N.D. board approves settlement of nickname suit

By The Associated Press | Friday, October 26, 2007

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GRAND FORKS, N.D. --The state Board of Higher Education has settled a lawsuit with the NCAA over the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux nickname, giving the school three years to get tribal approval to keep it.

The board voted unanimously Friday morning to approve the settlement after a closed-door briefing from Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.

The NCAA in 2005 banned the use of the nickname is postseason play, labeling it hostile and abusive. UND sued to challenge the ban in October last year and got a temporary order allowing the continued use of the nickname and logo while the case moved through court.

The school will need approval from the Devils Lake Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux tribes by Nov. 30, 2010, under terms of the settlement. If it does not get that approval, it will have to change to a new name and logo.

"The settlement confirms that the Sioux people and no one else should decide whether and how their name should be used," Bernard Franklin, an NCAA senior vice president, said in a statement.

"The settlement is consistent with the NCAA's firm belief that Native American nicknames and imagery have no place in intercollegiate athletics," the NCAA statement said.

"We are not going to be fighting this in 10 years, in 20 years, in 30 years," Stenehjem said. "This is an issue that needs to be resolved, needs to be concluded."

If approval of the nickname is withdrawn later from either tribe, the waiver will also be withdrawn, the agreement says. It also includes a statement by the NCAA saying UND is a "national leader in offering educational programs to Native Americans."

Eighteen schools originally were on a 2005 list of NCAA offenders using offensive American Indian nicknames and logos. A number of schools made changes while some won appeals with support from area tribes.

"I think it's important to remember that without this lawsuit, we would have been immediately subjected to the NCAA restrictions," Stenehjem said. "We had no options but to proceed to court."

North Dakota tribal officials have said the three-year period allowed in the settlement unfairly puts pressure on them. Standing Rock Chairman Ron His Horse is Thunder and Devils Lake Sioux Chairwoman Myra Pearson could not immediately be reached Friday for comment.

Stenehjem said he believes negotiations over the nickname should be led by top-level state officials.

"There shouldn't be a huge number of people putting pressure on anyone," he said.

The North Dakota lawsuit has cost an estimated $2 million in legal fees and services. Stenehjem said it was paid with private donations and "in my estimate, was worth the money."

If the nickname is changed, UND would have to remove most of its Indian imagery on its campus in Grand Forks. It could keep historical items and items embedded in the architecture, under the agreement.

Officials have estimated UND's Ralph Engelstad Arena has at least 3,000 Fighting Sioux logos, including a 10-foot sketch of an Indian head embedded in the granite floor.

Stenehjem said brass medallions would have to be removed from the chairs in the arena. Some likely could be sold "for quite a bit," he said.

Board of Higher Education President John Q. Paulsen said he was happiest with the statement that UND was a leader in Indian education.

"The University of North Dakota deserves to have its honor restored in terms of its long-standing commitment to programs for Native American students," Paulsen said.