The University of North Dakota has retired the Fighting Sioux nickname after a lengthy battle including a fight between the school and the state legislature. Last week the school made attempts to make a last second plea to the NCAA.
Finally on Monday, they reached an agreement to get rid of the name by the end of the year.
The meetings last week were not fruitful.
After meeting for more than an hour, Emmert told a group of state legislators and school officials he would not compromise on a court-imposed settlement to change the school nickname from Fighting Sioux by Monday’s deadline. The school now faces a ban from hosting NCAA tournaments and will not be allowed to use the nickname or logo at NCAA tourney games until it makes the change.
State legislators will now do what they can to help the school comply.
Gov. Jack Dalrymple said he will introduce legislation Nov. 7 that will give school officials the authority to change the nickname, essentially repealing an April law. Dalrymple said he expects that bill to pass and the school to change the name.
Keeping the name, Dalrymple said, would prove too costly.
According the AP report, there are significant consequences for North Dakota:
In addition to NCAA-imposed sanctions, other schools already have threatened to keep North Dakota off their schedules and the Big Sky Conference, which the school hopes to join next fall, has told North Dakota that its conference affiliation could be jeopardized without a resolution.
“Based on that, the consequences of not changing the Sioux logo are too great,” Dalrymple said.
Before the name can change, it must also be approved by the board of directors of the alumni association, which Dalrymple said already has signed petitions to do so.
North Dakota sent in its heavy hitters to make the case.
Those attending included school president Robert Kelley, state Board of Higher Education President Grant Shaft, Republican House Majority Leader Al Carlson, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Dalrymple.
Finally on Monday, the needed action was taken by the school:
North Dakota’s Board of Higher Education decided Monday to retire the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname by year’s end in a move that anticipates lawmakers will soon repeal a law requiring the school to keep the nickname.
The board, which has eight voting members, agreed unanimously to restart the process of dumping the nickname and a logo depicting an American Indian warrior, symbols that the NCAA contends are offensive.
The decision, taken during a telephone conference call meeting, followed a session that was closed to the public, during which board members discussed their legal options with Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and the university system’s attorneys, Pat Seaworth and Cynthia Goulet.
The Legislature earlier this year approved a law that requires the board and UND to keep the nickname and logo, but Gov. Jack Dalrymple and legislative leaders have said they will ask that the measure be repealed during a legislative special session in November.
