Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Radnor schools to shed ‘Raider’ nickname
The Radnor School Board voted Wednesday night to end the Raider nickname and remove all native American imagery related to the mascot on school grounds, quieting the contentious debate among activists, alumni, township residents and students.
The board meeting took place on Zoom (https:// youtu.be/zT-6rKWaeZE).
The vote was 9-0 to eliminate the imagery that would include the Indian head logo painted on the gym and the use of Indian feathers and other imagery on school buildings.
While several board members saw no evidence linking “Raider” to Indian culture, or that it had been meant to disparage native Americans, the vote was 8-1 to cancel the nickname, with board member Nancy Monahan dissenting.
Monahan said several sports teams use “Raider” or similar nicknames without issue, including the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings, MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates and the Nashville Predators of the NHL.
“The Raider name was founded back in the 1930s with no link or connection or intention to have any native American tie,” Monahan said. “I think the true intent of that is to be competitive.”
Susan Stern, Amy Goldman, Jeff Jubelirer, Bradley Moore, Sarah Dunn, Andrew Babson, Liz Duffy and Lydia T. Solomon voted in favor of eliminating the Raider nickname.
Duffy hoped to remove the imagery and save the Raider name but felt there was too much hurt associated with the latter.
“I just think at the end of the day we can’t do this with Raider because there’s too much baggage,” Duffy said.
Solomon made the motion to shed of the Raider name. She acknowledged the passion of community members, just not enough to move forward without changing the nickname.
“I have a choice as a board member to do something that I feel will be helpful to people that are hurt or offended by us having this Raider name,” Solomon said. “I want it to be fully, fully inclusive. So, it could be something that’s either neutral or positive for everyone but not negative for anyone.”
Babson basically echoed what Solomon said.
“I think turning the page, having a clean slate is the best move forward here because perhaps it doesn’t have connotations to many of us but it might have a lot of connotations to people who felt like there was an association between the word Raider and negative images and stereotypes, racist stereotypes that have
been around American culture for quite a long time,” Babson said. “So, I think it’s in our best interests to really turn the page and see this as an opportunity for our community to come up with a new mascot and a new image and a new kind of symbol to rally around.”
Babson suggested going back to the Radnor “Red and White.”
Susan Stern, the school board president, said the
board members appreciated the public input from the Aug. 4 Zoom meeting.
Stern said about 130 members of the public joined the meeting. About one-third of them were able to comment.
The Radnor For Reform Group led by Radnor High students Audrey Margolies, Anne Griffin and Ellie Davis, among others, was instrumental in lobbying the school board for the changes.
The group celebrated the victory with a post:
“Today the Radnor School Board voted to remove all Native American
imagery and the “Raider” name! We are so grateful to all of the students, alumni, Native groups and community members who have led this effort. THANK YOU!”
The board called on Superintendent Ken Batchelor to formulate a plan to remove the imagery and develop a process to find another nickname and school mascot and share it with the board.
For now, Radnor has no nickname or sports, the latter postponed by the Central Athletic League over concerns about safety and the coronavirus.