I’m a member of the Class of 1980. When I enrolled at Syracuse University in 1977, the university proudly used a blatantly racist symbol, the Saltine Warrior, as its mascot. It was as offensive as anything cited in the Theta Tau statements. Our Native group had a choice to make: either confront the brothers of Lambda Chi — the sponsors of the Warrior — or adopt the traditional diplomatic methods of the Iroquois Confederacy and change their minds to see the issue from our perspective. We asked for the participation of the Onondaga Nation Council when we decided to adopt enlightenment versus confrontation. That initiative worked. In this instance, I suggest working with the fraternity to enhance their understanding as to the pain their behaviour has caused and to try and reconcile the students back within the SU community. With regards to the Theta Tau building, I would turn it over to the aboriginal students for their own residence, similar to the Akwekon House at Cornell. As it now stands, SU doesn’t do enough for Native students and having a central, dynamic indigenous presence would enhance campus life at large, while making something creative out of this controversy. It would also heal the black eye SU has across the nation. The campus is, after all, on the territory of the Onondaga Nation.

Sincerely,

Doug George-Kanentiio, Syracuse University Class of 1980

Akwesasne Mohawk