Standing Rock council votes to keep UND nickname retired
Updated: 10 p.m.Motion made before council deals with petitions for and against reservation-wide vote
The Standing Rock Tribal Council voted Thursday that discussion of UND's Fighting Sioux nickname is over and it should remain retired.
By: Matt Cory and Wayne Nelson, Grand Forks Herald
The Standing Rock Tribal Council voted Thursday to discontinue further discussion of UND’s controversial Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
The council voted 10-4 to end further discussion of the controversy, a decision that likely clears the final hurdle in the retirement of the nickname and logo.
“This is our final decision because there are too many other priority matters that must be dealt with,” Standing Rock council member Jesse Taken Alive told the Herald. “The motion stipulated that there is no need to talk about it any more.”
The council had two petitions before it at its meeting. But the council took action on neither.
One petition, with 1,010 signatures, urged the council to stand by a 1992 tribal council resolution asking UND to drop its use of the nickname and logo.
The other contained 1,004 signatures and asked the council to arrange certification of the petition signatures for a reservation-wide vote on the nickname.
Archie Fool Bear, a nickname supporter who attended the meeting, said before the council could deal with the petitions, Taken Alive made a motion that it shall be the final decision of the tribe that the nickname and logo are retired and further discussion was not necessary.
While he wouldn’t say what the next step is for nickname supporters, Fool Bear said they will pursue several options.
“We are not taking this lying down,” he said. “We do plan to see that our people’s rights here on Standing Rock are recognized.”
In April, the State Board of Higher Education directed UND President Robert Kelley to officially retire the nickname and logo.
But board members said the issue might be revisited if Standing Rock held a vote and supported the nickname.
Fighting Sioux nickname supporters at Standing Rock were hoping to have that vote before Nov. 30, the deadline set in a lawsuit settlement agreement with the NCAA for UND to win approval from the state’s two namesake tribes.
Spirit Lake voters gave their blessing to continued use of the nickname in a two-thirds majority vote last year.
The vote of Standing Rock’s tribal council not to discuss the issue in the future means UND will continue its course of retiring the nickname, UND spokesman Peter Johnson said Thursday night.
“We are just continuing on the path that the state board set us on,” Johnson said.
Task groups have been formed to deal with various aspects of retiring the name and logo, and those meetings are ongoing, Johnson said.
Taken Alive said Thursday’s council resolution will be sent to Gov. John Hoeven; Bill Goetz, chancellor of the North Dakota University System; the State Board of Higher Education, UND and the NCAA.
The nickname controversy has hindered UND in its transition to Division I athletics.
The school needs to find a stable conference for the majority of its athletic programs. The best fit for UND is the Summit League, which contains a handful of the school’s rivals.
But the Summit said it will not consider UND’s membership application until the nickname issue is resolved.
The presidents of Summit League schools are scheduled to meet Monday in Chicago. UND’s application will be discussed, but it’s expected no decision will be reached at the meeting.
Tags: fighting sioux nickname, north dakota, higher education, news, und, breakingnews
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