Southeast Missouri State may never beat Illinois at sports, but the small Ohio Valley Conference has already outclassed them 100-fold.

Last week, in a move that ought to be mirrored by dozens of universities, including Illinois, SEMO decided to retire the nicknames of the Indians and Otahkians beginning in Spring 2005.

All teams will now be known as the Redhawks, and here’s the kicker – no one seems to be up in arms against the change.

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Unlike at Illinois, where any attempt to change such an obviously racist name, mascot or ritual is met by fierce opposition from boosters as well as those in the university, SEMO’s name change is looking as if it will be a seamless transition.

The name change’s greatest critic has been former athletic director and alumnus Marvin Rosengarten, who was involved with the program for more than 30 years. Even he does not anticipate any fire and brimstone in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

“I think the whole thing is ridiculous. It was never meant to slander Indians, it’s just something we grew up with,” Rosengarten told the Southeast Missourian. “But I guess 30 years from now, Redhawks will mean a lot to somebody else. I guess Redhawks will be all right.”

Note those last two sentences. To me, that sounds like acceptance, and it’s a welcome change from rallies, threatened boycotts and calls to war Champaign sees whenever someone mentions removing Chief Illiniwek.

And that’s just the mascot. Imagine if someone wanted to change the Illini name? We’d be looking at a demand to exterminate any protesting American Indians a-la Andrew Jackson.

But there is none of that, providing a glaring example of the superior civility SEMO displays over Illinois. Illinois cannot even get rid of its disgusting, racist excuse for a mascot, whereas SEMO stopped using an American Indian mascot back in the 1980s.

Perhaps SEMO is more civilized because it has Native Americans in the heart of its athletic department.

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B.J. Smith, the women’s basketball coach, is one-quarter American Indian. Although she was never personally offended by the nickname, she agrees with the change and will not put up a fight when her team changes uniforms.

“My opinion has always been, if someone is offended then it is offensive to them,” Smith told the Southeast Missourian. “There is evidence out there to show that there are Native Americans offended by this, and it’s not my place to tell them they’re not.

“I think it’s a great decision by our university, and I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Many are clueless as to how many American Indians are offended when their culture is used as a punchline in sports because, frankly, there are not very many of them to speak up. It’s hard to maintain a large population when 98 percent of it is killed off.

Some say it honors the culture, but if you ask the people in the culture, they are not likely to embrace a team named the Indians, Illini, or, the most unbelievable and disgusting American Indian name, the Redskins. I’m surprised that word got past my editor, let alone onto the 50-yard-line of an NFL stadium.

I spent a few weeks near an Indian reservation in South Dakota and, I assure you, no one was wearing a Redskins jacket and praising them for “honoring” their ancestors.

In the poorest county in the nation, the Sioux make a living by selling American Indian crafts near the road. They put their soul and religion into their goods and, not surprisingly, none feature a young brave chasing a football or shooting a basketball.

SEMO understands this and also understands that society is becoming less tolerant of this type of soft bigotry. As a bonus, the move is not only racially sensitive, but also economically intelligent.

SEMO’s softball team lost a date with Wisconsin at one point because the Badgers’ school policy prohibits playing non-conference opponents with American Indian nicknames.

Also, because SEMO understands tact, the school has not been able to market a mascot since disbanding the Indian and has been losing the school a ton in lost revenue.

Now, once the Redhawk is introduced, marketing should be easy once again. Dates with Wisconsin may be set, no one other than Redhawks will be offended and the athletic department can go home at night knowing they have done a small favor to a community with very little power – as opposed to Illinois, which continues to ignore the small voices begging for dignity.