UMass-Amherst Students Protest 'Hurtful' and 'Violent' Seal Signifying Peace

ashley.rae | November 24, 2015
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Students at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst are protesting the school’s seal because the depiction of a Native American figure displaying a peace gesture is allegedly “really hurtful and violent.”

Student organizer Charlotte Kelly told New England Public Radio, “We do live in occupied, colonized land.”

“This land had been a part of indigenous communities before it became the University of Massachusetts. And for us to be capitalizing and using a Native American figure as our seal seems really hurtful and violent.”

The seal depicts a Native American holding a bow and arrow pointing downwards, in order to signify peace.

UMass Amherst uses the same seal as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

According to New England Public Radio, Kelly also takes offense to the school’s Minuteman athletic mascot due to its “problems related to colonization—and gender.”

The UMass administration reportedly issued a statement claiming it would consider the input from the protesters.

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