Two Baptist schools told to change mascots

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Representatives from two Baptist-affiliated colleges say their schools will comply with the NCAA’s decision to ban the use of American Indian mascots and logos by sports teams, although one of the schools is appealing.

The Mississippi College Choctaws and the Chowan College Braves are among the original 18 schools targeted by the NCAA before the Florida State Seminoles, Utah Utes and Central Michigan Chippewas appealed and won the right to continue the use of their mascots.

“We are fully supportive of the NCAA rulings,” Alice Smith, director of media relations at Mississippi College, said. “We are in the process of trying to mount an appeal, but we are in support of the NCAA to operate under the guidelines that they’ve set forth.”

Mississippi College, which is the second oldest Baptist college in the world and is located in Clinton, Miss., named its mascot after a band of Native Americans in the area, the Choctaws.

“They’ve always been very supportive of us,” Smith said. “We’ve had Choctaw students play on our teams.”

At Chowan College in Murfreesboro, N.C., school officials have appointed a committee to study the issue, but they have yet to hear directly from the NCAA regarding their Braves nickname.

Jim Tribbett, the school’s athletic director and basketball coach, said the very name of Chowan College is Indian. The campus, with about 800 students, is located between the Chowan and Meherrin Rivers in northeastern North Carolina, and both rivers are named for Indian tribes.

The school has a “very good relationship” with the Indian tribe in the area, Tribbett said, and the college’s president will take part in a celebration the tribe is having in October just six miles from campus.