For many students, the Stanford Cardinal has always represented the University on its playing fields, exemplifying the spirit of the school within its ranks and to the community at large. However, alumni who attended Stanford before 1972 might recall an entirely different mascot — the Stanford Indian.

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Joel Lewenstein

Several campus Native American groups are upset that the Stanford Indian mascot seems to be making a comeback on some Stanford apparel.

With an increased sensitivity to the issues at stake in a multi-cultural community, the University officially replaced the Indian mascot after 55 students and staff members submitted a petition asking that the symbol be removed.

In recent months, however, the Native American community at Stanford has noted a reemergence of the Stanford Indian on various spirit and athletic paraphernalia.

“We were extremely disappointed by the recent reappearances of the Stanford Indian,” said senior Jackson Brossy, co-chair of the Stanford American Indian Organization (SAIO).

One incident involved T-shirts advertised in the varsity sailing team’s newsletter. Members of the sailing team and head coach Jay Kehoe declined to comment.

“The T-shirts were printed by an alumnus before Big Game — the individual intended to distribute them to other alums and members of the sailing team,” said Gary Migdol, assistant athletic director.

He explained that the T-shirts featured an Indian sitting on a bear.

“I believe there were 25 T-shirts printed, and five were left over after Big Game,” he said. “The alumnus suggested that the team sell these shirts, and an ad was placed in the sailing team’s newsletter.”

Members of the Native American community at Stanford noticed the shirts and brought the issue up for consideration within their organization.

“The sailing team plans to print a letter in their next newsletter apologizing for the advertisement, which was inappropriate,” Migdol said.

In another sighting of the Stanford Indian, the Sigma Chi Fraternity designed Big Game shirts that used the “Chief” logo this past November.

“There has been a recent resurgence of the Stanford ‘Chief’ logo throughout the campus and our use of it was meant to invoke visions of tradition and history (which was reinforced by the phrase ‘Killing Bears since 1892...’ on the back of the T-shirt), not racism or intolerance,” said senior Kunal Gullapalli, president of the Alpha Omega Chapter of Sigma Chi.

Representatives of the Native American community, however, took offense at these images.

“These symbols, caricatures, and crude sketches of American Indians are to the Stanford community, especially the Native American community,” Brossy added. “Characterizing more than 500 individual nations as wild-eyed, big-nosed, tomahawk-chopping savages is racist and cannot be tolerated by the greater Stanford community.”

Student groups who have resurrected the Indian maintain that they were merely referencing the University’s history.

“There was absolutely no intention of offending any group with this shirt (with the possible exception of the UC-Berkeley Bears),” Gullapalli wrote in an e-mail to The Daily. “We still recognize that, while our good intentions may be clear, any use of images representing racial stereotypes can negatively impact the consciousness of our community. Thus, Sigma Chi looks forward to proactively cooperating with the University and campus groups to resolve this unfortunate misunderstanding as well as working towards preserving our open and respectful campus,”

Members of the Native American community on campus are also working toward a renewed awareness of the issue within the larger Stanford population.

“We plan to deliver a letter to President Hennessy, the athletic director and the University [today], asking for a public denouncement of the use of the mascot, and a reiteration of the message that the use of the American Indian mascot will not be tolerated because it is demeaning and offensive,” Brossy said.