By Rich Becker
GRAND FORKS -- In the past few days, discussions around the Grand Forks community have led me to believe that the State Board of Higher Education, at its meeting Thursday in Dickinson, will among other business matters vote to drop the use of the Fighting Sioux logo by UND.
If there is any truth to this attempt to do an end run around the process that's now in progress, it must be stopped. For one thing, the board's timing would be very suspicious, given the fact that UND is completing its spring semester this week, so students are heading home and are not available to protest the board's ill-advised action.
More important is the fact that by a two-thirds majority, the people of the Spirit Lake Nation recently ratified their continued support for UND's use of the Sioux name and logo. The board's action would seem to be in direct contempt of tribal members' wishes.
What a slap in the face this would be to those brave souls who dared to speak out against the muck of political correctness that is so evident in our society. It also would come at a time when it appears that the grass-roots elements of the Standing Rock Nation will succeed in getting a nickname referendum on an upcoming ballot there, too.
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In addition, the Herald has carried recent stories suggesting that the outcome of a vote at Standing Rock is likely to be similar to the vote at Spirit Lake.
Even after the chancellor named a committee (after a lengthy delay and minus the high-level members suggested), no meetings have been held to learn if a solution satisfactory to both sides could be found within the three-year window that ends in October 2010. If no such solution is found by that deadline, then UND would have to discontinue its use of the name.
In other words, no matter what happens, the nickname dispute will be resolved within a little more than a year. That suggests other agendas must be in play -- agendas that are preventing the board's nickname committee from carrying out its work and striving for a win/win solution.
It appears that grass-roots support from the tribes and the nearly 80-year tradition of honor and respect that UND's use of the Sioux nickname has shown for the Sioux people is not politically correct enough for those at the highest levels of decision-making on this issue.
What other issues might be short-circuiting the nickname resolution process? Some claim that "issue fatigue" has set in, and people just want to move on. But the good people at Spirit Lake clearly do not believe that, nor do the vast majority of other North Dakota citizens and UND Sioux supporters.
Instead, the only other reason I've heard that seems to make sense is that "we must do whatever it takes to get anointed for admission into the Summit League." But why must we do so? Moving to Division I means we can't compete in post-season events for three more years, long after the 2010 deadline to win tribal support. Even begging to get into the Summit League does not guarantee the league will accept UND.
Furthermore, I firmly believe that other changes will be taking place in the landscape of Division I conferences over the next few years, and a better fit for UND will be found -- hopefully, in the Big Sky Conference.
Let's go where "who we are" and "what we can contribute" are the core values that the conference seeks -- not where a conference says, "Go resolve your logo issue" when what it really seems to be saying is, "We will not even consider you until you change your logo for political-correctness purposes."
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Who needs a conference with an attitude like that?
We can always schedule nonconference games with the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University and North Dakota State University, no matter what our logo name might one day be.
I request that board members and those involved in UND athletics not minimize the backlash that will come if the board does not follow the process it established to settle the logo issue, as well as the big negative impact that such a move would have for years to come on the financial support for UND academics and athletics.
Becker, a UND graduate, is president of Becker Marketing Consultants.
