LEGISLATIVE BILL JEOPARDIZES BOBWHITE, COMET, BULLET MASCOTS
Editor’s Note: This story first ran in our print edition on January 27th.
In recent years a number of schools in Vermont have been forced to reconsider their mascots- driven mostly by the perception of what their mascot may have meant in a historical nature.
Now, a pair of bills in the Vermont Legislature (S.139 and H.641), introduced by Senator Richard McCormack (D) of Windsor and Representative Emma Mulvaney-Stanak (D) of Burlington, would ban Vermont’s public high schools from participating in Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) events if their mascots fall into certain categories, including those which are related to racial or ethnic groups, customs, traditions, or an individual.
This leaves BFA St. Albans’ boys’ teams in a place where they could be forced to rename their mascot, even though the Bobwhites’ namesake is in honor of a former coach and athletic director at the school, Bob White. For the same reason, the girls’ teams may also be forced to change from the Comets to something else if the bill were to go through. The Comets were named after Dario “Doc” Comi.
This lastest movement to ban certain mascots here in Vermont began in earnest five years ago when the school board in South Burlington approved a measure that would ask voters if they wanted to drop the name “Rebels” as their school mascot.
Voters rejected that proposal, but after several threats of violence from a student and graffiti painted on the football field, a second vote on the issue passed.
Soon after South Burlington took action to change their name from the Rebels to the Wolves, Rutland was thrust into the spotlight over their mascot at the time, the Raiders.
Although Rutland had already dropped part of the original mascot name, the Red Raiders, over concerns that it depicted Native Americans, they adopted a new mascot, the Ravens. Earlier this month the school board revisited the subject, changing back to the Raiders.
The controversy in Vermont has long taken place- for the first four decades of its existence, the Champlain Valley Union High School (CVU) used the Crusaders as their mascot, before making a change in 2005 to the Redhawks. The year before CVU made their change, Rice High School went from being the Little Indians to the Green Knights.
Much of the proposed bill is pretty self-explanatory, but why would they want to ban mascots that are named after an individual?
“It is insulting to be a mascot,” McCormick told WCAX on Tuesday.
Perhaps in McCormick’s mind, it is insulting to be a mascot, but it’s more likely that the “individual” portion of the bill takes aim at the Brattleboro Union High School Colonels- named after the Town’s namesake, Colonel William Brattle, a Civil War leader who fought for the Confederates. Responding to that history, Brattleboro dropped a portion of their mascot in 2004, which up until that time was the “Colonel Rebels”
BFA St. Albans may not be the only school in the area to be threatened by the proposed bill. Mascots that refer to a “custom or tradition” may also be banned, such as that of the BFA Fairfax Bullets- which could be construed as violent in nature.
Such mascot changes are not always so controversial- A mascot change in Danville recently came with little fanfare after the community, students, and school officials banded together, transitioning from the Indians to the Bears.
If the bill were to pass, it would only apply to public schools, and it would give schools three years to comply with a new mascot to be able to compete in VPA events.
Jay Nichols, the Executive Director of the VPA, testified on Tuesday to the Senate Committee on Education as to the language in the bills, “The VPA has leaned heavily into the issue around racist symbols and mascots in schools, we provided a press statement that has been utilized in a number of school board discussions across the state and has helped lead to the change in names of some mascots.”
Nichols acknowledged that there are some names of mascots in the state that likely do have historical underpinnings that should be replaced, but said the history of the namesake should be taken into account. He noted that Leland and Gray High School in Townshend use the name “Rebels” as their mascot but their use of “Rebels” and the imagery around that refers to the rebels in the Revolutionary War. Contrast that to the history of the “Rebels” in South Burlington, which had at least some connection through imagery to the Rebels of the Confederacy in the Civil War.
In the South Burlington case, the Rebels were connected to the South separating from the North, just as South Burlington did with Burlington in 1865- the same year the American Civil War came to a close.
This is why, according to Nichols, the VPA thinks each individual community should be responsible for the names and potential name changes to their schools’ mascots.
“I want to be really clear there’s a couple names that we think are really problematic, and everybody on the Executive Council think that they’re wrong,” Nichols said, “We just don’t think it should be legislated… obviously we are not going to fight against [the bill], but we think it would be better off if it happened at the local level.”
Some are worried about where the movement could stop, with some mascots having meanings that have little to do with the intended mascot. For instance, the Mount Mansfield Union High School (MMU) teams have the mascot of a Cougar, which has a secondary meaning which describes an older woman who preys on younger men.
MMU and CVU have teamed to form a cooperative team, with a combined mascot of the CougarHawks which also has a secondary street meaning.
Here’s a list of Vermont’s School Mascots:
• Arlington Memorial: Eagles
• Bellows Falls: Terriers
• BFA-Fairfax: Bullets
• BFA-St. Albans: Bobwhites (boys) and Comets (girls)
• Blue Mountain: Bucks
• Brattleboro: Colonels
• Burlington: Seahorses
• Burr and Burton Academy: Bulldogs
• Champlain Valley: Redhawks
• Colchester: Lakers
• Craftsbury Academy: Chargers
• Danville: Bears
• Enosburg Falls: Hornets
• Essex: Hornets
• Fair Haven: Slaters
• Green Mountain: Chieftains
• Green Mountain Valley School: Gumbies
• Hartford: Hurricanes
• Harwood: Highlanders
• Hazen: Wildcats
• Lake Champlain Waldorf: Wildcats
• Lake Region: Rangers
• Lamoille: Lancers
• Leland & Gray: Rebels
• Long Trail School: Lynx
• Lyndon Institute: Vikings
• Middlebury: Tigers
• Mid-Vermont Christian: Eagles
• Mill River: Minutemen
• Milton: Yellow Jackets
• Missisquoi: Thunderbirds
• Montpelier: Solons
• Mount Abraham: Eagles
• Mount Anthony: Patriots
• Mount Mansfield: Cougars
• Mount St. Joseph Academy: Mounties
• Northfield: Marauders
• North Country: Falcons
• Otter Valley: Otters
• Oxbow: Olympians
• Peoples Academy: Wolves
• Poultney: Blue Devils
• Proctor: Phantoms
• Randolph: Galloping Ghosts
• Rice Memorial: Green Knights
• Richford: Falcons (boys) and Rockets (girls)
• Rivendell: Raptors
• Rutland: Raiders
• Sharon Academy: Phoenix
• South Burlington: Wolves
• Spaulding: Crimson Tide
• Springfield: Cosmos
• Stowe: Raiders
• Stratton Mountain School: Bears
• St. Johnsbury Academy: Hilltoppers
• Thetford Academy: Panthers
• Twinfield: Trojans
• Twin Valley: Wildcats
• Union 32: Raiders
• Vergennes: Commodores
• Vermont Commons: Flying Turtles
• Websterville Baptist: Warriors
• West Rutland: Golden Horde
• White River Valley: Wildcats
• Williamstown: Blue Devils
• Windsor: Yellowjackets
• Winooski: Spartans
• Woodstock: Wasps
