Mosinee High School Students Lead Initiative To Change Indians Mascot

Mosinee High School students are leading an initiative to change the name of their athletic teams from the Indians. The Mosinee School Board seems more receptive to the idea of change than it has in the past.

In September, the school board allowed the students to form a committee to conduct a community survey about changing the controversial mascot. The students will report to the board Tuesday, Dec. 19 with the data they have collected.

Karlie Bonnell, a junior who is the student representative to the school board, said the students are deliberately avoiding emotionally charged language about racism.

“We’re not really talking about the offensiveness or the race part of it, we’re just talking about initiating a change,” Bonnell said. “We feel those conversations were had in the past years when it was brought up. We don’t necessarily feel that we have to argue it anymore.”

The school district has already removed the old logo of an Indian in a war bonnet from its apparel and wall signs, replacing it with a block purple “M.”

Bonnell said the students want a new mascot with a logo they can be proud of.

“Schools across our state have their logos plastered on their gym floors, on their apparel. They scream for them at games and it’s so exciting. And it’s kind of confusing and frustrating for Mosinee because we don’t really have a figure to cheer for,” Bonnell said.

Lauren Kaiser, a junior and president of the Student Senate, said the school should choose a logo that doesn’t represent any particular racial or ethnic group of people.

“I feel that a lot of schools have moved past using cultural figures as their mascot so I feel that is why we should move too,” Kaiser said.,

Zach Zebro, the school district’s athletic and activities director, said the block “M” logo limits the expression of pride at school events, even for students who aren’t offended by the Indians name.

“We’re proud to be the Indians,” Zebro said. “We see that it is something in the past that was used more freely and more proudly, but the way things have gone over the past decade or so, we don’t have that. We have a block “M,” and we feel like we’re restricted, and we want something that we can use openly and freely.”

Zebro said the current mascot can be a problem when the teams are on the road.

“In certain schools where we travel there’s a hesitation to even speak the Indians name as part of our mascot,” Zebro said.

Barbara Munson, a Mosinee woman and Native American activist, and three students sued the school district and the state schools superintendent over the mascot in 1994.

Court documents indicated that Native American students were called names by other students and taunted during spearfishing season. The taunts included, “Indians should be killed and not the fish,” according to the documents. One Native American student said, “stereotypes can be insulting to Indians by implying that they are a savage and war-like people.”

A Marathon County Circuit Court judge and the 3rd District Court of Appeals later ruled in favor of the school district, saying “from the perspective of a reasonable person … (the Indian logo) does not depict a negative stereotype.”

Munson, now the chair of the Indian Mascot and Logo Task Force for the Wisconsin Indian Education Association, said she is not getting involved in the current student initiative to avoid inflaming the situation.

“I don’t want to negatively impact the work of these students, because they’re doing something in a really respectful and thoughtful way, and I think they should be applauded for their work,” Munson said.

According to local legend, the city of Mosinee was named after a Menominee chief known for his honesty. Kaiser said that a new mascot needs to both represent the community’s past and its future.

“We’ve thrown around many, many ideas but we’re really trying to keep our history in it,” Kaiser said. “We just need something new. It’s our school now, it’s our generation and we’ve moved past our old traditions.”

Zebro said this has been a learning experience for the students.

“I’m really proud of the students,” he said. “Any time you put yourselves out there, especially on a controversial decision, you’re going to experience tension and for students especially that can be pretty heavy.”