The Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves use American Indian symbols or caricatures as their mascots, but some say they are stereotypical and offensive to American Indian communities.

MSU psychology doctoral student John Gonzalez, a member of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation in Minnesota, discussed Wednesday how sports logos negatively affect American Indian students who oppose the symbols. He used the University of North Dakota's "Fighting Sioux" as an example.

Gonzalez said many American Indians don't consider it an honor to be a mascot for a college or sports team. He said the fact that American Indians "have a different history" than European Americans also effects the way they perceive these mascots.

"It makes it seem like we all run around with feathers in our hair whooping and hollering," Gonzalez said. "A lot of psychological damage is done seeing caricatures of themselves embedded in mascots."

University of North Dakota spokesman Peter Johnson, said the state board of education decided the university could continue to use the symbol and nickname in 2000. There has been talk of changing it since the 1960s.

"We've visited reservations in North Dakota and there's no consensus, people have been strongly supportive of the nickname and some have been very much against the nickname," Johnson said. "Since the American Indians as a group don't seem to be bent out of shape, why change it?"

Gonzalez said he disagrees and said sports teams' logos are especially bad because they are visible and meant to convey that the team is savage and strong.

Using American Indian names and symbols as mascots has come up before in Michigan, particularly at Central Michigan University.

Currently, the "Chippewas" is the nickname of Central Michigan University sports teams. The term used to be the mascot of the university as well, but after the Michigan Civil Rights Commission urged universities to change discriminating mascots, the university decided officially in 1992 to use the term solely as a nickname, said CMU spokesman Mike Silverthorn.

Silverthorn said the university tries to use the nickname as an opportunity to develop an educational program and familiarize staff and students about American Indian culture.

But Silverthorn said there are still student groups that periodically voice disapproval of the nickname because it is not properly representative of the Chippewas.

Journalism junior Holly Newland, who attended Gonzalez's discussion, said she thinks American Indians are sometimes silenced when they want to discuss the issue.

"The Native American community is such a small community, they haven't been able to be very vocal," Newland said.