UND nickname supporters say issue not dead

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Supporters of the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo continue to hold out hope for its survival, even as UND President Robert Kelley maps out plans to retire the moniker.

The North Dakota Board of Education has voted to scrap the nickname, after the Grand Forks school waged a four-year legal battle with the NCAA. An agreement with the governing body of college sports would allow UND to keep the logo if it gets approval from the state's two namesake tribes, Spirit Lake and Standing Rock.

Last year, 67 percent of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribal members who voted endorsed the nickname's continued use.

Higher education board president Richie Smith said if the Standing Rock tribe votes in favor of the nickname before the Nov. 30 deadline set in the NCAA settlement, the board would likely revisit the issue. The board earlier added a provision requiring the two tribes to sign 30-year agreements for use of the name.

“If we get those 30-year agreements, I think we have a deal,” Smith said.

Tribal backers at Standing Rock have turned in petitions with 1,004 signatures asking the council to approve an election. Tom Iron, former tribal vice chairman and nickname supporter, said the issue was tabled at a recent council meeting because Chairman Charles Murphy was absent due to a death in the family.

“Mr. Murphy told us to hold off until he gets home and we'll take care of it,” said Iron, who lives in McLaughlin, S.D. “He's very much concerned about what the people want because they submitted a petition with more than a thousand signatures.”

Another nickname supporter, former Standing Rock council member Archie Fool Bear, said the debate will rage on until the tribe has a vote.

“I'm hoping this council sees the light and says, 'Hey, the people want a say on this issue. Let's give it to them,”' Fool Bear said. “And get away from the constant day-after-day and year-after-year haggling over the same thing like it's that terrible.”

The higher education board voted to retire the nickname about a year ago, but UND wasn't instructed to start the transition until the state Supreme Court in April upheld a judge's ruling to throw out a lawsuit by some Spirit Lake tribal members. Kelley announced last week that two committees have been assembled to help with the change, one to honor the name and logo and one to help with communications.

A third group will be formed later to help select a new nickname and logo, Kelley said. In the meantime, the school will emphasize the University of North Dakota as its team name, and an interlocking “ND” as its logo.

“We have received e-mail, phone calls and letters about what we should do – and should not do,” Kelley said. “The consistent message has been: Go slow. Take your time. Do it right. And that is what we intend to do.”

The NCAA in 2005 and 2006 listed 19 schools with American Indian mascots and images it considered “hostile and abusive,” and banned them from postseason play pending name changes. Nicknames the NCAA deemed offensive ranged from Indians and Braves to the Fighting Illini.

Some universities, like Florida State, Central Michigan and Utah, were allowed to keep their nicknames by getting permission from local tribes. Most of the schools changed their nicknames – leaving UND as the lone holdout.

Jody Hodgson, general manager of the Ralph Englestad Arena, the UND hockey arena financed and named for a wealthy UND benefactor and staunch nickname supporter, said the holdout isn't over.

“Anyone who thinks it's a dead issue is fooling themselves at this point,” Hodgson said. “It's not a dead issue.”