Nickname deadline still a toss-up

First off let the Standing Rock tribe do their work stop badgering them about the deadline, if you want them to sign a 30 year agreement you might need to slow down a bit and let them digest it. Second, the real dead line for getting agreement from the two tribes was/is Nov. 30, 2010 and it should have never been moved up. Lastly, I am sick and tired of all these people being in the hurry to apply for a second rate league like the Summit League.

If the Summit League is so awesome and they really want us then they can wait just a little longer, I can't see how a couple of months is going to make that much of a deal. The Fighting Sioux name is a storied and awesome logo and I would hate to lose it for a basketball game with the Oakland, Western Illinois, Oral Roberts... I mean I understand that you need a league to play in, however, you can’t play for anything until 2012 at least.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Charlie Murphy has written a letter rejecting a deadline on UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname, but there are differences of opinion among State Board of Higher Education members about what that actually means.

Board Chairman Richie Smith said it’s pretty clear to him that the tribe won’t work under a deadline. If that’s the case, “I wouldn’t personally extend the deadline,” he said today. “This issue is more or less holding UND back from going on about its business,” he said.

Without a deadline extension, the board likely would ask UND to begin retiring the 79-year-old nickname, which some have called racist.

Board member Grant Shaft, who’s from Grand Forks, took a different view.

“I took it as though they are wanting to dialogue with this, as though the month of November would be useful to them,” he said. If there was indication that Standing Rock leaders are working to make a decision on the nickname, he said he doesn’t see a problem giving the tribe more time.

“I don’t want the deadline to be a deterrent in itself for the tribe from being able to speak on the issue,” he said.

The board is scheduled to meet Nov. 19 at Minot State University, and Smith said he expects the nickname deadline will come up then. There would be no special board meeting earlier than that.

Shaft said he understands there’s a Tribal Council meeting Nov. 9. If the tribe reaches a consensus on the nickname then, he said, it would affect the board’s discussion.
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Summit League

For some board members, Dec. 31 is another deadline. Shaft said no board member is willing to cross that threshold.

The driving force behind the deadlines is UND’s desire to apply to the Summit League athletic conference as soon as possible. The mostly Midwestern league is seen as a good fit for the university, but the league won’t consider an application until the nickname issue is resolved.

With the start of the new year, league members will begin working on scheduling, Shaft said, and it would be harmful if UND still was struggling with the nickname.

In recent meetings, board members have indicated they were anxious to move on after shuffling deadlines to wait out the Standing Rock tribe.

The Tribal Council at the Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation, the other Sioux tribe in the state, has approved the nickname after a referendum in which 67 percent of tribal members gave their approval.

Shaft recognized that many board members feel what he called “issue fatigue.”

“Those of us here in Grand Forks, we’re more on the front line of the issue,” he said. “This issue for board members that aren't here in Grand Forks isn't as front and center." [Grand Forks Herald]