Another meeting with AIC members, student leaders and Mr. Dolan
occurred in December of 2001. These meetings were audio taped and are stored in the Oberlin archives
(fourth floor Mudd).
The meetings with Mr. Dolan were models of respectful discourse and constructive dialogue. Mr.
Dolan met Native Peoples for the first time, and I think we can see the impact by the introduction
in 2002 of the I on caps and uniforms. But Mr. Dolan is also a lawyer and at the end
of the meeting in 2001 he was quick to assert that people love Wahoo. He also issued
this challenge to the students: Oberlin College students should not be the leaders to remove
Wahoo. Your credibility is too largely in context
You need visibility. You need to get it
out of this campus
If you want to help me get where youre going to go, youve
got to put more pressure on me from groups other than the Oberlin campus. It is interesting
to note that Mr. Dolan is a member of the trustees student life committee.
The AIC, Oberlin students, faculty, and staff have continued working on the Wahoo issues these
past 15 months. We believe that we are relying on knowledge and reason (President Nancy
Dye) and that our position is affirmed by official statements from the NAACP, NCAA, NEA and most
recently by the United States Commission on Civil Rights that denounce the use of Native Americans
as sports team mascots. To learn more about the issues, visit the American Indian Sports Team Mascots
web site: www.AISTM.org. And come hear Charlene Teeters speak on Sunday, March 9 at 8p.m. in West
Hall (Science Center) as part of the Indigenous Womens Series sponsored by the AIC, the MRC
and the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People.
Peter Dominguez
Professor of Jazz Studies and Double Bass
|