Fighting Sioux nickname supporters tell ND Supreme Court that 1969 ceremony precludes ‘civil interference’

Here is the latest news in the on-going nickname debate. Here is the link to the brief that the Committee for Understanding and Respect file in court. [Click to view]

Chuck Haga, Grand Forks Herald ---The issue before the North Dakota Supreme Court “involves more than choosing between the Legislature and the State Board of Higher Education and its powers to keep or retire the ‘Fighting Sioux’ name,” defenders of the nickname argue in a brief filed with the court late Tuesday.

Because elders of the Standing Rock and Spirit Lake Sioux tribes “gave the name ‘Fighting Sioux’ to UND in 1969 in the context of a Sioux religious ceremony,” the two tribes “must be joined as indispensable parties” under state rules of civil procedure, according to the brief filed late Tuesday by attorneys representing Spirit Lake’s pro-nickname Committee for Understanding and Respect.

They argue that “the 1969 sacred Sioux ceremony giving the Fighting Sioux name to the University of North Dakota constitutes a religious function preventing civil interference,” and that it — along with Spirit Lake’s 2009 vote and council action favoring the nickname’s use — meets the NCAA’s requirement that UND obtain authorization from the two namesake tribes. The filing is in response to Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s request to the court for a declaration that the nickname law adopted by the Legislature last spring is unconstitutional and that a prospective referral of the November repeal of that law be kept off the June primary election ballot.

NCAA Cancels Meeting With North Dakota Officials About Fighting Sioux Nickname & Logo

Fighting Sioux forever...

Looks like the NCAA doesn't like transparency; I still want the NCAA to look they Spirit Lake Tribe members that voted 67% in favor of UND keeping the Fighting Sioux nickname in the eye and then tell them that the Fighting Sioux nickname is hostile and abusive and that UND can’t keep the name.

Victor Meza, WDAZ --- The NCAA has canceled a meeting with UND and state officials regarding the Fighting Sioux Nickname and Logo.

The NCAA declined to attend because state officials wanted to host an open meeting according to Grant Shaft, a State Board of Higher Education member.

Shaft said just shortly after University of North Dakota's President Robert Kelly informed the NCAA of the changes to the meeting, the NCAA decided to decline the invitation to the April 22 meeting in Bismarck.

There Are Few Consequences to UND For Keeping Sioux Identity

There never was:

Three bills are coming up for legislative hearings to save the name but Harmeson says that the argument has been over inflated and the solution is simple “There is nothing and probably never will be anything in the NCAA Constitution about rousting a team for their mascot”.

Harmeson’s simple solution is to keep the name. He says that there will be some concessions that have to be made “During any NCAA-owned event the school could not make reference to the nickname and logo”...

Harmeson during a call to the Scott Hennen Show said that the decision to keep the name during home games is one that could be made by the administration “In a minute”.

Of course the University administration and the Board of Higher education are hostile to the Sioux name.

If you remember right the prior administration, of which Harmeson was an important member, was fighting to keep the name. The Hoeven appointed Board of Higher adminstration forced an awful settlement. The North Dakota Attorney General, Wayne Stenejhem said that there would be high level meetings including Hoeven and himself with tribal leadership to keep the name.

Those meetings NEVER happened because of the elitist attitude of the State's administration. They'd rather create a sense of hostility between the members of the Indian tribes and the people of the Grand Forks and Sioux fans.

When the Spirit Lake tribe said Hell yes we want UND to be known as the Sioux the Board of Higher Education made up an issue and said that they couldn't wait for the Standing Rock Tribe to have their say.

Their manufactured reason was that we needed to drop the name to get into the Summit league. Of course that wasn't an issue, it was just an excuse to drop the name supported by Tribal Members and UND Alumni 2 to 1.

We dropped our application to the Summit, it wasn't important.

This entire thing has been about hostility by the elites on the Board of Higher Education and the University Administration to the Tribal Members and the People of Grand Forks.

The Fighting Sioux name is worth saving. The jerks on the Higher Education Board and the University Administration should shut and start working for us rather than working against us.

Cross posted from SayAnythingBlog.com

Good news for the Fighting Sioux nickname

This seems like good news. Let hope the members of the Spirit Lake Tribe get a chance to have a vote on the issue.

FORT YATES, N.D. — The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said today that he will present a resolution to the tribal council Wednesday to arrange a referendum on UND’s continued use of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.

Chairman Charles Murphy told a group of nickname supporters that his resolution would be put to the council for an up or down vote, pending certification of signatures on a petition they had presented earlier this year calling for a popular vote on the issue.

Murphy also said he would direct the tribe’s election supervisor to assist tribal secretary Adele White in certifying the more than 1,000 signatures on the petition.

Results of a referendum “shall be advisory and shall not be in derogation of the authority of the tribal council,” according to the resolution.

It further states that “any prior inconsistent action by the tribal council regarding the holding of a referendum on this matter” would be repealed.

Jesse Taken Alive, a tribal council member and a leading critic of UND’s nickname and logo, said he thought continued maneuvering by supporters was “disrespectful” to UND, the tribe and other entities who believed the matter had been resolved.

“I don’t think it will pass the council,” he said of the resolution. “Everyone is so tired of it.”

Archie Fool Bear, Tom Iron and other nickname supporters had thought the resolution would be submitted to the council today, and they waited outside Murphy’s office for four-and-a-half hours to find out why no council meeting was scheduled.

Murphy told them he had been unable to arrange a quorum for today and his schedule had filled with meetings.

“It makes my day when I can see my leader,” a smiling Iron said as he shook Murphy’s hand. “But we need some action.”

Murphy also indicated that he was eager to have the controversial issue settled.

Fool Bear told Murphy that he was “hoping this would go forward today” but he was pleased that Murphy has agreed to bring the resolution forward next week.

There still is time for the people of Standing Rock to speak, Fool Bear said, and he remains confident that a significant majority of Standing Rock voters will approve retention of the nickname and logo.

Once that happens, he said, he is confident the State Board of Higher Education will reverse its directive to UND to retire the longtime symbols.

Acting on the board’s directive, UND has begun a detailed and lengthy transition that is scheduled to have the 80-year-old nickname and the Indian head logo fade into history by fall 2011.

The draft resolution, if approved by the council, would require that “a referendum election shall be held within 60 days of the election supervisor’s notifying the tribal council of the certification.”

UND’s use of the nickname and logo was challenged by the NCAA, which deems such usage as hostile and abusive to American Indians, an opinion shared by many Indian students, faculty and counselors at UND.

In a lawsuit settlement, however, the NCAA said UND could continue to use the name if it won the blessing of the state’s namesake tribes by Nov. 30. The Spirit Lake Sioux tribe gave its OK last year, tribal members voting 2-1 in favor.