N.D. higher ed board retires Fighting Sioux nickname, logo

MAYVILLE, N.D. — In the end, the decision came with a shrug and a sigh.

The Fighting Sioux nickname and logo, cherished symbols of UND athletic teams for nearly 80 years, must be consigned to history, the State Board of Higher Education ruled here Thursday.

The board directed Chancellor Bill Goetz to immediately advise UND President Robert Kelley by letter that the university should begin its transition away from the logo and nickname.

Kelley, who was at the meeting, said afterward that he plans to call the president of the Summit League Friday “and say that the board finally acted,” clearing the way for UND’s application for league membership.

UND officials called a news conference for Friday morning and posted on its Web site an initial piece of the planned transition: The university athletic teams will continue to be called the Sioux through the 2010-2011 school year while the school considers alternatives.

Board President Richie Smith brought up the logo issue at the end of an all-day meeting, noting that the North Dakota Supreme Court earlier Thursday had affirmed a district court ruling against logo supporters in the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe.

The board had voted in a May 2009 meeting in Dickinson, N.D., to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo starting Oct. 1, a deadline later extended to Nov. 30, unless the university could win approval and a 30-year commitment from the two namesake tribes.

Spirit Lake voters had OK’d continued use of the symbols in April 2009, but Standing Rock tribal officials have thus far refused to hold a referendum.

The tribes’ approval was mandated by the settlement of a lawsuit UND brought against the NCAA, which considers Indian nicknames and logos abusive.

The hard-fought, four-year legal battle aroused great passions on both sides, and it was complicated by divisions within the tribes — divisions which logo opponents cited as evidence of the nickname’s negative impact on tribal life and, especially, Indian students at UND.

The wrangling came to a head in recent months as some logo supporters at Spirit Lake sought an injunction against the board dropping the nickname until arrangements could be made for a referendum or tribal council vote at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

A district court judge ruled against the logo supporters and threw out the injunction, and the state Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s action Thursday morning — issuing its opinion about the time the State Board assembled in Mayville for its monthly meeting.

Sadness, feelings of resignation

At the start of the meeting, board member Grant Shaft of Grand Forks offered a brief update on the issue, saying that the board was still waiting for the Supreme Court to act.

The Supreme Court’s opinion, essentially telling the State Board that it was free to act on the matter, caused Smith to raise the issue again at the meeting’s conclusion.

Lifting the injunction put the board’s 2009 action back into effect, he said, and “unless I hear a motion to reconsider, the name is dropped.”

After a pause, board member Claus Lembke of Bismarck offered a motion to reconsider.

“A minority has been dictating this,” Lembke said. “I feel for UND, but one way or another they need to know. … We have given in to a minority of people on this issue.”

His motion failed for lack of a second.

“We didn’t have the votes,” Shaft said later. He and board member Duaine Espegard, also of Grand Forks, had calculated a vote to reconsider would fail on a 4-4 tie.

“I am a longtime Grand Forks kid, so I find it kind of sad,” Shaft said.

Espegard agreed. “I think it is a sad day,” he said. “I don’t look at it as a win for anybody. I see it as reality.”

Some who have especially championed retention of the logo refused to accept the decision as final.

Jody Hodgson, general manager of logo-festooned Ralph Engelstad Arena, called the board’s timing poor. He said Standing Rock Tribal Chairman Charles W. Murphy was scheduled to meet with the tribe’s judicial committee next week to discuss a 1,000-signature petition filed by nickname supporters seeking to put the nickname issue to a vote.

A Standing Rock tribal referendum still is “an absolute possibility,” Hodgson said. “What if they did that? What would the State Board do then? Would the State Board step up and honor the wishes of the tribes?”

B.J. Rainbow, a UND senior who has ties to the Lakota tribes in Spirit Lake and Standing Rock and opposes keeping the logo, attended Thursday’s meeting to talk about Native American scholarship programs.

He said he stuck around, hoping to see the board act on the logo.

“I wish they’d move forward now that it’s in their hands,” he said.

“Time is on our side,” Rainbow said. “The original (Nov. 30) deadline is coming. It definitely feels like change is coming.”

Rainbow said he hopes that next week’s Wacipi Time Out at UND, an annual celebration and exposition including traditional dance contests and lectures, will help to “educate people so any backlash is minimal.”

Erich Longie, a logo opponent at Spirit Lake, said he was pleased by the board’s action.

“It’s a historic thing,” he said. “And it was a long time coming.”

Sad day for Indians?

Earl Strinden, former head of the UND Alumni Association, had worked to reach out to tribal members to win support for the logo, and he said there is broad support.

“This is very sad,” he said of the board’s action.

Strinden said he learned of the decision in a dispirited phone call from Eunice Davidson, a leader of nickname supporters at Spirit Lake.

“I feel like we’ve been used by the State Board,” Davidson told the Herald.

“Last year when we had our vote out here on Spirit Lake, it was 67 percent by our members in favor” of keeping the nickname, she said. Only a month later, she said, the board announced it was taking steps to get ready to change the name.

“Why did they put it out in the media, why did they lead us to believe if we got the vote it would be OK?”

Also disappointed was Bennett Brien, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa artist who designed the logo displayed on UND uniforms and throughout the Engelstad arena.

“Well, political correctness has reared its ugly head,” he said about the board decision. “I knew it was going to happen. Now they will put some stupid-ass animal on the logo.”

‘A new set of challenges’

Kelley said the board’s action was not a surprise, and he’s prepared to move on.

“It is a matter now of managing a transition,” he said.

“I am happy to have a new set of problems to solve,” he said. “This is going to be a new set of challenges, and it is going to be hard work for everybody.”

Kelley said that people “all over the country are watching to see how we handle this,” including thousands of UND alumni.

Noting that many alumni are passionate about the logo and nickname, he said they also have proven to be “very resilient.” He hopes to include many of them in the transition process.

Strinden said that while there will be “a lot of disappointed people out there, a lot of very angry people,” he hopes “there will be no drop-off in the loyalty or support for the University.”

Kelley said he’s looking forward to gaining Summit League membership, an important step in UND’s transition to Division I athletics. He said he hopes that “puts us into the game no later than 2013.”

Before the board acted, Kelley said the continuing controversy over the nickname was taking a toll. “The management of that controversy is becoming more and more difficult,” he said.

Asked for specific examples, he said it is affecting the university’s relationship with donors. “Many of our students are uncomfortable, too,” as are many members of the faculty and staff. “It’s very polarizing,” he said.

Kelley said he’s proud of how UND student athletes have handled the struggle over the logo and nickname. “They want to compete,” he said. “It’s not the name and logo that drive their competitiveness.”

Kelley has named a planning task force charged with examining all issues that could arise with retirement of the logo.

“The time it has taken has been necessary,” he said of the long struggle over the nickname, cherished by many but considered offensive by others. “The tribes are independent nations, and they have their government processes.

“I don’t know that there are any surprises left” that should further delay action, he said. “It just requires a decision. … Anything that could be said has been said, and it’s time to reach a resolution and move on.”

Reach Haga at (701) 780-1102; (800) 477-6572, ext. 102; or send e-mail to chaga@gfherald.com.

Tags: higher education, local news, north dakota, north dakota board of higher education, fighting sioux logo, fighting sioux nickname, breakingnews, und