Lebanon High School may be leaning towards abandoning its Indian mascot, despite a recent decision to continue using the controversial mascot for the time being.
During a May 12 board meeting, the school board members made a short-term decision to repaint the Native American symbol on their new football field concession stand. The board is currently in the process of reconsidering the larger issue of the school's mascot.
According to school board chairman Gary Wells '74, who was a student at Dartmouth while the College discontinued the use of the Indian mascot in 1972, the most important issue for the board right now is coming to a community consensus.
"The board will discuss how to deal with the issue in a way that draws input from the alumni, the student body and the community at large," he said.
He emphasized that although he thinks Lebanon High School is ready for a change, the community consensus is still a necessity.
"I am opposed to using people as mascots," he said. "But I don't believe in arbitrarily pushing my views on others."
He says that he has been on the board for a long while, and this view has been constant, but there are increasing numbers of board members who agree with his view.
Board member Louisa Spencer said she is not surprised by the building opposition to the mascot, especially after reading about Dartmouth's decision to repeal its old mascot.
"I think we need a new symbol," she said. "I think it's a misrepresentation of history. It's a misuse of someone's image."
Town Historian Robert Leavitt who graduated from Lebanon High School in 1940 said the Indian mascot came into place after he was a student there.
He said the emblem on his yearbook was a parrot, but when the old West Lebanon High School merged with Lebanon High School, students wanted a new mascot.
"It was the invention of a West Lebanon girl," he said.
He said she made up the name "Agamek" and it stuck.
Principal of the high school, Robert Walsh, said the school currently has a plaque outside with a painting of Agamek and there is a painted decal on the football field's concession stand since last week's board decision.
He also said this year a student dressed up as a Native American to raise spirit at basketball and football games.
"I guess it kind of brings us together," Nicolle Mayka, a Lebanon High School senior, said.
"We see the concern that some of the teachers have brought up about how it can be offensive to some people in the community and we're definitely discussing it," she said.
But, she thinks most people would be happy to keep Agamek as the school's mascot.
Walsh said that in February, following an all-school meeting when one of the items discussed was the mascot issue, 58 percent of the student body said the mascot should remain the same.
In the same poll, 24 percent said they wanted to hear the input of Native Americans before deciding.
In early April, Director of the Native American Program at Dartmouth Michael Hanitchak, and Adam Carvell '02, a member of the Native Americans at Dartmouth association, went to an after school forum at the high school for that reason.
Hanitchak and Carvell explained and discussed why they thought the mascot was degrading to them with approximately 50 students who attended the meeting.
"Basically, I'm no one's mascot," Carvell told The Dartmouth.
He said he told the assembled students that Agamek was directly offending a race of people by portraying them as a symbol for "fun and games."
He said he thought the students were pretty receptive and willing to discuss the issue of the Native American mascot.
"I guess I can kind of see both ways," Lebanon High School freshman class president Kellyn Lupfer said.
She said she thought most people who are adamantly in favor of the Agamek mascot think of it as a symbol of pride.
Mayka said she is open minded, but she doesn't see a reason to change the mascot.
"It's worked for us in the past," she said. "I just don't see a reason to change."
She continued, "We don't think of ourselves as barbaric. We're not making fun of the Indians by any means."
