The Cambridge Indians mascot remains for now
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CAMBRIDGE – The Cambridge Central School District did not vote to remove the Indians mascot Thursday night. They instead came up with a compromise.
It was a long meeting as the school board discussed all of their options. After a long discussion, many on the board did not feel comfortable voting to completely get rid of the Indians mascot just yet.
They discussed for over an hour whether or not they wanted to remove the Indians mascot and name.
"A mascot has really one job, which is to unify and if there is one thing that I’ve learned this year is that this mascot can no longer do it’s job," said Jessica Roosevelt, a Cambridge Central School District Board Member.
It was on their agenda to vote to remove the name and imagery. For the last eight months the school board took feedback from faculty, alumni and outside organizations. The goal was to determine whether or not the mascot was offensive and see how the community felt towards changing the name.
"As a result of all that learning I have transitioned from being a fan to mascot and name that I always thought were, but I thought revered who they were to a student of who they are from what they suffered and survived," said Neil Gifford, the Cambridge Central School Board President.
However, during the discussion the board wanted to come to a compromise. Some believed the school community was not ready to completely get rid of Indians mascot and imagery by July 1.
"Certainly I implore the community to work together with us. I think we’re getting very close. I got that sense," said Dillon Honyoust, a Cambridge Central School Board member.
At the current moment the board wants to establish a committee to look at the issue. They want the committee to largely comprise of students. They also believe this should be tackled by the new school board that will come on board in July.
The board agreed on the concept, but will come back next week for a special meeting to formally vote on the matter. So, for the time being the Indians mascot is still in place.