UND students, staff and others gathered in front of the Grand Forks County Courthouse to rally support Thursday for the NCAA before the start of a hearing over the "Fighting Sioux" nickname.
The university is asking for a preliminary injunction against the NCAA's ruling that bans the use of the nickname in playoff games and tournaments.
Many of the 30 shivering students belong to BRIDGES -- Building Roads Into Diverse Groups Empowering Students -- an organization on campus that's pushing to discontinue the use of the logo and name, according to the group's president, Frank Sage.
The group has been vocal in its opposition of the use of the UND logo and nickname.
Sage, a UND student since 2000, said the name and logo cause disparity among students, American Indian or non-native, and even within the group of about 370 Indian students who attend classes at UND.
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Derogatory posters and stereotyping exist on campus, he said.
The outcome of the court hearing could be a step forward in the process to end the use of the name and logo, he said, especially if the injunction isn't granted and UND has to give up home field advantage in the upcoming football playoffs.
"Hopefully, it isn't granted, and it ends," Sage said.
The students held signs that said, "For a better UND: People Not Logos" and "Yah NCAA." The signs also had sexually explicit cartoon images created for old game-day T-shirts at UND and North Dakota State University.
Law enforcement officers monitored the rally, arriving at the courthouse about 7 a.m., according to Don Rasmussen, with the UND Police Department.
Not all NCAA supporters were from UND. Two women from St. Cloud (Minn.) State University joined the throng Thursday.
"It's great the NCAA is taking a stand," said Rebekah Fineday, who is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Cass Lake, Minn. "This is a human rights issue."
Reach Nadeau at (701) 780-1118, (800) 477-6572, ext. 118; or snadeau@gfherald.com .
