Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

In November 2002, UNC-Pembroke was one of 31 colleges and universities listed by the NCAA’s Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee (MOIC) as using logos, mascots, or nicknames that might offend Native Americans. In February 2003, the MOIC released a report charging the 31 institutions to prepare a self-analysis addressing the issue. After reading the reports, the NCAA’s executive committee will determine what action will be taken.UNC-Pembroke’s athletics director, Dan Kenney, points to the institution’s origins as a teacher training school for Native Americans and its present enrollment of 22% Native Americans. Angela Weston, a special assistant to the chancellor who helped write the university's self-analysis, notes that in 1991, the university removed its “cartoonish” Indian mascot and designed a new one—a dignified brave with a red-tailed hawk on his shoulder (see item OXEN001 in The Lumbee Indians: An Annotated Bibliography). At that time, the Pembroke community had no complaints about using the Braves nickname, so it remained.Weston stated, “The whole issue is that the community, the Lumbee community, does not feel the Braves nickname is offensive. They actually want the university to keep it because it is a link to their heritage.”