Florida State University filed an appeal to the NCAA on Friday, saying the Seminole name and logo should not be on the organization's list of offensive American Indian images banned from postseason NCAA tournaments.

The appeal, which FSU trustees agreed to pursue in an emergency session Wednesday, comes as state lawmakers with FSU ties said they will do what it takes to keep the Seminole tradition from being relegated to the sidelines during the NCAA postseason.

In a conference call Friday, members of the Seminole Caucus said they'll take up legislation on the issue in a special session this fall. Lawmakers were joined on the call by FSU PresidentT.K. Wetherell, FSU Athletic Director Dave Hart and state Attorney General Charlie Crist, among others.

Caucus members want Crist to look into a possible antitrust investigation of the NCAA.

Legislation protecting the Seminole logo and other Florida university symbols would help the effort, Wetherell said after the meeting.

"I expect it to be introduced and passed almost unanimously,'' he said.

Wetherell told caucus members the school won't bow to NCAA demands to drop the Seminole name and logo in NCAA-sponsored postseason tournaments.

"We hope the NCAA will reconsider its actions,'' Wetherell said. "But we are prepared to go as far as we have to go.''

Asked whether FSU would consider bolting from the NCAA, Wetherell said, "There's a lot of ramifications for that, and there's a lot of water to go under the bridge before we get to that point.''

FSU's appeal, a three-page letter from Wetherell to NCAA President Myles Brand, asks the NCAA to reverse itself by Aug. 29, the first day of fall classes.

"Florida State Seminoles' is not a nickname,'' Wetherell wrote. "It is, rather, a name that we use to identify not only our athletics teams but also many other internal and external groups because it represents traits of a heroic people whom we admire and would like to emulate.''

Brand did not return a call for comment.

FSU is basing its appeal on support from the Seminole Tribe of Florida for the school's longstanding use of the Seminole name and logo.

FSU also said the NCAA Executive Committee's decision is flawed because it was based, in part, on the belief that the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma objects to the school's use of the Seminole name.

In an 18-2 vote on July 16, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma's governing body, the General Council, voted against a resolution condemning use of American Indian names and mascots by college sports teams, Jennifer McBee, the Oklahoma Seminole Nation attorney general, said Friday.

"The Nation took the position it was not going to condemn use of Native American mascots nor condemn the Florida State Seminoles,'' McBee said. She said tribe members attend FSU.

McBee said David Narcomey, a member of the Oklahoma Seminoles' General Council, who sponsored the resolution, did not speak for the 14,000-member Seminole Nation of Oklahoma when he protested to NCAA officials about FSU's use of the Seminole name and image.

McBee said the NCAA never asked the General Council its opinion.

Narcomey could not be reached for comment.

The Oklahoma Seminoles' purported opposition factored into the NCAA Executive Committee's decision, said Saint Leo University President Arthur Kirk Jr., a committee member.

Kirk said Friday he would consider sending the matter back to the executive committee for review.

"My understanding was the Seminoles of Oklahoma took fairly serious objection to use of the Seminole name,'' Kirk said.

Kirk said that based upon the new information, "I certainly think they [FSU] deserve further consideration.''

NCAA Executive Committee Chairman Walter Harrison said what committee members thought was the Oklahoma Seminoles' opposition was "a factor'' in the decision.

``There was a whole set of factors,'' Harrison said. "There was certainly discussion of that.''

As for FSU's appeal, "I have an open mind on the subject, and I'd like to hear more about it,'' said Harrison, who had not seen FSU's appeal.

Harrison, president of the University of Hartford, said he has received 100 to 125 messages a day on the Seminole issue since the Executive Committee's Aug. 4 decision. The messages include-mails and voice mail messages he called "extremely impolite.''

"We'd all be better served by more light and less heat on this subject,'' Harrison said.

The NCAA Executive Committee next meets on Oct. 27 in Indianapolis, Harrison said.

FSU is moving ahead faster than at least one of the other 17 schools affected by the NCAA decision.

A University of Illinois spokesman said the school's attorneys were reviewing the decision and looking at options.

Illinois' nickname is the Fighting Illini and the mascot is Chief Illiniwek. Illini was the name of the tribal confederation that once ruled the land now called Illinois.

"At some point we'll make a determination of how to respond,'' said Tom Hardy, executive director for university relations.

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