Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Badgers hockey: North Dakota in future scheduling mix — if it drops 'Fighting Sioux' nickname

This is an article that I found on Madison.com that was written by Andy Baggot. Baggot is the beat writer that covers the Wisconsin Badgers hockey team and in my opinion is one of the better beat writers in college hockey.
Andy Baggot, Madison.com --- The schools have a tentative four-year scheduling agreement that could begin as early as 2014-15. It's all predicated on the status of North Dakota's nickname and if complies with a UW policy that prohibits scheduling non-conference opponents with Native American monikers deemed offensive by the NCAA.

The North Dakota Board of Education ordered the "Fighting Sioux'' nickname dropped last summer after eight years of wrangling with the NCAA over its determination that the moniker and its imagery were offensive. The NCAA requires unanimous support of local tribal leaders to approve a Native American nickname and that was not the case here.

North Dakota has been ordered by the state Legislature not to adopt a new nickname for three years.

As long as North Dakota is deemed compliant with the UW policy on Native American nicknames the teams will start playing in 2014-15.
So when I see this article, I am a little disappointed – the Fighting Sioux nickname issue is over. The Fighting Sioux nickname is gone; the University of North Dakota no longer refers to itself as the Fighting Sioux. Unless I missed something, I personally don’t see the Fighting Sioux nickname coming back. The University of North Dakota has moved on. I don’t see any reason that UND wouldn’t be compliant during the 2014-15 season.