U of ND faces deadline on Fighting Sioux name

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Brett Potas is so angry the University of North Dakota may drop its Fighting Sioux nickname that he's canceled his season hockey tickets and says he won't give his alma mater another dime.

"They tried to get me to think about it. I said that I've been thinking about it for years," Potas said. He says he doesn't want to be associated with a university that takes a politically correct position.

Lucy Ganje, an art professor who led protests against the name, said the school not only should drop its nickname and Indian head logo, it should also apologize to the Sioux tribes and the school's American Indian students.

The two views illustrate the passionately fought debate over the nickname that has nagged the school for years and could finally be resolved this fall. Unless the school gets the support of the state's two Sioux tribes by Oct. 1, which appears unlikely, the state Board of Higher Education says it must drop the nickname.

"One thing's for sure, the feelings run deep," athletic director Brian Faison said. "I'm sure there are other places where emotion has been attached to the logo, but here there's an intensity I've never experienced any place else."

UND teams have been known as the Fighting Sioux since 1930. Those who support the name echo the argument made by fans of other teams with American Indian mascots — that it is part of the school's heritage and is a sign of respect that honors the Indians' proud traditions.

But critics argue that naming sports teams after Indians, a historically disenfranchised race of people, is demeaning, and even racist, and that the practice should stop because many tribes oppose it.

Just this month, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to look into whether the Washington Redskins' name defames American Indians. A lower court ruled in favor of the NFL team.

The NCAA in 2005 listed 18 schools with American Indian mascots and images that it considered "hostile and abusive," and banned them from postseason play pending name changes. William and Mary was added in 2006. Some schools, like Florida State University (the Seminoles) and the University of Utah (the Utes), were allowed to keep their nicknames by getting permission from local tribes.

But most changed their nicknames, leaving UND as the lone holdout.

The state of North Dakota sued to block the NCAA stipulation, but it agreed in a 2007 settlement that the school would drop the name by 2010 unless it got the approval from the Standing Rock and Spirit Lake Sioux tribes. The Spirit Lake tribal council voted last week to allow the school to remain the Fighting Sioux, but the Standing Rock council has refused to give its approval.