College of William and Mary receives NCAA ruling on athletic logo
The College of William and Mary received notice Aug. 3, 2006 that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Executive Committee has denied the College’s appeal regarding use of the institution’s athletic logo.
“We strongly disagree with the decision by the Executive Committee and find it absurd that the NCAA continues to target William and Mary—a College that sets the standard for the scholar athlete—because of two feathers on our athletic logo,” said William and Mary Athletics Director Terry Driscoll. “We do know that William and Mary will forever be the ‘Tribe’ and that was the most important victory in this entire process. We’ll review the decision about our athletic logo over the next few weeks as we evaluate what’s in the best interest of our student athletes.”
In May, the NCAA ruled that William and Mary’s “Tribe” nickname was neither hostile nor abusive but determined that the athletic logo—which contains two green and gold feathers—could create an environment that is offensive. William and Mary appealed that decision in June to the NCAA Executive Committee.
The recent ruling is part of an ongoing review by the NCAA of more than 30 universities’ use of mascots, nicknames, logos and imagery associated with Native Americans to determine whether they are “hostile and abusive.” Universities placed on the NCAA list are prohibited from hosting NCAA-sponsored postseason games and from using the image in NCAA-sanction postseason play.
