Hail Scarlet and the Grey!

My alma mater, Newberry College, the smallest school in the NCAA that plays football, has respectfully told the NCAA to "stick it". Our athletic teams nickname is the "Indians" and as many of you know the NCAA is now selectively enforcing a new rule that bars such names from postseason play or hosting post season play. Like Florida State, Illinois and Utah we appealed. Unlike FSU, IU and UU our appeal was rejected. Let's face it, they are bigger and bring in more money to the NCAA.
NC president, Mitchell Zais has responded both forcefully and respectfully with a request to revisit the appeal. Here are a few excerpts from the response:

...Pay a visit to Newberry. You’ll not find a student dressed in headdress and Indian garb, dancing and gyrating as if possessed. It has been 20 years since any athletic team had a mascot. You won’t find silly cartoons or demeaning caricatures on hats, uniforms, or playing surfaces. Our primary and secondary logos are a spear and arrowhead. The spear is nearly identical to the one used by Florida State University, an institution no longer on your blacklist....

...Furthermore, by ignoring Newberry College’s self-study on this issue and including us on the list of offending schools, the NCAA has declared us incapable of making a fair and ethical decision...

...What’s next? A proscription against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as demeaning to persons of Irish descent? Condemnation of all schools with Crusader nicknames as insulting to Christians or Muslims? Censure of the blue hose-wearing Highlanders of South Carolina’s Presbyterian College as offensive to people of Scottish ancestry? ...

...Already the animal rights groups are lobbying for our nearest neighbor, the University of South Carolina, to remove the “Fighting Gamecock” as its mascot. South Carolina’s legislature recently enhanced the penalties for participating in cockfighting. It’s legal only in Louisiana and New Mexico, two of the fifty states. This mascot pays tribute to unlawful behavior, ostensibly sanctioned by the NCAA. If the NCAA continues along these lines, it won’t be long before special interest activists voice sufficient outrage against the use of any particular mammal, bird, reptile, insect, tree, or weather disturbance to shift that object to the banned mascot list....

Granted, in the grand scheme of things, college mascots are somewhat trivial. It is, however, the proverbial camel getting it's nose in the tent and Dr. Zais' prophecies are probably a lot closer to coming true than many want to acknowledge.