In the piece published in the Bucks County Courier Times, School Board President Marty Sullivan said Neshaminy sports teams have been the Redskins since the 1930s.
Earlier this month, the district decided to appeal the PHRC's ruling that Neshaminy can keep using the nickname Redskins, but must implement education and stop using logos that "negatively stereotype Native Americans."
Sullivan said the Neshaminy School District has spent $300,000 so far to defend their use of the name in court, but if they follow the PHRC's ruling, it can cost an additional $1 million.
Dr. Anita Foeman, a scholar of intercultural and organizational communication at West Chester University, said, "Most of us don't want to be identified just solely by our skin."
"The problem is that people are strongly tied to tradition," said Professor Charles Gallagher, the chair of the sociology and criminal justice departments at La Salle University. "It's like the Philadelphia Eagles. I mean, I'm a fourth generation Philadelphian. The idea that you would change the Eagles to something else, people would go out of their minds."
A witness for the commission wrote in a report that Neshaminy was a "racially hostile environment," though Sullivan claimed no PHRC representatives actually visited the district or spoke to faculty, students or staff.
He also questioned whether the district was being singled out, saying Neshaminy was "the only school district in the state that the PHRC has lodged a concern about when there are approximately 50 schools in Pennsylvania that have Native American imagery and/or names representing their school. Neshaminy is not even the only school district in Pennsylvania that uses the term Redskin."
The Commission plans to host forums and town halls near Neshaminy High School to discuss the matter. To that, Sullivan wrote, the PHRC "seemed to have no concern about how its actions were demonizing the District and the community."
Gallagher noted the beauty of culture is that it changes.
"People that aren't Native American, per se, they don't see it as offensive," he explained. "But the reality is that the word, even though they may not mean it this way, is linked to a history that is extremely racist and insensitive."
Meanwhile, Foeman suggested this was an opportunity for Neshaminy to show leadership.
"How they respond and how this particular case turns out is certainly going to be a lesson to people who come along after," she said.
The six-year controversy will continue in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.
Sullivan wrote he "looks forward to the opportunity for this matter to be heard before an impartial body."
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