CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bradley University’s nickname is the Braves, but the school officially has no mascot — something students at the private university in Illinois say they would like changed.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bradley University’s nickname is the Braves, but the school officially has no mascot — something students at the private university in Illinois say they would like changed. The Peoria school’s students voted Monday and Tuesday in a nonbinding referendum to call on administrators to come up with what their ballots called an "appropriate" mascot, school spokesman Shelley Epstein said Wednesday. Bradley hasn’t had an official mascot in almost 20 years. The school, though, calls its teams the Braves, which landed it in 2006 on a list of schools the NCAA is watching for what it calls "hostile and abusive" use of American Indian imagery. The NCAA is expected to reconsider that decision next year. Some of the school’s 5,700 students seem to want to keep the Braves nickname and attach an image of some kind to it, while others want to do away with the name altogether, said junior Pat Oldendorf, editor of the campus newspaper The Scout. "A lot of people seem to be attached to the Braves name, but they want some sort of character to be attached," he said. "I think it’s pretty split, but I think the majority want to keep the Brave." School administrators, Epstein said, are expected to discuss the students’ vote at a meeting next month but aren’t expected to act on it. "What the administration decided to do was hold any decision in abeyance until this NCAA decision," he said. Calls made Wednesday to the NCAA by The Associated Press were not immediately returned. Bradley at one time had a Brave mascot, portrayed by a student in American Indian regalia, but at some point before 1990 did away with the costume, then stopped using Native American imagery altogether in the early 1990s, sports information director Bobby Parker said. Since then, Bradley has walked a fine line over the use of Braves for sports teams and its official stance that is has no mascot. That drew attention in 2005 from the NCAA, which targeted Bradley and 17 other schools — including the University of Illinois and its Chief Illiniwek mascot — over nicknames or mascots offensive to American Indians. Bradley convinced the NCAA that it’s use of Braves wasn’t "hostile and abusive" but still was placed on the watch list. Parker said he doesn’t know what will happen next year. An effort to make the Bobcat the school’s mascot while keeping the Braves nickname failed about a decade ago, he said. "From what I gather, it was just not ever very well received," Parker said. "Trying to come up with that mascot that fits the Braves nickname does present a challenge." Bradley student body President Kyle Malinowski said student leaders held the vote to try to force administrators to discuss the mascot issue. "The frustrating thing now is, that discussion’s not even being had," said Malinowski. He favors keeping the Brave nickname but would like a some kind of change that would disconnect it from its American Indian roots. Oldendorf voted for the referendum, and counts himself among those who would like to see Braves go away. His choice? Centurion, a name used by a longtime campus organization. A 2007 bid to find a new mascot faltered when a list of possibilities that included a clock, a squirrel and a firefighter didn’t generate a clear winner. Most of the schools the NCAA pressured over American Indian mascots either agreed, like the University of Illinois, to get rid of them or, like Florida State, were allowed to keep them after appealing to the organization. A handful, Illinois included, were penalized by the NCAA by being banned from hosting postseason sports. Bradley was not among them. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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