From The St. Paul Pioneer-Press: The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has ordered the Osseo-Fairchild school district to drop its "Chieftains" nickname and logo. The department concluded the name is race-based and promotes discrimination and harassment. The first-of-its-kind order comes under a new state law that went into effect in May. The law empowers the agency to order schools to drop their nicknames and logos if they are deemed discriminatory. For years, the Osseo-Fairchild district has debated whether to change the nickname. On the day the law took effect, 15 residents filed a complaint over the nickname and logo, which depicts an American Indian in a feather headdress. The ruling could affect more of the 34 other districts with similar American Indian-based names. Two other complaints — over the use of the nickname "Indians" for schools in Kewaunee and Mukwonago — are pending.
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