Is the NCAA’s Nickname policy ‘anti-Sioux’

I never thought I would see this happen but I actually think we have come full circle in this debate – first we had the NCAA telling UND that they’re hostile and abusive because the University of North Dakota used Native American imagery for their logo – now we have the Native American’s from two of North Dakota’s Tribes suing the NCAA because they say that they are discriminating against Sioux Indians. In a nut shell the Spirit Lake Tribe is basically saying that the NCAA’s policy against Native American imagery is ‘anti-Sioux’ – I think my head is spinning now.

Chuck Haga, Grand Forks Herald --- While the 1969 ceremony has been central to the nickname defenders’ campaign, the discrimination claim had not been made before, the NCAA responded in its filing Wednesday. But “even if plaintiffs had pled and preserved this claim, it has no support in fact or law” and no further oral argument is warranted.

“However sincere plaintiffs’ antipathy toward the NCAA or the policy, as the district court correctly held, they lack standing to sue,” NCAA attorney Jonathan Duncan wrote. Their appeal, he added, “is as procedurally improper as it is futile.”

Nothing in law or in the case record supports the Spirit Lake committee’s “fanciful argument that the NCAA intentionally adopted the policy as an ‘anti-Sioux’ measure designed to cause UND to repudiate its obligation under a 40-year-old oral agreement,” a claim “never asserted before now.”

Spirit Lake’s committee and Fool Bear have until Sept. 5 to respond.

Even if their appeal fails, the pro-nickname forces have said they intend to continue collecting signatures on petitions to force an initiated measure on the issue, likely in June 2014. An effort to restore the nickname through referendum failed in June.

My question to you, is the NCAA policy banning the use of Native American images and nicknames by sports teams during postseason discriminatory against Native Americans?

In conclusion, I don’t know how you would prove in a court of law that the NCAA’s Policy is discriminatory against Native Americans? Most likely the evidence would be anecdotal evidence and hard to prove. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, however, I can see this lawsuit being thrown out as well.