Seattle University mascot

Editor, The Times:

I read with interest your nod of approval for Seattle University's recent move to drop its longtime mascot, the stylized head of an Indian chief, and to change their name from the Chieftains to the Redbirds, or something - I wasn't surprised ("Hail to the Redhawks," Editorials, Jan. 10).

Seattle U's move, and your approval, is just one more instance of the pusillanimous caving-in to political correctness that has infected our society. I speak as a Seattle U grad who claims some Native American ancestry.

Seattle U was correct to drop the Indian chief logo once it learned that some Indian leaders found it offensive. After all, this image does not belong to them; it is closer in spirit, if not in law, to a copyright that they can merely borrow. If the owners don't like it, Seattle U shouldn't use it.

To drop the name Chieftains because "some people" don't like it is another thing. It is cowardice disguised as caring. Native Americans do not own the words "chief" or "chieftain." They cannot forbid their use. Only the ignorant cede to them this authority.

My dictionary defines chieftain as "the leader of a group, band, etc. The chief of a clan or tribe." This is a generic term that applies across ethnic and social boundaries. Indians don't own it and should not be able to forbid its use.

The word chieftain refers to leadership, not ethnicity.

It is too bad Seattle U did not have a chieftain at its head when it decided to trade its heritage for popularity.

Martin Collins Edmonds.