“North Dakota” as a Nickname Option

Recently, I have talked to a lot of people that would like the University of North Dakota to remain simply “North Dakota”. Meaning, they don’t want a replacement nickname for Fighting Sioux. I even had a former UND hockey player tell me that he likes that option the best.

I am concerned that when the UND nickname committee cuts the names down to three, they're not going to allow a vote on the North Dakota nickname option. I would caution the committee on doing that. If the committee doesn't allow the fans to have that chance to vote on "North Dakota" as an option, they're going to alienate and upset a lot of people.

Anna Burleson, Forum News Service -- The committee was split on whether to continue to play as "North Dakota," with members Landon Bahl, Chelsea Moser and Lowell Schweigert speaking out against it while Dave St. Peter was in favor of discussing it further.

"Now I think is the time for some courage and the popular choice based on what was submitted during April, obviously to all of us, if you look at numbers, is 'North Dakota,' but popular isn't always the right choice," said Schweigert, a UND alumnus and committee member.

"North Dakota" received 21 points when the committee voted on the name with St. Peter awarding 8, the most, and Bahl awarding -8, the least.

After reading this new article in the Pioneer Press, it would appear that there are some on the UND nickname committee that want to kill and quickly move away from the "North Dakota" option.

Personally, of the seven remaining nicknames, very few are very appealing. Rough Riders, no nickname and _______. I don't know.