The Central Michigan Chippewas are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Central Michigan University (CMU), located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.[1] The school fields sixteen men's and women's intercollegiate teams that compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level.
Nickname History[]
The nickname is used with the consent of the nearby Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. The university was placed on the NCAA's list of schools with "hostile or abusive" nicknames in August 2005, but appealed the decision, with the support of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Nation. On September 2, 2005, the university announced that their appeal of the decision had been upheld.
The Chippewas nickname was put forth by assistant football coach Lawrence "Doc" Sweeney in 1942 to replace the then-current Bearcats. He argued that Bearcats not only had nothing to do with the school and the area but was also a nearly extinct beast that none of the students had ever seen or heard of. He further argued that not only was Chippewa the name of the school's yearbook, but the Chippewa River flows through Mount Pleasant, and the "American Indian image" would provide "... unlimited opportunities for pageantry and showmanship for the band as well as athletic teams." The new name was passed by a vote of the student body.
When negative reaction to racial stereotypes grew in the 1970s and 1980s, it was recommended by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission that the Chippewas name be dropped. Instead, in 1989 the university instituted several measures to enhance the name, including introducing special educational programs developed in conjunction with the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Council, headquartered on the local Isabella Indian Reservation; orientation programs were set up to familiarize CMU students and staff with traditional Native American culture; the school's Native American logos were eliminated along with tom-tom drumbeats by the pep bands and other activities that would reflect racial stereotypes.[2]
Club ice hockey[]
CMU currently supports men's and women's club ice hockey teams, with the men's team playing in the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League and the women's team playing in the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association[3]