Prep School Drops Native American Names for Fear of “Cultural Appropriation”

Dulwich Prep School, renowned for alumni such as Hugh Bonneville and John Simpson, is bidding adieu to its Native American tribal house names over ‘cultural sensitivity’ concerns. The Mail has the story.

He may not quite be the last of the Mohicans, but BBC veteran John Simpson last night took aim at his old school after it scrapped using Native American tribes for its house system.

Dulwich Prep London, a fee-paying all-boys school, feels the long-standing names constitute “cultural appropriation”. It says the changes follow concerns raised by some parents.

But critics have denounced the rebranding. Since 1916, pupils at the school – whose alumni also includes actor Hugh Bonneville – have been placed in one of four houses. Mr. Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, was in Mohican house.

Another house, Deerfeet, was named in honour of an Indian runner known as Deerfoot. The others, Chippeway and Ojibwas, were named in celebration of the Ojibwa people from the Great Lakes in the U.S. and Canada, also referred to as the Chippewa.

Deerfeet will now be called Lamassu, a mythical creature from Mesopotamia which had a human head and a bull’s body. The other three houses will be Phoenix, Pegasus and Gryphon.

Mr. Simpson told the Mail on Sunday: “I’m really depressed that something fundamental to the experience of every Dulwich Prep kid – which of us doesn’t remember whether he was a Chippeway, Deerfeet, Mohican or Ojibwa? – is being done away with.

“And to what end? So indigenous Americans won’t accuse Dulwich of cultural appropriation? Please. They’ve got better things to do.”

Worth reading in full.