'Redmen' nickname may be cut

School Committee members signaled this week that they are prepared to ditch the "Redmen" nickname for school athletic teams as early as February, saying it could be offensive to Native Americans.

"If people feel this is derogatory, we need to do something about it," said School Committee chairman Henry Haugland. "The board will make a decision on it in the not-too-distant future."

It's been nearly a half-century since the school's football team took on the moniker, and in recent years, district officials have eliminated use of the Indian headdress logo on letterheads and official school materials. The team has no mascot.

But Natick High alumna Erin Miller, who graduated in 1997, said that she was offended by fans wearing headdresses and doing the "chop" gesture as the band played the familiar, crowd-pleasing "Tomahawk Chop" tune during a recent football game.

"The Natick Redmen logo is offensive," Miller, who lives in Boston, told School Committee members during their meeting Monday night. "Native voices have been telling us this for years. Natick deserves to have a logo that they can embrace fully. It's time for a change."

Saying he wanted to "put a stake in the ground," Haugland called for a vote on the issue at a meeting on Feb. 26, inviting members of the public who support the nickname's use to contact members before then.

While School Committee members said they wanted to hear from the public, most made it clear they were inclined to drop the nickname.

"If we get 400 people at the next meeting urging us not to change the name, it may make it a more uncomfortable decision, but it will not make it less right," said committee member Ted Wynne. "If the name were Natick Yellowmen or the Natick Blackmen, we would have changed it years ago."

Member Stephen Meyler worried that eliminating the nickname would remove a reference to the town's cultural legacy.

"We have diversity," Meyler said. "I don't want to see us lose our cultural history."

But Marie Caradonna, an English and humanities teacher at the high school, said the nickname's use actually is based on a "misinformed stereotype" of the local Indians, who were pacifistic rather than warlike.

Some members and Superintendent of Schools James J. Connolly said they have just been waiting for someone to lodge a complaint against the mascot.

"In my first meeting, I said, 'Gee, what's with the Redmen?' " said Wynne, a six-year member of the committee. "I was told that no one is complaining. At best, the name Redmen is insensitive."

Caradonna said she has been involved in discussions about changing the nickname about a dozen times in the 37 years she has worked in the district. She said her research shows the school has referred to its athletes as the Redmen for about 45 years.

"It was the Framingham announcer that christened us the Redmen, because we were wearing all red," Caradonna said. It is not clear when the nickname took on an ethnic connotation.

Use of Indian-themed mascots has been a contentious issue nationally, with the NCAA banning such "hostile or abusive" images at postseason games. Many school boards have banned their use, and civil rights groups have come out against them. Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla., recently changed its nickname from Redmen to Riverhawks, effective next fall.

"Natick is about 10 years behind the times," Miller said.

Connolly said it would cost about $6,000 to change all the team uniforms. He said he has kept a mascot file for as long as he's been superintendent, anticipating that such a discussion would come up. He also has talked to the high school principal about the band's playing of the "Tomahawk Chop" song.

Connolly said it wouldn't be difficult to make the changes. "I told the athletic director, 'I don't care what you're called, as long as you're winning.' "

The high school football team saw a 26-game winning streak snapped in November during the playoffs.

Committee member Karen Adelman Foster cautioned that forcing a vote on the issue by February might not allow enough time for a community discussion on the issue.

"It's inappropriate to decide on what can be seen as a civil rights issue on a community vote," she said. "But it is important to let the community come in and speak. I suspect there are people who feel differently.

"Letting things percolate hurts less than rushing."

Committee member Rick Wynn said it was important to hear from people, but that the issue seemed clear-cut.

"It would be very difficult to see a nostalgia argument trump a sensitivity one," he said. "We owe it to everyone in town to hear what they have to say. But, if we are offending a group of people, I think it is a slam dunk."