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Published: Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013, 9:18p.m. Updated 13 hours ago

PHILADELPHIA When a high school newspaper at a suburban Philadelphia football powerhouse decided the word Redskins had no place in its pages, the paper's student editors found themselves called to the principal's office.

The dispute between Neshaminy High School's paper, the Playwickian, and school administrators is a strange twist on the fight over what students can and can't say: This time, it's the students urging restraint.

The Playwickian editors started getting heat from school officials as a result of an Oct. 27 editorial that barred the use of the word Redskins the nickname of the teams at Neshaminy, a school named for the creek where the Lenape Indians once lived.

Detractors will argue that the word is used with all due respect. But the offensiveness of a word cannot be judged by its intended meaning, but by how it is received, read the editorial backed by 14 of 21 staff members.

(An equally well-written op-ed voiced the dissenting group's opinion.)

The ban occurs as Native American activists and a few media outlets, along with President Obama, challenge the moniker of Washington's NFL team, which visits Philadelphia on Sunday.

At Neshaminy where the welcome sign sometimes reads: Everybody do the Redskin Rumble and the football team is 11-1 with a shot at its second state title news editors had pledged to stop using the term Redskins as far back as 2001 but sometimes wavered. This year's staff decided to take it on full-force.

You are not afraid to write about the hard and sensitive issues. You take risks on editorial pages bravo! judges wrote last month in a student journalism contest, when the Playwickian earned a top award.

Nonetheless, principal Robert McGee ordered the editors to put the Redskins ban on hold, and summoned them to a meeting after school on Tuesday, according to Gillian McGoldrick, the editor-in-chief.

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High school journalists draw line at ‘Redskins’ use