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Florida State prepares to fight

Trustees said they may sue the NCAA to fight its ruling against the Seminole mascot.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published August 11, 2005

	[Times photos: Steve Bousquet]
	FSU president T.K. Wetherell fields questions Wednesday after the trustees' emergency meeting. "The NCAA has found a way to unify Democrats, Republicans, Washington and the state of Florida," said Wetherell, a former FSU wide receiver.
	Restricting the Seminole logo, shown here on a $12.99 baby bib, could cause "economic damage" to FSU, Wetherell said.

TALLAHASSEE - Florida State University vowed Wednesday to fight an NCAA decision that its familiar Seminole symbol is "hostile and abusive" to American Indians.

In an emergency session, FSU trustees voted to appeal the NCAA rule that, starting in February, would ban the use of Indian symbols at championship events. They also questioned whether the NCAA has the power to make such a decision.

And they directed lawyer Barry Richard to sue the NCAA if necessary.

"We are highly insulted by this NCAA action," said Jim Smith, a lawyer, lobbyist, former Florida attorney general and FSU graduate who heads the trustees. "We will not stand by and let this happen without a fight."

The NCAA order has galvanized a politically powerful network of FSU boosters, legislators, members of Congress and Gov. Jeb Bush, who called the NCAA edict "a really stupid decision."

FSU president T.K. Wetherell said the NCAA decision makes no sense because the Seminole Tribe of Florida supports the use of images such as Chief Osceola, who rides an Appaloosa named Renegade to midfield at home football games.

He said that FSU awards scholarships to tribe members and that the tribe plays a role in all university commencement exercises. The Seminole tribal council adopted a resolution in June supporting the school's Indian logo and other symbols.

The NCAA's new policy, adopted last week, does not apply to regular season games - only NCAA-sponsored championship events, which are among the most lucrative games schools play.

The ban does not apply to Division I-A football, where the Seminole symbols are most proudly and conspicuously displayed.

The NCAA action applies to 18 schools with nicknames such as Indians, Braves and Fighting Sioux.

Some FSU trustees took offense that members of the Seminole Tribe in Oklahoma found the FSU logo to be offensive.

"I could care less what the Seminole Tribe in Oklahoma think. They're in Oklahoma," said trustee Richard McFarlain, a Tallahassee lawyer. "They got run out of here by - who was it, Andrew Jackson or somebody like that? The Trail of Tears? The real Seminoles stayed here."

The U.S. government relocated some Seminoles to Oklahoma beginning in 1832, after the First Seminole War. More relocations followed after two more wars with the U.S. government.

The Seminole logo shows an American Indian in profile with war paint on his face and a feather with the words "Florida State." The logo appears on T-shirts, tableware, bibs, potholders, earrings, beer mugs, shot glasses, van spare tire covers and even FSU license tags sold by the state.

"It's taken a long time to establish that brand, that symbol, that logo," Wetherell said. Restricting its use could cause economic damage to the university, he said.

FSU athletic director Dave Hart criticized the NCAA for not defining the term "hostile and abusive." But NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said the term is drawn directly from federal civil rights case law.

Williams defined the term as "any aggressive, pervasive, or persistent action that affects the full opportunity of the student to participate in the educational process."

As trustees plotted legal strategy, political leaders in Florida and Washington looked for ways to block the policy. U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, criticized the "pinheads" at the NCAA and predicted that the Seminole logo, tomahawk chop and other expressions of school spirit are here to stay.

Feeney, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Congress has power to intervene under the Sherman Antitrust Act. He said one option is to allow a school to use the American Indian symbols with a tribe's consent.

Barry Richard, involved in a jury trial that probably won't end for a couple more weeks, has neither talked to Wetherell nor delved into the particulars of the issue. But he said he has some ideas about how FSU might proceed in a situation that seems to center on "an overzealous effort" by the NCAA to protect a group - the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

"When you look at something and it just looks wrong," he said late Wednesday evening, "there's usually a legal basis for (fighting) it."

Richard, who graduated from the University of Miami and earned his law degree there, said he didn't have a problem representing a rival school.

"I'm a Democrat and I represented a Republican for president," he said with a laugh, referring to his role in helping George W. Bush in the historic Florida recount in 2000.

Wetherell, a former FSU wide receiver who as a legislator two decades ago was known for flouting political correctness, seemed to relish the notoriety his alma mater is receiving just before the start of another football season.

"The NCAA has found a way to unify Democrats, Republicans, Washington and the state of Florida," Wetherell said. "What we could not do, they had the ability to do. So I don't think we're going to be short of help."

Times staff writers Joni James and Brian Landman contributed to this report. Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 18:48:05]