Equity & Diversity News in Brief

Student Editor Suspended Over ‘Redskins’ Nickname

By Bryan Toporek — September 30, 2014 1 min read
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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.

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

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