GRAND FORKS, N.D.—The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe says it’s time for the University of North Dakota to get rid of its Fighting Sioux nickname and “choose an image that all of North Dakota can be proud of.”
Ron His Horse Is Thunder told a group of students and teachers Tuesday that the best way to honor the tribe is to teach students about the contributions that American Indians have made to American life.
“This image, this logo, this Fighting Sioux, is one image of who we were, not who we are,” His Horse Is Thunder said. “If we wanted to stay in the past, if that’s all we wanted to be, we wouldn’t come here to UND.”
His Horse Is Thunder joined tribal members Jessie Taken Alive and Avis Little Eagle and United Tribes Technical College president David Gipp on a panel Tuesday to talk about their opposition of the UND nickname and logo. The UND Campus Committee for Human Rights, which sponsored the session, said it was not planned as a debate, and no supporters of the nickname or UND officials were on the panel.
Under a settlement with the NCAA announced last month, UND has three years to try to persuade Sioux tribes in North Dakota to support the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo, which the NCAA considers hostile and abusive.
“There’s ample time for them (UND) to make that change,” Gipp said Tuesday. “Today is the day for them to do that, not to wait for several years down the pike.”
His Horse Is Thunder said about lobbying efforts by nickname supporters would be a waste of time.
He suggested the school change its nickname to Rough Riders, a reference to Theodore Roosevelt, who ran cattle in the North Dakota Badlands.
“There’s not one person who can object to that because it’s truly a North Dakota image,” His Horse Is Thunder said.
UND students who oppose the logo have faced threats and intimidation, he said.
“Those who choose to fight against the image—whether the campus police want to admit it or not, whether the alumni want to admit it or not, whether the president of this institution wants to admit it or not—they are threatened,” the tribal chairman said.
UND President Charles Kupchella, who plans to retire in January, said he could not attend Tuesday’s panel because of a scheduling conflict, but he arrived later to have lunch with the Standing Rock leaders.
“I know they met. I don’t know that anything transpired from that,” said Don Kojich, a spokesman for Kupchella.
His Horse Is Thunder also said UND has been trying to lobby the tribes on behalf of the nickname and logo. He and Gipp said tribal support is not for sale.
Gipp referred to the Ralph Engelstad Arena, which contains thousands of Fighting Sioux logos as “that $100 million monstrosity sitting across campus.” The late Ralph Engelstad, a UND benefactor, had threatened to withdraw money for building the hockey arena if the nickname and logo were dropped.
Jody Hodgson, general manager of the arena, and Chris Semrau, arena director of events, were in the audience Tuesday, but declined comment.
Eighteen schools originally were on a 2005 list of NCAA offenders with American Indian nicknames and logos that faced restrictions on the use of the imagery in postseason play. Other schools either made changes or won appeals with support from area tribes. UND’s settlement with the NCAA ended a lawsuit filed by the state in 2005 to challenge the NCAA restrictions.
“To me it’s pretty clear and it’s pretty simple. It’s about human dignity,” Little Eagle said. “We’re not going to change our minds. At least not in the near future.”
