A New York state policy prohibiting the use of Native American school mascots violates civil rights laws, and the state must rescind it or face the possibility of losing federal education funds, the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights argued in a letter issued Friday.
The decision marks a significant reversal, as districts nationally in the past five years had accelerated the work of phasing out such logos over concerns supported by research that the use of such mascots is harmful to Native American students.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced the department’s decision Friday at Massapequa High School, which has been central in rejecting the state policy in an effort to preserve its “Chiefs” mascot and team name.
Her department, which has aggressively sought to carry out President Donald Trump’s social policy agenda through its anti-discrimination investigations arm, has publicly announced the opening of more than 100 cases against school districts, colleges, and state education departments aligning with the president’s executive orders. It has heavily focused on weeding out diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, arguing that they violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race-based discrimination in schools and other federally funded programs.
The Education Department’s office for civil rights argues that the state’s mascot policy, enacted in 2022, violates Title VI because it prohibits the use of Native American imagery but “allowed names, mascots, and logos that appear to have been derived from other racial or ethnic groups, such as the ‘Dutchmen’ and the ‘Huguenots,’” according to a department news release.
In an agreement proposed by the Education Department, the state is asked to rescind its guidance and issue a notice to all school districts that they may adopt a name, mascot, or logo that was previously prohibited.
The federal agency would also direct the state to issue a letter of apology to local tribes “acknowledging that the [New York State Board of Regents] violated Title VI by discriminating against Native Americans and, through its implementation of the statewide policy, silenced the voices of Native Americans and attempted to erase Native American history,” according to the news release.
The state has 10 days to comply, or the Education Department will refer the case to the U.S. Department of Justice, which can begin legal proceedings against the state. The Education Department could also begin the process of stopping federal education dollars from flowing to the state.
The Massapequa school district—which tops the “M” with a headdress and uses a depiction of a Native American chief’s face as a logo, and sells apparel with the imagery—has been central to the battle in New York.
It and three other Long Island districts sued over the policy. A federal judge dismissed the case in March, saying the districts did not provide enough evidence that the policy infringed upon their First Amendment rights.
Despite the judge’s ruling, the Native American Guardians Association—an organization that has some Native members and supports the continued use of Native American mascots—filed a complaint with the Education Department, which launched an investigation in April.
The issue also caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who called on McMahon in an April 21 social media post to “fight for the people of Massapequa.” He later posed for a photo with Massapequa apparel after the investigation began.
McMahon said in a statement Friday that the department would “not stand idly by as state leaders attempt to eliminate the history and culture of Native American tribes.”
“We will stand with the people of Massapequa until commonsense is restored and justice is served, and until New York comes into compliance with federal law,” she continued.
Local tribes have previously urged this depiction not be used. And the state’s department of education rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that the policy erased history.
JP O’Hare, a department spokesperson, criticized the federal Education Department for saying it wanted to increase state control while inserting itself into a local matter. He added that the district’s logo and the term “Chief” were not used by Native Americans in the area.
“The district claims that it seeks to honor the area’s Native American past and its people, but has failed to get even the most basic facts right,” O’Hare said in a statement. “The district—with the support of the federal government—is doing the students of Massapequa a grave disservice by ignoring the facts and true history of the local Indigenous people.”
In a March letter to community members, the Massapequa school board said, “We firmly believe that decisions about our schools should reflect the voices of the people who live here, not be dictated by the state.” The board’s president, Kerry Watcher, last month applauded the Education Department for launching its investigation into the state policy.
The National Congress of American Indians, the largest nonprofit representing Native nations which has long tracked and challenged the use of Native American mascots, called on “political leaders at every level” to retire the use of unsanctioned mascots.
“Native people are not mascots,” the congress’ president, Mark Macarro, said in a statement. “We have our own languages, cultures, and governments—our identities are not anyone’s mascot or costume. No political endorsement or misguided notion of ‘honoring’ us will change the fact that these mascots demean our people, diminish the enduring vibrancy of our unique cultures, and have no place in our society.”
Research decries Native American mascots as harmful—but there’s been pushback
Opponents of the mascots and scholars have long argued that the use of Native American mascots and logos are reductive and harmful to Native American students.
Research has found that, for Native students, exposure to Native American mascots reduces self-esteem, their ability to imagine future accomplishments, and their belief that Native American communities can make a difference.
For non-Native people, research shows that mascots are associated with negative thoughts and stereotypes about Native Americans. Those who support mascots are more likely to hold prejudicial attitudes about Native Americans, and support for the mascots is associated with less support for Native American rights, according to that research.
The portrayals are often outdated, whitewashed stereotypes, and aren’t grounded in realistic portrayals of Native people. Researchers and opponents argue that the depictions also relegate Native American people as only part of the past, rather than as still existing today.
In 2020—after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer prompted a greater focus on systemic racism—there was increased attention to districts’, universities’, and professional sports teams’ use of Native American imagery.
New York was among several states to pass policies or laws barring the use of the images, after years of advocacy, particularly from groups including the National Congress of American Indians.
New York’s policy barred the use of Native American imagery in school districts’ logos and mascots unless districts had permission from local tribes. In one case, a tribe did give such permission—but not the local tribes near Massapequa. One representative from the Shinnecock Indian Nation, which is one of the closest tribes to the district, said previously that the “use of stereotype costumes, names, and cartoonish imagery dehumanize native people and our traditions.”
The Trump administration’s entry into the debate is part of a broader undercurrent of pushback that has been playing out at the local level, and it has become a more partisan issue. Conservative school boards have reinstated retired mascots, even over the protests of local Native American families. (Some school boards have similarly retreated in recent years from earlier decisions to retire Confederate school names.)
The Education Department’s investigations enforce Trump’s agenda
The swift conclusion of the department’s discrimination investigation into New York—completed in a month—is another example of the fast pace the Trump administration’s Education Department is taking for cases that align with the president’s social agenda.
The New York state education department submitted a 13-page response to the federal agency’s investigation on May 12, explaining its policy and its legal standing, which was reviewed by Education Week.
The department issued its findings two weeks later.
OCR investigations more commonly take months and years, and the office has typically tried to negotiate with school districts to bring them into compliance with civil rights laws.
But this faster approach is becoming familiar in Trump’s second term.
After a public back-and-forth in February between Trump and the Democratic governor of Maine over transgender student-athletes, the state faced a full-court press of investigations from several federal agencies. The Education Department found the state noncompliant in roughly a month. The state agency was also given 10 days to agree to the department’s terms spelled out in a proposed resolution agreement.
Maine’s education department declined to sign the federal agency’s proposed agreement. The Education Department soon after kicked off the process of withholding federal education funds from the state, and the Department of Justice sued the state over its policy allowing transgender girls to compete on girls’ sports teams.
