By Sharron Luttrell
Contenders for the next Mendon-Upton Regional School District’s mascot are down to the final three, the School Committee learned tonight.
Vying for the honor are the Bears, the Coyotes and the Nor’Easters.
Voters used an online form to choose the finalists from a list of eight that were culled from roughly 250 online submissions.
Nipmuc began phasing out its Warrior mascot in 2021 after the Nipmuc Tribal Council urged schools to stop using Native American mascots. Its 2016 letter stated that the imagery misrepresents Nipmuc culture and promotes racist stereotypes.
The School Committee grappled with the decision at the time, member Sean Nicholson recalled. But after hearing more from Nipmuc Nation members, agreed to drop the Warrior and simply play under the letter “N.”
“We discussed this very thoroughly and we decided not to jump ahead with the name change until we had interaction with the Nipmuc tribe,” he said. “We’ve been very intentional in trying to do this the right way, a systematic way, a very responsible way. I think at this point we’re following through on what our commitments were. I feel very good about it.”
Some alumni and community members disagreed with dropping the mascot, but eventually objections died down. They flared up recently with the formation of a selection committee to choose a new mascot in time to be incorporated into the design and construction of the high school athletic field complex.
Debate surfaced on the Mendon and Upton Facebook pages and more than 260 people signed a petition asking the schools to reopen the selection process. Among the suggestions was to play as the Mendon-Upton Warriors without the Native American image.
School Superintendent Maureen Cohen told the committee tonight that the Nipmuc name is part of the school district’s identity and honors the tribal nation.
“To change the name of the school in order to keep the Warrior wouldn’t make a lot of sense to us,” she said. “Nipmuc and Nipmuc pride is really something that is a big part of who we are. It’s not like we’re trying to erase history with the name, we’re just trying to honor the (Nipmuc) Nation.”
The schools will field an online survey from April 27-May 8 asking the community to weigh in on the final three. A link to the survey will be posted in each school’s newsletter as well as the superintendent’s update. Mendon-Upton students will be brought into the selection process.
As for School Committee Student Representative Sean Bailey, he told the committee he’s just happy to be moving on from the ‘N.’
“I know this process can be very divisive and a lot of people have opinions on it, but I think from the students’ perspective, we’ve been wanting to change the ‘N.’ The ‘N’ we don’t have any attachment to. We want something we can rally behind.”
