Equity & Diversity News in Brief

Student Editor Suspended Over ‘Redskins’ Nickname

By Bryan Toporek — September 30, 2014 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The superintendent of the Neshaminy district in Pennsylvania has suspended the Neshaminy High School newspaper’s editor-in-chief for a month and its faculty adviser for two days for refusing to use the word “Redskins.”

Last fall, the editorial board of the The Playwickian stopped using the word in reference to the school’s athletic teams. The principal temporarily overturned the ban, until lawyers intervened. At the end of the 2013-14 school year, the paper’s staff changed “Redskins” to “R--------" in a student-submitted letter defending the use of the nickname.

The school board later approved a policy that allows the removal of the nickname in all but editorials or letters to the editor.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the October 01, 2014 edition of Education Week as Student Editor Suspended Over ‘Redskins’ Nickname

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity Trump Admin. Vows to End School Desegregation Orders. Some Say They're Still Needed
Civil rights activists say it would leave families with little recourse when they face discrimination.
6 min read
A person walks inside a barbed wire fence inside Ferriday High School in Ferriday, La., on May 22, 2025.
A person walks inside a barbed wire fence inside Ferriday High School in Ferriday, La., on May 22, 2025.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Equity & Diversity Opinion Let DEI Practices Die. Replace Them With Something Better
Individual student agency enabled by strong families and schools can lead students to success, writes a researcher.
Robert Maranto
5 min read
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon meets with students during a visit to Vertex Partnership Academies in New York on March 7, 2025.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon meets with students during a visit to Vertex Partnership Academies in New York City on March 7, 2025.
Courtesy of U.S. Department of Education
Equity & Diversity Opinion Boys Are Struggling in School. What Can Be Done?
Girls outpace boys at nearly every level of academic achievement. Author Richard Reeves shares his thoughts.
6 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Anti-DEI Policies Are Ramping Up—With Big Implications for College Access
A new study looks at how students of color could be affected by policies that ban DEI efforts.
6 min read
Three high school boys and one high school girl work together on an experiment in AP chemistry class.
Three high school boys and one high school girl work together on an experiment in AP chemistry class.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed