N.D. higher ed officials prepare to face NCAA over Sioux nickname

• Grant Shaft

Grant Shaft of Grand Forks, president of of the State Board of Higher Education. File photo: Michael Vosburg / The Forum.
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• OUR OPINION: Getting to ‘yes’ with the NCAA

Initial contacts have been made with the NCAA to arrange a meeting over developments in the UND Fighting Sioux nickname debate, a member of the North Dakota Board of Higher Education said Wednesday, and a face-to-face meeting could take place by the end of April.

But it shouldn’t be just higher education officials at the table seeking a new understanding with NCAA executives, Grant Shaft said. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and state legislative leaders or their representatives also should participate.

And at the end of those talks, one of two things should happen, Shaft said.

“Either all these people walk out, holding hands and saying, ‘We got it!’ — or they say ‘We have done everything possible … and (the nickname) now has to be retired.’ ”

Shaft said that he hasn’t talked directly with the NCAA, but administrative staff at UND have begun checking on “schedules and meeting sites” where talks could occur. He said arrangements could be made “within a day or two” and at the most within two weeks, but a meeting likely would be after the NCAA tournaments are finished and the North Dakota Legislature adjourns.

The various players in the ongoing nickname and logo controversy “have just spent considerable time pointing fingers” and raising questions “about who has done what,” Shaft said. Now that the Legislature has passed and the governor has signed a bill declaring the Fighting Sioux nickname a matter of state law, “We had better all participate in the process,” he said.

“And at the end of that process, we all step out on stage and say together, ‘This is what we found out today.’ We need to be in agreement with regard to the NCAA and their stance and know exactly where they’re at.”

Shaft, who took a lead role in attempting to meet requirements of a 2007 legal settlement between the NCAA and the board — seeking authorization from the state’s two namesake Sioux tribes for UND to continue using the name — spoke Wednesday with the Herald’s editorial board.

He said the state delegation to meet with NCAA officials should include Higher Education Board President Jon Backes, Chancellor Bill Goetz, UND President Robert Kelley and Athletic Director Brian Faison as well as the governor, attorney general, House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck.

Shaft was responding in part to frequent criticism that the board was not assertive enough in trying to gain approval from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

“Without acknowledging that we weren’t assertive before … I think we’ll be far more public” in seeking a new arrangement with the NCAA, he said, and that will include having the participation of other “powers that be” in the nickname fight.

“I want them not only part of the process but driving part of the process,” Shaft said. “To some degree, we hold everybody’s hand to the flame.”

Having repudiated the NCAA’s threats of sanctions and enshrining the nickname in state law, Carlson and other state leaders championing the nickname “are the knights in shining armor now in many people’s eyes,” and they should play a continuing role in negotiations.

“I don’t want the board to do it all” and, if the board failed to gain a new arrangement with the NCAA, “get all the blame,” Shaft said.

Expects hard line

Shaft said he has spoken with Wayne Stenehjem, and the attorney general has indicated he would participate. Stenehjem negotiated the 2007 settlement, which ended a lawsuit the state board had brought against the NCAA for threatening sanctions if UND didn’t drop the nickname. The athletics association had in 2005 adopted a policy seeking to eliminate use of American Indian names and imagery among all member schools.

Shaft, a Grand Forks attorney and former state legislator, said that in his mind questions remain over the constitutionality of the nickname bill, as the state Constitution grants the board authority over state institutions of higher education.

“But there is no harm in exploring” the possibility of a new arrangement with the NCAA before resolving the constitutional question, he said. In any event, a constitutional challenge of the law by the board doesn’t by itself resolve the nickname issue, and UND needs resolution “because they have to make some practical decisions” — what insignia, for example, to put on next year’s jerseys.

Shaft indicated that he expects a hard line from the NCAA, which could include additional sanctions beyond those originally threatened. Those included no bidding or hosting post-season championships or wearing of banned imagery during post-season play.

He said the NCAA officials will be asked whether their stance has changed because of the sentiment expressed by the Legislature and governor, and whether there might be a new opportunity to resolve the issue.

“Their answer could be short and sweet: ‘Absolutely not!’ Shaft said. But a new president has taken office at the NCAA, “so there may be some new thinking there.”

Also, noting that public discussions concerning the nickname “have become more poisonous lately,” Shaft said that Faison was unfairly criticized recently for testifying on the nickname bill before a Senate committee.

Some bloggers, internet commenters and others have called for Faison’s dismissal for not supporting the bill, but Shaft said the athletic director was doing what the committee had asked: explaining what he saw as the potential consequences for UND athletics and athletes if the bill passed.

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

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