With the Washington Redskins recently changing their name to the Washington Football Team, and dozens of other teams ditching logos and nicknames over the years, some are wondering why the Central Michigan Chippewas can keep their name.

The answer seems to be rather simple and actually makes a lot of sense.  The Central Michigan Chippewas have given complete control to how they use their name to the Chippewa Tribe.  The Detroit Free Press interviewed CMU's President Bob Davies and he said that the "The tribe is the one that determines how we use it".

For several decades, the NCAA had been looking into the use of Native American iconography, names, and mascots by universities and in 2005 they issued a list of names that were deemed offensive.  After the list was issued (Central Michigan University was named in this list), some schools fought back and eventually some were given waivers, including CMU.

Central Michigan University is proud to have a partnership with the Chippewa Tribe and intends to use their name as long as the tribe wants to.  It really is a special relationship that only a few universities in the country can enjoy.

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