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High schools and colleges across the country have dumped school mascots now deemed offensive. Largely those efforts have focused on mascots that glorify a person or image with racist ties.
But at Franklin High School in Southeast Portland, some would like to ditch the mascot because of its ties to a religion.
For at least 100 years, students at Franklin have been called Quakers, not because Benjamin Franklin counted himself among that group. The Founding Father helped launch the University of Pennsylvania, which uses the nickname Quakers, prompting sports writers in Portland to adopt it as well, so the legend goes.
The Franklin Post student newspaper this month reported that a proposal to change the mascot in time for the school's move to its newly renovated campus next year has the support of the PTSA.
No other religion has its name as a mascot, says Mia Pisano Yang, an alumna who is also a member of the Religious Society of Friends. She's pushing for the change.
"We have an opportunity to change that and to cheer for something that reflects the school and that is more appropriate," she said, according to minutes from the PTSA that paraphrased her remarks.
Willamette Week