Image via Wikipedia Just when you think that the nickname is dead and gone, there is another event that resurrects it and brings back the Fighting Sioux nickname.
This is going to be interesting going forward, and maybe not in a good way. I am not sure anyone knows what will happen and there will be some anxiety as we wait to see what happens this week and in the future. Contrary to what some say about the Big Sky Conference, there is a very real possibility that UND’s membership could be in jeopardy.
That threat is very real and not something to be taken lightly, I don’t care what some have gleaned out of the letters that they received through the freedom of information act. Most of us know that the NCAA isn’t going to take this laying down and they are going to be behind the scenes pulling strings. You can count on it. The NCAA is an out of control organization. But we have to play by their rules if we want to be in Division I sports. Do I like it not one bit.
Chuck Haga, Grand Forks Herald --- After a last, celebratory campaign for signatures at a Bismarck Century-Bismarck High hockey game and from an RV parked outside the Capitol, Fighting Sioux nickname supporters delivered petitions to the secretary of state’s office Tuesday night to force a statewide vote on the long-running and controversial issue.
Members of the sponsoring committee, including members of the Spirit Lake and Standing Rock Sioux tribes, delivered 604 petitions they said contained about 17,000 signatures, well more than the 13,452 required to make the June 12 primary election ballot.
“It’s still a long way to go, but I’m really pleased today,” said Reed Soderstrom, the Minot attorney who has helped to lead the petition drive, as he was about to enter the Capitol about 10 p.m.
UND President Robert O. Kelley has said that UND will again be called the Fighting Sioux.
Kelley said the action was taken “in keeping with state law” and direction from Shaft.
“I want to reaffirm our respect for the laws of the state and the processes guaranteed under the North Dakota Constitution,” Kelley said.
