NCAA Will Penalize North Dakota for Use of Sioux Mascot

For the most part I really liked what Allen Corbin of 1340 A.M. had to say in this article, however, I must correct him a bit, The University of North Dakota has a nickname and logo and does not have a "Mascot" there is no one running around dressed up like a “Sioux Warrior” at UND sporting events. In fact I haven’t ever seen this happen since I first attended UND in fall of 1993.

Allen Corbin 1340 the Fan --- Spirit Lake tribal members endorsed the nickname and logo in a referendum, and the tribe’s governing council followed. The Standing Rock Sioux’s tribal council, which has long opposed the nickname, has declined to change its stand.

The letter means UND will be subject to NCAA sanctions after the new law takes effect in August and could be barred from hosting post-season events on campus. Schools like UND will be penalized when honoring and celebrating the heritage of their area and yet the NCAA and its thought police wish to impose its liberal bias on its institutions. This is a slippery slope in our society and the NCAA isn’t helping by throwing water on the path.

This issue doesn’t pertain to just UND or other schools who have aboriginal mascots. If the NCAA prevails, no telling where this road will lead universities and colleges. PETA could very conceivably petition the NCAA to sanction schools who use animals as mascots and could even try to ban use of Texas Tech’s Matador Song. Matador means killer of bulls for those of you in Austin.

UND spokesman Peter Johnson told the Associated Press, “We thought it was important to clarify the NCAA’s position, given all of the activity that’s taken place with this issue over the last two months. I think the letter is pretty clear.”

The legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, the Republican majority leader in the North Dakota House, was approved in the House and Senate overwhelmingly. It was signed by Gov. Jack Dalrymple last month a few hours after it was delivered to his office.

“I think the citizens of our state view this quite differently than they do,” Carlson said. “We want to know a lot more than what they’re going to do. We want to know the reasons why, and we want them to listen to our side of the story.”

The long, bitter fight

I agree with the critics that more could have been done to save the name and the political leaders dropped the ball. I don’t blame people for being angry. I think there are some legitimate questions that need to be asked. Why wasn’t former governor John Hoeven and now U.S. Senator involved in the process? Hoeven is a very popular state wide and he could have made a difference in the process of retaining the nickname. Why wasn’t North Dakotas’ elected leaders team “North Dakota” (Dorgan, Conrad and Pomeroy) involved in the process?

Grand Forks Herald --- In the cascade of venom and conspiracy theory surrounding the fight over the Fighting Sioux name and logo, few key players have escaped abuse or censure.

In public comments posted on the Internet in response to recent news stories on the nickname, UND President Robert Kelley has been called a “buffoon” and worse. “Fire the liar,” another posted.

Student senators who voted to oppose the nickname bills, which would enshrine the Fighting Sioux name in state law, were called cowards. Faculty opponents of the bills were tarred as “Political Correctness Nazis.”

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, who negotiated a lawsuit settlement with the NCAA that gave the state board three years to gain Sioux tribal authority to retain the symbols, was declared “an idiot.”

And Shaft, who took the lead in board efforts to seek responses from the Spirit Lake and Standing Rock Sioux tribes, was dismissed as a “PC puppet.”

His school-age children have been taunted. He has received hundreds of e-mails, mean and rancorous. Horse manure was deposited on his driveway. Legislative leaders publicly scolded Shaft and the board for “mishandling” the nickname issue.

He has been vilified on blogs as a schemer, dupe and traitor to the Fighting Sioux tradition.

“I try not to read the blogs,” Shaft said recently over coffee at the Urban Stampede in Grand Forks. “They have a preconceived notion as to how this went down, a misunderstanding of the facts. Unless we engaged each of them in a 45-minute sit-down, they would not understand.”

Other nickname devotees, “people I know — friends, business acquaintances, members of Sioux Boosters and the Alumni Association board, people who have a more vested interest in the university than most of the bloggers — will tell me they’re deeply disappointed,” he said. “But they recognize the board has done everything it could. It’s time to accept it and move on.”

Just as he did at the legislative hearing, Shaft recited his own Fighting Sioux credentials. He earned his law degree from UND. His wife and brother are graduates. The family connection to Sioux athletics goes back four generations.

“I’m a Fighting Sioux guy,” he said.

The House Education Committee, which heard more than eight hours of testimony on Jan. 26, may take up the nickname bills this week after dealing with budget bills, Chairwoman Rae Ann Kelsch, R-Mandan, said. The committee has work sessions scheduled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

also think it’s funny that people thought the Fighting Sioux nickname would just go away quietly during the night and there wouldn’t be any hurt feelings and all parties would just embrace a new nickname, It’s not going to happen folks. I would be willing to bet that this is going to be a nasty fight.

There has been a lot of stuff said on both sides of the issue and both sides are culpable. It’s laughably predictable that there is now going to be finger pointing and name calling. How nice! I do think that people have a right to question the AG as well as the president of UND, maybe calling him a “buffoon” is a little much but I do think people have a right to question Kelley as well. That's not out of bounds. In the last election I voted against the Attorney General Stenehjem I voted for the democrat whose name escapes me. I mean seriously, Kelley can’t act all smug as say, ’hey, don’t blame me I am not involved in this nickname mess’. Kelley shouldn’t let off the hook so easily. Dr. Kelley can sit in the band with his instrument with his interlocking ND logo jersey on at REA and act as if nothing is happening, but we aren’t stupid.

Source: UND pushed early resolution of Sioux nickname

How nice! The truth will set you free. This is an interesting revelation; I think someone should be in trouble for this. We were basically told all along that the Summit wanted the Fighting Sioux name gone… I think someone needs to get to the bottom of this. Somebody is lying. I also think someone has got some explaining to do.

FARGO - UND asked an athletic conference it once considered joining to publicly come out against accepting the Fighting Sioux as a member until the controversial nickname and logo issue was resolved, according to Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple.

UND spokesman Peter Johnson said Monday and repeated Tuesday that university President Robert Kelley “categorically denies” UND officials ever made such a request to the Summit League.

“False. Not true at all,” Johnson said. “Neither the president or the athletic director or anybody else from UND ever talked to (the Summit League) from that angle. In no way, shape or form did we ask (Douple) to make that an issue.”

If Douple’s statement is true, it would be a 180-degree reversal of what has commonly been reported for more than two years: that Summit League officials insisted the nickname issue be resolved sooner than the NCAA-imposed deadline of Nov. 30, 2010, so UND could be considered for inclusion in their conference.

In trying to meet the hurried deadline for the Summit League, the state board of higher education last April moved up the deadline to retire the nickname, not exhausting the timeline earlier given to them.

Commissioner Douple did not want to go into further detail on the issue, but when asked why he agreed to UND’s request — that the Summit League would publicly forward this idea — he said, “In support of the (UND) president. He thought it would help them and the board move quicker.”

The Summit’s message did help the state board of higher education act more quickly.

UND and the Summit League first started having serious membership conversations in 2009 when the Summit said it would make a site visit to the University of South Dakota, but not UND. At the time, Douple was quoted as saying the Summit would not visit UND “until the logo issue is resolved one way or another.”

Here is another juicy nugget. Sioux fans were lead to believe that Douple wanted the Sioux logo gone.You can be assured that there are going to be some Sioux fans that are not happy with these revelations. As a Fighting Sioux fan and as an Alumni of the University of North Dakota 1996, 1999 this really upsets me.

“He didn’t care if the Sioux name stayed or left,” Smith said of Douple. “He made it pretty clear that until the NCAA said the matter was resolved, that UND would not be admitted.”

They said what?

This was in yesterday's Fargo Fish wrapper...

Witlessness continues to afflict North Dakota bureaucracies and the chattering class, especially on the now-verboten University of North Dakota “Fighting Sioux” nickname. They have forced the change because of the nickname’s offensiveness to North Dakota’s Sioux, yet the Spirit Lake tribe voted in favor of UND keeping the logo and is still fighting in court to force UND to keep the name. The leaders of the Standing Rock tribe won’t allow the issue to come to a vote, most likely because they know the outcome would echo Spirit Lake’s vote.

So we have gutless, white- bread folks forcing a change the North Dakota Sioux don’t want in order to protect those same Sioux. Does this make any sense to you? Paging Michael Moore’s “Stupid White Men.”

Judge orders state board to delay UND nickname decision

I would say this is good news and it's about time someone stepped up. I don't see what the rush is all about? Let's take some time and work this thing out. The Summit League isn't going any where and the other UND teams can't play for anything till 2012. Also, the 30 year agreement was never part of the lawsuit and isn't needed to keep using the Fighting Sioux name.

By: Tu-Uyen Tran ---- Grand Forks Herald The State Board of Higher Education is being told by a district judge that it may not retire UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname until a hearing Dec. 9.

The temporary restraining order, dated Monday, came from Judge Michael G. Sturdevant of Bottineau, N.D., as part of a lawsuit against the board brought forward by the Committee For Understanding and Respect, a group of Spirit Lake nation nickname supporters.

The group’s spokeswoman, Eunice Davidson, said 67 percent of the voters on her reservation agreed to keep the name in a vote earlier this year and felt the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe should be given an opportunity to do the same.

The complaint that sets off the lawsuit argues that the tribes are the owners of the nickname and the state board is merely a trustee, and, therefore, can’t decide to end use of the nickname on its own.

Word of the lawsuit reached the Herald late Monday night and there wasn’t an opportunity to show any state board members the relevant documents.

Tribes in charge

The complaint that sets off the lawsuit takes issue with the way the state board unilaterally changed the deadline, contrary to a settlement between the state and the NCAA.

The NCAA considers American Indian nicknames offensive and the settlement gives UND until Nov. 30, 2010, to win the support of both the state’s Sioux tribes.

But the state board moved the deadline forward to Oct. 31 of this year. If the Standing Rock chairman doesn’t state his intent to move forward with a referendum at the reservation, it appeared the board could enforce that deadline and direct UND to retire the nickname at its Nov. 19 meeting.

But in doing so, the board would be ignoring the rights of the Sioux people, as stated in the NCAA settlement, according to the complaint.

The NCAA settlement says the Sioux tribes “have important contributions in determining whether, to what extent and in what manner the ‘Sioux’ name and the ‘Fighting Sioux’ nickname or logo should continue to be used.”

The complaint interprets that to mean that “the SBHE has become the ‘trustee’ of the nickname and logo for the Sioux People of North Dakota.” In other words, the tribes own the nickname and the state board is only holding on to it until the tribes can decide what to do with the nickname.

Nickname supporters said in the complaint that “the plaintiffs are bringing this action because they strongly believe to lose… this identification with North Dakota’s oldest institution of higher education will cause isolation and diminishing of public interest, knowledge and respect for Sioux history and culture and will be detrimental and not in the best interest of their people.”

The complaint says the supporters are not seeking monetary damages.

Nickname supporters also said the 30-year agreement for use of the nickname the state board wants from each tribe is not in the NCAA settlement. They’re asking the court to order the board to back off that requirement.

Will Newly Elected Chair Really Make A Difference

That is a very good question. I does appear that there is still a long way to go before UND can secure permission for use of the Fighting Sioux name. Jesse Taken Alive seems to think a vote is not going to happen. I guess time will tell. My only question is what are some in the Standing Rock leadership afraid of? Are they afraid that the members of the Standing Rock Tribe would approve UND’s use of the Fighting Sioux name by an impressive majority like the Spirit Lake Tribe did?

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe voted in a new chairman in Charlie Murphy yesterday. But what does this really mean for the nickname issue. The previous chair was against it .


Yesterday's election brought a new chairman in Charlie Murphy to the Standing Rock Reservation. More than half a dozen new council members will join him. Some existing tribal council members say new people could mean a new outlook on UND's use of the Fighting Sioux nickname.

Jesse Mclaughlin: "They'll be the key there, what their stance is will be some might have a problem some might not."

Even if Murphy supports a tribe-wide vote, two-thirds of the Standing Rock tribal council's 15 representatives have to support it too. And any possible tribe-wide vote at Standing Rock could take a minimum of 2 months to secure. Standing Rock tribal council member Jesse Taken Alive says he doesn't think the council will allow a vote. He says a moratorium banning a referendum vote was passed last year. A two-thirds vote to rescind the moratorium would be needed as well. But others on the council say with seven new members it could change.

Margaret Gates: "At least its being brought up in a good manner instead of just we oppose it. Instead its being brought up as should it be put on the agenda."

Jesse Mclaughlin: "I've been on the council for two terms and my stance is if its that big a deal then let the people vote."

Mclaughlin says he feels past discussions excluded nickname supporters. Something they say Murphy won't do. Jesse Mclaughlin: "I know a couple of them and they don't seem to have problem with it but tribal politics can be crazy."

Margaret Gates: "Its being brought forth with open minds to hear it."

But Taken Alive maintains that a vote is unlikely. He says the council, which is usually 16 members strong, lost a possible vote for the nickname when Murphy gave up his at-large council seat to run for tribal chair. His at-large seat was not filled this election cycle, leaving the council one voting member short. As tribal chair Murphy can only vote to break a tie. Council members say either way the issue needs to be resolved they have more important issues to focus on [WDAZ.COM]

More Silliness from down south.

Holy cow! you really can't make this stupidity up. The Fargo fish wrapper known for it's journalistic excellence uses an out dated and old picture.

I mean seriously, let’s take a look at the picture more closely again. My first question to the Forum is can you at least use a picture that is up to day? Give me a break. Even to the untrained eye you can see that the jerseys the UND students are wearing are pre-Ben Brien Logo. This was the jersey before the current one that UND is using. This would be some where in the 1997-2000 time frame.

For the morons [see comments section] that are suggesting that this is a “Sieg Heil” Nazi salute. Give me a break. For the mentally challenged let’s review, this is not a “Sieg Heil” Nazi salute, it is the sieve, sieve, sieve chant. You know the one that is done after an opposing goalie lets in a goal; if you don’t have hockey at your school you probably don’t understand this concept. Incidentally, the fans in Wisconsin and Minnesota do the same thing when their team’s score a goal. So are you also calling these fans Nazi’s as well?

Check out these comments. Common sense hardly.

CommonSens E - Fargo, ND 10/01/2009 1:12 PM
LOL. awesome pic to go with the story. a bunch of sheeple zombies looking like they are doing a Nazi salute (i know its a tomahawk chop). I bet old racist Ralphy would approve.

Rob W. - Fort Collins, CO 10/01/2009 1:11 PM
I M H O. Fargo, ND 10/01/2009 10:36 AM Anyone else think this conflict makes North Dakota look bad? Not as bad as those fools in Atlanta and Tallahassee FL doing their 'war chant' and tomahawk chop. Not as bad as those fools in Washington D.C. who cheer for a team that was PURPOSELY given a racist name as a way to 'stick it to the heathens'

The state Board of Higher Education has extended the deadline (moron of the week)

As Whistler noted in his blog post, the SBOHE has extended the October 1st deadline.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The state Board of Higher Education has extended the deadline to decide the fate of the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname.

The board had set an Oct. 1 date to drop the name. Board members say there was a misunderstanding about the date of tribal elections on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation and more time is needed to get the opinions of the new council.

The deadline is extended for at least 30 days and possibly as many as 60.

The NCAA considers the nickname "hostile and offensive" and says UND cannot host postseason events without approval from the state's two Sioux tribes. Supporters say the logo shows pride and tradition.

The board says it will drop the nickname unless the state's two namesake tribes sign 30-year agreements giving the school permission to keep the moniker.

From the Comments section of this article: here is my candidate for "Moron of the Week."

ole - United States
OLE AND LENS SEZ, LEAVE THEM INJUNS ALONE, IF DE DONTA WANT FOR YOUSE TO MAKEA FUN OF DEM, DONT YOUSE DUMBASSES, GEEZ BY GOLLY YA.

Only an imbecile would write something so offensive. Come one moron why would write something as stupid as this? This is just about as stupid as the morons that shoot road signs when they are out hunting. You sir are a douche bag. This person should be ashamed of themselves and his mother should have been slapped for giving birth to him. This is the kind of stuff that will make the anti-Sioux nick name people go see. Anyone want to bet this person is not a Sioux fans and has no clue about the proud storied history behind the Fighting Sioux name.