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Walker empathizes with mascot bill opponents

By: Associated Press//December 17, 2013//

Walker empathizes with mascot bill opponents

By: Associated Press//December 17, 2013//

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By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MAPLE BLUFF, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker gave his strongest signal yet Tuesday that he may sign a bill making it harder to remove race-based school mascots, saying he’s concerned the current law may infringe on the free speech rights of public schools.

Tribal leaders and others have pressured Walker to veto the bill. He has said he would announce his decision Thursday, the deadline for him to act.

“It is one of those where it’s tough because it’s a very emotional issue,” Walker said.

The bill passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature changes the process by which schools can be forced to remove race-based mascots and nicknames. Under the law, the Department of Public Instruction is given the authority to order a school to drop a mascot or nickname based on just a single complaint.

The bill requires a complainant to collect signatures equal to 10 percent of the school district’s population to trigger a state review. Complainants would have to prove discrimination at a hearing.

The Department of Administration, which is controlled by the governor, would make the final call on whether the name must go, rather than DPI, which is run by an elected superintendent.

Walker faces a Thursday deadline to either sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. Walker said Tuesday that he will either veto or sign it.

The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, an organization of 12 federally recognized Indian tribes located in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, sent Walker a letter last week calling on him to veto the proposal. Democrats have also asked Walker to veto it.

Barbara Munson, an Oneida Indian who chairs the Wisconsin Indian Education Association’s Indian Mascot and Logo Task Force, said she thinks Walker will veto the bill.

“He’s the one person who can make a decision about whether Wisconsin is going to be in the forefront on an education civil rights issue or in the back of the bus,” Munson said.

Walker said he “certainly has empathy” for tribes and others calling for him to veto the measure because of their concerns about schools using Indian-based mascots, logos and nicknames. But Walker said he also was concerned about free speech rights of school districts and how those may be harmed under the current law.

Munson said the issue is civil rights, not free speech.

“Schools have a responsibility to teach all their students in an environment where students do not experience discrimination, pupil harassment, and stereotyping,” she said.

The Legislature’s passing of the bill came as the Mukwonago Area School District refused a DPI order to drop its “Indians” nickname, citing decades of tradition and the costs of changing uniforms and equipment.

Mukwonago is one of just three districts DPI has ordered to drop its Indian mascots since the law went into effect in 2010. DPI also ordered the Osseo-Fairchild school district to drop its Chieftains nickname and Berlin High School to ditch its Indians moniker.

The bill before Walker would invalidate those orders.

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