Students Protest Crimson Column

Three undergraduates convened for a prayer ceremony this Friday to protest a Crimson column printed last week.

Kelsey T. Leonard ’10, a member of the Shinnecock Nation group, organized and led the prayer to protest a Dec. 6 Crimson column by Jonathan Lehman ’08, which stated that the “crusade” against team mascots in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was overblown.

His column, which ended with the line “I think the Crimson would’ve slaughtered the Indians,” precipitated heated discussion over many open lists, including house lists, Fuerza, Students Taking on Poverty, and First-Year Urban Program. News of the prayer ceremony spread through these lists as well.

Lehman's last sentence came in a paragraph referencing Arkansas State's women's basketball team, whose mascot is the Indians.

"Jonathan's column expressed his own views regarding the NCAA's mascot
policy," a statement from The Crimson's president, William C. Marra '07, said. "Our columnists speak for themselves only, not for the Crimson staff. We stand by our sports columnists' right to opine on important issues affecting intercollegiate athletics, but we're sorry that the column caused some of our readers to feel personally hurt."

Friday morning, Caitlin M. Young ’08, a member of the Apache group, and Kemy Q. Wahpepah ’09, a member of the Kickapoo group, joined Leonard as they stood in a circle by Matthews Hall and held a bowl of burning sage. Sage is a Native American symbol of cleansing and new beginnings, according to Leonard.

“We all smudged with the sage in order to go forth in our day with a positive attitude,” said Leonard, referring to an age-old tradition of passing the bowl with the burning sage with each person in the circle fanning the smoke around themselves.

Leonard said that in addition to the prayer ceremony, the Native Americans at Harvard College (NAHC) were urging people to wear red or crimson t-shirts that day as a sign of solidarity.

Leonard and the other two students said they saw the ceremony as a sign of forgiveness and of moving on.

“We want to put everything behind us and greet everyone with a high head and a smile,” Leonard said, “To use a Native American phrase, we wanted to go out and walk in a good way.”

—Staff writer Aditi Banga can be reached at abanga@fas.harvard.edu.