One of the most hotly debated topics in the Manhattan community right now is the Manhattan High School’s mascot. Brought about in the 1940s, the appropriateness of the Indian mascot has been discussed multiple times over the years.There have been conversations about whether the mascot is appropriate or not and if having an Indian represent our school is disrespectful to the indigenous peoples of our country. The most important thing to keep in mind with controversial topics is open, honest and peaceful conversations. 

On Monday, Nov. 28, the MHS Civic Engagement club did just that. The group held a discussion and deliberation about the controversy surrounding our school’s mascot. 

“We wanted to have a different sort of discussion on the Indian symbol. There have been discussions in the past on the topic, but not in this structure in which we used deliberative polling, which is a process where you survey participants before and after the event,” sophomore Advith Natarajan said. “During the event, you have an expert panel in between discussions so that participants can learn more about the topic. So pretty much the purpose was to gain a deeper understanding on the issue and have the participants explore different viewpoints.” 

The event consisted of three different groups with about 10 attendees in each and two facilitators who held a discussion based on the background guide that was sent out before the event. The guide contained information about mascot discussions at a national and local level. Out of approximately 70 people who registered their interest, about 35 attended.Before the discussions, the participants were given a survey to see what their opinions were before the discussion. After the discussions, they were given the survey again to see how their opinions changed on the topic.

“[With] our conversation, we didn’t really want to find common ground,” Natarajan said. “That wasn’t the goal. We wanted to gain a deeper understanding of how people view the topic and how people’s attitudes change throughout the topic and throughout the discussion.”

Not all of the data has been collected, but the group is hopeful that people were positively affected by the conversation. The group will present their results to the school board to show the effects of a deliberate discussion on a group.

“I want to make it clear that we’re not suggesting anything about the mascot,” Natarajan said. “But the purpose of us sharing is to share the effects of deliberation and so on discussion.”