Ouampi's Last Stand

From the Summer 1971 Tomahawk Yearbook

 

By Dave Mack

Lloyd Roitstein hung up his headdress last fall after seven years portraying the UNO Indian mascot Ouampi. He was the seventh student in the 32-year "Indian" history of the university to don native garb and dance at athletic events. A successor to Roitstein had been chosen, but he won't be needed. A resolution, passed by an 18 to 7 vote of the Student Senate, a 27 to 0 vote of the University Senate, and approved by President Kirk E. Naylor, has called for the university to "discontinue use of the name 'Indian' for its athletic teams, abolish Ouampi as a school mascot and end the misuse of the Indian culture at university activities such as homecoming and Ma-ie Day."

 

The action was sudden an unexpected. University athletic teams had been called the Indians since 1939, when their name was changed from the Cardinals. A cardinal had no significance for a growing municipal university, but an Indian was representative of the country's heritage. Why not incorporate that heritage into university extracurricular activities? The suggestion was made, and a committee of alumni approached the leaders of the Omaha Indian Tribe with that idea. they approved, as did students, faculty, administrators and alumni of the university.

 

Thirty years passed with no one critical of the Indian nickname. Ouampi danced at football games; homecoming activities culminated in the crowning of an "Indian" princess; the annual university holiday became Ma-ie Day, complete with the crowning of another princess; Indian caricatures adorned book covers, sweatshirts and match books; the student center cafeteria became the Ouampi Room.

 

The beginning of the end of the Indian-Ouampi tradition was in September 1970 when six Indians, enrolled as part-time students at the Center for Urban Education, attended a UNO football game. Football wasn't all they saw. They saw a teepee with a comic caricature of an Indian on it and Roitstein in an Indian costume imitating Indian dances. The Indian students thought the caricature disgraceful, the Indian costume and dances unauthentic, and the wearing of the sacred headdress by a white youth sacrilegious. They were outraged by what they considered a degradation of their culture, heritage and traditions.

 

The Indian students reported what they had seen to the Indian Youth Council (IYC). Initially, the IYC planned to demonstrate at the next UNO football game. Instead, they wrote a letter expressing their dissatisfaction to President Naylor, Student Body President Steve Wild and the Board of Regents.

 

The letter generated little response, and the issue laid dormant until January when Mike Adams, director of the Manpower for Urban Progress program at UNO, wrote a letter regarding the degrading nature of the Ouampi caricature. Adams said the caricature carried the same stereotyping effect on Indians as "Little Black Sambo" did on Negros. The letter was sent to about 20 persons including Student Body President Wild.

 

Pressured by the second letter and by a social welfare class who had read the Adams letter, Wild appointed his vice president, Jim Zadina, to look into the matter. What followed was a series of meetings and telephone conversations between Zadina and representatives of the IYC and the American Indian Center (AIC).

 

At first it was thought that the Indians were only objecting to the Ouampi cartoon caricature. It was the caricature that did the stereotyping and which seemed to be the greatest source of irritation to the Indians. Abolition of the student mascot Ouampi was also discussed. In the course of the meetings, Nate Parker, acting director of the AIC, said complete abandonment of the mascot would not be necessary "if the door were open for the Indian to obtain involvement (in the university) ..." What was being sought was ac compromise in which the university would retain the Ouampi mascot in return for providing scholarships and other aids to the Indian community.

 

The issue finally reached the Student Senate floor when Zadina introduced a resolution asking for both the abolition of Ouampi and the discontinuance of the nickname Indians. The resolution was drafted by a coalition of students from the social welfare class and the IYC.

 

IYC President Pearl Morgan made  it clear to the Senate why the Indians were asking the university to do more than abandon the cartoon character. She argued that the university was using a race of people as a mascot; she added that the Indian headdress and the title of princess were embedded in the Indian religious tradition. A number of the senators accused the university of "unintentional racism."

 

The matter was left unattended until the following week's Senate meeting. Again compromise was proposed in the form of an amendment calling for only the abolition of the Ouampi cartoon character and the promotion of research into an Indian Culture Week. The amendment was killed. Speaking on behalf of the resolution to abolish the nickname and the mascot was Frank Love, executive director of the AIC. Love told the Senate, "this body and the entire university ought to pass this resolution."

 

Love also had a resolution of his own asking for an Indian counselor at UNO, financial aid to Indians and the formation of a  committee to study the idea of an Indian Affairs program. The Senate approved the former resolution 18 to 7; Love's resolution was not considered. Similar action by the University Senate and President Naylor followed.

 

The response to the abolition has been less than favorable by both students and alumni. The point most often raised is that other university and professional athletic teams employ Indian nicknames. Heavy criticism has been directed toward the Indian attempts to forbid use of the nickname for financial aid and scholarships. Many feel the university was intimidated by a  small minority.

 

Roitstein, who was in favor of abolishing the caricature but fought strongly against abolishing the mascot and nickname, has his own impression of how the issue evolved. "At first they (the Indians) were only interested in doing away with the caricature, but then they found out they could get away with whatever they wanted. I was totally against the final outcome. I'm for helping the Indians, but they hurt themselves when they could've helped. All they accomplished was to create a lot of student ill-will toward the Indian." Roitstein said President Naylor told him privately that he was against giving his approval to the resolution but felt forced to do so.

 

Regardless of the campus reaction, the deed is done, and it is not likely that it will be undone. Committees have been appointed to start the phasing out of the Indian symbols and activities and to outline procedures for selecting a new nickname and mascot.

 

A 32-year old tradition has been abolished and with it a number of minor traditions that grew out of it. It amy be a few years before the student center cafeteria is called anything but the Ouampi Room, but students can look forward to a new nickname for their athletic teams and a new title of their magazine this fall.