The mascots and nicknames of Oregon schools are the business of the schools and the communities for which they work. They are not the business of the state, so the state superintendent of public instruction should keep her nose out of it.

Superintendent Susan Castillo has done the opposite. She assembled a task force to review the use of Indian nicknames by Oregon schools, and that group has recommended that she order those names to be phased out in the next few years.

At a meeting in Salem on Tuesday, representatives of some of those schools took strong exception, as they should.

This whole thing comes about because of one former student who said he was offended by the use of names such as Warriors and Braves. He claimed the names perpetuated stereotypes.

They don't, but if they did, what would be demeaning about a stereotype of the American Indian as a strong, proud and agile fighter, resisting with all his might the forcible advances of an invading foreign culture? Would that all of us could look back on ancestors with such a noble history, even if from a historical perspective it may be more myth than fact.

There's a free-speech angle to this manufactured controversy. Since when do we allow the state government to prohibit citizens, including school board members, school administrators and students, from using specified words or images? Where in the state constitution or laws is there any provision authorizing the state Department of Education to turn itself into a branch of the speech police?

If school communities want to call themselves the Braves or the Fighting Irish, or the Vikings or the Rebels, or whatever, it should be up to them.

We can rely on local communities to shy away from names or mascots that would be truly offensive. Come to think of it, though, the high school in Grants Pass might find itself a target of one of those funny Geico car insurance ads on TV. (hh)