Posted: Thursday, September 1, 2005 12:00 am
FORT TOTTEN, N.D. (AP) - Members of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe, the closest tribe to the University of North Dakota campus, have declared the school's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo "an affront to the dignity and well-being" of the tribe.
More than 70 people packed a tribal administrative building about 90 miles west of Grand Forks to discuss the nickname Tuesday night, and approved a resolution calling on the school to drop them both the nickname and the Indian-head logo.
"(The tribe) finds that the use of the 'Fighting Sioux' and 'Sioux' names by the University of North Dakota is both dishonorable and an affront to the dignity and well-being of the members of Spirit Lake," the resolution read.
The matter is expected to go next to the Spirit Lake's tribal council for formal adoption, likely on Friday.
UND officials have said the school had support from the Spirit Lake tribe to use the nickname. But former Tribal Chairman Skip Longie said that authorization, granted to the university in 2000, came with a string of conditions, including required sensitivity courses for all incoming freshman at UND and visits to all North Dakota's Indian reservations.
"To my understanding, I don't think the university has done any of those things," Longie said.
Tuesday's strong showing of tribal opposition came on the same day that UND formally appealed an NCAA decision placing the school on a list of schools barred from hosting tournaments or wearing Indian-related imagery in the postseason after Feb. 1.