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20% of the student body is Native American

The NCAA asked the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, a school founded to educate Native Americans, to study the use of its American Indian logo and Braves nickname. The university must submit a report to the governing body by May 1. In 2002, UNCP was among 31 schools identified by an NCAA committee as having mascots or logos that could be considered controversial. UNCP used an American Indian mascot until 1991, when former chancellor Joseph Oxendine banned its use and replaced it with a red-tailed hawk. The school logo shows an Indian with a hawk sitting on his shoulder. The school has used the "Braves" nickname since the 1940s. "It is a little bit frustrating for us," UNCP athletic director Dan Kenney told The Fayetteville Observer. "In 2003, we thought we should have been pulled out of this process because of our uniqueness. But they did not. If the community ever tells us this is not the link that they want to our past, we will pull it. I feel that the community is comfortable with it." The university was established as the Croatan Normal School in 1887 to educate American Indians and they still make up more than 20 percent of the student body. The university's board of trustees has reaffirmed its support of the logo and nickname. [more]