Things are going to be different when students go back to school in the fall at Hall High School in West Hartford.
After weeks of debate, reports, the school has decided to change its logo.
A group of students lobbied Principal Don Slater for the change, saying their current mascot, the Warrior, was stereotypical. The principal announced the change to the students on the last day of school.
But it was far from a unanimous decision. The proposal to replace the image of the Native American at war was met with an immediate outcry from other students.
Slater sent an email to his staff this week, saying the issue has "taken over the halls, classrooms and social media sites," the Hartford Courant reports.
The students even held a debate on the issue. Last Friday, two speakers with Native American heritage came to the school to talk about the issue.
"Every national Indian organization has taken a firm stand that there is no honor in being a mascot," said Stephen Pevar, who spent four years on a South Dakota reservation as a lawyer and currently works for the American Civil Liberties Union.
In the end, the administration decided to change the logo. The school will still be the Warriors, but the stern, chisel-faced warrior with two feathers in his hair will be changed.
Slater said he wanted to make it clear that students who backed the mascot were not trying to degrade Native Americas, but keeping the logo could "could tarnish our image. That's not what we're about."
Hall's new logo will be selected this fall, but until then, the school has ordered a new batch of T-shirts with an "H" logo and "Warriors" written across the middle, according to the Courant.
