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After the state forced a Long Island school district to abandon its “Chief” mascot, federal education officials said the policy discriminated against Native Americans.
May 30, 2025Updated 1:27 p.m. ET
The U.S. Department of Education accused New York officials on Friday of discriminating against Native Americans by banning school mascots that draw from their culture.
The move was an expansion of the Trump administration’s efforts to punish states and public school districts for liberal stances on contentious education issues, and reflects a marked shift in the federal government’s interpretation of civil rights law.
The administration’s announcement came five weeks after President Trump publicly expressed his support for parents and students in Massapequa, N.Y., in their fight against a state Board of Regents requirement that school districts banish mascots based on Native American culture by this summer or risk losing state funding.
The Education Department had opened a civil rights investigation into the ban shortly after Mr. Trump weighed in. The ban had set off a backlash in Massapequa, a middle-class hamlet on Long Island’s South Shore about 40 miles from Manhattan. Most residents voted for Mr. Trump last November.
The school district has used the “Chief” nickname and logo for decades. The mascot’s image, an illustrated side profile of a Native American man wearing a feathered headdress, is plastered across Massapequa campuses, welcome signs and football fields.
The Trump administration’s finding came after a particularly speedy version of what are typically lengthy inquiries. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights often takes months to identify violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits the recipients of federal funds from discriminating based on race, color or national origin.
