I found this article perusing the
Ithaca Journal, what I found interesting was this article even made the New York Times. The more I read into the article the more I think Tom Douple, comments that the university would not be considered for admission until it found a solution that made the N.C.A.A. happy. I interpret these comments to mean that the solution that makes the NCAA happy is UND no longer being called the Fighting Sioux.
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Some University of North Dakota officials were hoping that a long-running dispute over the university’s Fighting Sioux nickname would be settled this week. Now it appears it could continue for several months.
A state judge ruled last month that the North Dakota Board of Higher Education has the power to drop the Fighting Sioux nickname before a November deadline set as part of a settlement with the N.C.A.A. The board scheduled a meeting this week to officially retire the moniker. But Patrick Morley, the lawyer for a Spirit Lake Sioux group that sued to keep the nickname, filed an appeal late Friday to the state Supreme Court.
North Dakota officials are hoping to get their teams into the Summit League, but the conference president, Tom Douple, said the university would not be considered for admission until it found a solution that made the N.C.A.A. happy.
The nickname issue has been debated since the 1990s. Nearly five years ago, North Dakota was placed on a list of universities the N.C.A.A. deemed to have “hostile or abusive” American Indian nicknames or logos. North Dakota is the only college on that list that has not changed the name or logo or been granted a waiver to keep them.
The Spirit Lake group and other nickname supporters hope a delay will give North Dakota a chance to get approval from the state’s two namesake tribes. A referendum last April on the Spirit Lake Sioux reservation gave overwhelming support for the nickname, but the Standing Rock Sioux tribal council has opposed it, and the tribe has not scheduled a referendum.
Something is screwy here. In Nov. the board decided to have a meeting to drop the name. the Tribe sued to prevent that from occurring. The Judge agreed with the Tribe saying they requested the time, the NCAA agreed to give it to them, now they must take that time. Consequently, the Board could not drop the name before the other Tribe had the time to decide....basically, until Nov. 2010. So what is all this talk about dropping the name in Jan? At first glance, I thought this new report was just a repeat of the Nov reports. Apparently not, but it sounds exactly the same.
ReplyDeleteYou’re right it doesn’t add up. It seems that there must be something going on behind the scenes that we aren't privy to or the board of higher education is backing off and not pressuring Standing Rock to let them work on the issue. Or it could be the lawsuit is going to run it’s course and the Board of Higher Ed is just getting out of the way so they don’t look like the bad guys in this instance.
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