The Oregon Board of Education has approved Indian mascots for four school districts: Philomath, Siletz, Rogue River, and Amity have ratified agreements with the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians. As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, three other districts are taking a different tack.
Oakridge, North Douglas, and Lebanon all say they’ll keep the “Warriors” name, but alter their logos so they lack Native American imagery.
Oakridge’s new symbol sports a logger’s axe and trees. The superintendent says they’ll now honor all warriors including soldiers.
North Douglas will phase out its mascot -- “Willy the Warrior”. They’re switching their logo with the letters “ND”, similar to Notre Dame.
And Lebanon says it’ll transition to a logo without Indian imagery. Instead it’ll just have the letters “LW”.
Under Oregon rules passed in 2012, districts had to either reach agreements with neighboring, federally-recognized tribes to keep an Indian mascot, or discard any native associations by July 1st …or risk losing state funds.
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