College Mascots

Should College Mascots Be Regulated?

In Ryan Fulda’s article, "Is the NCAA Prohibition of Native American Mascots From Championship Play a Violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act?", he introduces the controversy over having Native American mascots and symbols used by teams in college sports, and whether or not prohibiting the use of them violates the antitrust laws. In the rest of Fulda 's article, he successfully breaks down how prohibiting the use of Native American influences could be considered as a violation and how it could also be considered acceptable to prohibit the use of it. Fulda does this by using the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history and different cases to justify both sides, as well as ending with his opinion as to why the Sherman act is not violated in a professional and unbiased way.
Fulda begins his article by describing two different universities, the University of
The term “Illiniwek” was chosen by Coach Bob Zuppke in the 1920’s, which refers to the complete human being. The costume for this mascot was a traditional costume made by a member of the Ogala Sioux tribe, and the dance is an actual tradition used by the Native Americans. There was controversy surrounding having a Native American tradition and mascot in college athletics since it was first used. At first, the members of the Peoria tribe supported the use and were proud to have their people recognized in such a manner by the University of Illionois, but five years later, “Peoria tribe changed its position on the Chief Illiniwek mascot” (165). Despite the universities statement that they portray the Native Americans in a brave and courageous light, a vote of 3 to 2 requested the cease of use the Chief