Date of Award
Spring 2018
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department/Major
Political Science
First Advisor
Marshall Damgaard
Second Advisor
Gary Larson
Third Advisor
Scott Breuninger
Keywords
NCAA, Imagery, Mascots
Abstract
Every sports team is represented by its name, mascot, and logo. For many, the representative of their team is an historical people. Recent pushes for social justice have started questioning nicknames and mascots, leading to many getting changed. In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) enacted a policy that prohibited universities with hostile or abusive nicknames from postseason participation. Because of this policy, many schools were forced to change names despite efforts to keep them. The University of North Dakota and Florida State University were two schools forced to look at their name, and both fought to keep their mascots. Both North Dakota and Florida State had histories and relationships with their respective tribes. However, the NCAA deemed that Florida State’s relationship with the Seminole Tribe was unique. The University of South Dakota acts as an interesting study of how deep to dig into a nickname and its history, since mascots can no longer be hostile or abusive.
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Cash, "Cultural Imagery’s Changing Place in Athletics" (2018). Honors Thesis. 6.
https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/6