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10 Year Anniversary of Nickname Fight


fightingsioux4life

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Today is the 10 year anniversary of the NCAA's policy regarding use of American Indian nicknames during NCAA postseason events. On Friday, August 5, 2005, the NCAA announced the following:
NCAA Executive Committee Issues Guidelines for Use of Native American Mascots at Championship Events

"Colleges and universities may adopt any mascot that they wish, as that is an institutional matter," said Walter Harrison, chair of the Executive Committee and president at the University of Hartford. "But as a national association, we believe that mascots, nicknames or images deemed hostile or abusive in terms of race, ethnicity or national origin should not be visible at the championship events that we control."

The policy prohibiting colleges or universities with hostile or abusive mascots, nicknames or imagery from hosting any NCAA championship competitions takes effect February 1, 2006.

"The NCAA objects to institutions using racial/ethnic/national origin references in their intercollegiate athletics programs," said NCAA President Myles Brand. "Several institutions have made changes that adhere to the core values of the NCAA Constitution pertaining to cultural diversity, ethical sportsmanship and nondiscrimination. We applaud that, and we will continue to monitor these institutions and others. All institutions are encouraged to promote these core values and take proactive steps at every NCAA event through institutional event management to enhance the integrity of intercollegiate athletics related to these issues."

 10 years and counting. And some people on here want to fight this to the death...no matter the cost.

Edited by fightingsioux4life
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My question is why in the world does anyone want to risk going down this road again with a name like Roughriders?

It's puzzling to see some people stressing moving on from Fighting Sioux, while at the same time championing the cause for another "human-based" name, for lack of a better term.

Nodaks should be off the table as well given the hypersensitive path this nickname quest is on.

Hawks, Sun, or Stars.  Yay.  

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The NCAA policy is framed around "race, ethnicity, or national origin" and they couldn't even enforce that one fully. See: Fighting Irish, Seminoles, Vandals, Utes, Spartans*, Trojans*. 

If they try again, Roughriders would be in category with Minutemen, Mountaineers, Volunteers, and (gulp) Cowboys. Sooners, Hoosiers, Cornhuskers, and Boilermakers probably fall in the category also.

I'm not sweating Roughriders in light of those. 

 

* Sparta and Troy were city-states, or "nations of origin" by today's standards. 

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10 years of this fight?  Hardly.  Prez. Baker tried to dump the name over the summer in 1988 or 89. 

That was more early 1990s, wasn't it? (Baker was UND president from 1992-1999.) 

How about the late 1980's when a donation was made to do renovations to the Winter Sports Building (aka REA 1.0). Tom Clifford had to deal with a firestorm then. 

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The NCAA policy is framed around "race, ethnicity, or national origin" and they couldn't even enforce that one fully. See: Fighting Irish, Seminoles, Vandals, Utes, Spartans*, Trojans*. 

If they try again, Roughriders would be in category with Minutemen, Mountaineers, Volunteers, and (gulp) Cowboys. Sooners, Hoosiers, Cornhuskers, and Boilermakers probably fall in the category also.

I'm not sweating Roughriders in light of those. 

 

* Sparta and Troy were city-states, or "nations of origin" by today's standards. 

Let's not forget the Dutchmen and Ragin' Cajuns!

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That was more early 1990s, wasn't it? (Baker was UND president from 1992-1999.) 

How about the late 1980's when a donation was made to do renovations to the Winter Sports Building (aka REA 1.0). Tom Clifford had to deal with a firestorm then. 

Don't remember the details of that...why all the uproar then?

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10 years since the policy was put in place but the fight has been going on for decades.  Your last point is spot on.

Your right, the nickname issue has been going on for many, many decades. I remember hearing issues back in the 1960's with the Sammy Sioux mascot controversy. People were upset with the imagery of a Sioux Indian as a cartoon figure. 

Edited by hockey1
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Don't remember the details of that...why all the uproar then?

A donation to upgrade the Winter Sport Building was leveraged by Gino. The donation included putting the man's name on the building. The guy ran a casino in Las Vegas. Some folks had problems with this man. This was circa 1987. You can do the math from there. ;) 

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A donation to upgrade the Winter Sport Building was leveraged by Gino. The donation included putting the man's name on the building. The guy ran a casino in Las Vegas. Some folks had problems with this man. This was circa 1987. You can do the math from there. ;) 

Gotcha

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The NCAA policy is framed around "race, ethnicity, or national origin" and they couldn't even enforce that one fully. See: Fighting Irish, Seminoles, Vandals, Utes, Spartans*, Trojans*. 

If they try again, Roughriders would be in category with Minutemen, Mountaineers, Volunteers, and (gulp) Cowboys. Sooners, Hoosiers, Cornhuskers, and Boilermakers probably fall in the category also.

I'm not sweating Roughriders in light of those. 

 

* Sparta and Troy were city-states, or "nations of origin" by today's standards. 

Interesting take.  So in this instance the ncaa's policies are permanently set in stone? 

After all the hullabaloo about the ncaa and what punishment they may drum up for going without a nickname, it just seems like a bad idea to go with any name with a human element.  One person complains that Nodakers is derogatory, or one person claims Roughriders were racist gun toting white cowboys from the desert southwest, and all of a sudden we have a new headache on our hands. 

 

go sUNDawgs!!  a daschUND would be a solid mascot. 

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10 years of this fight?  Hardly.  Prez. Baker tried to dump the name over the summer in 1988 or 89. 

Tom Clifford shook my hand when I graduated in May of 1992.  

Kendall Baker gets a bad rap for "dumping" the old Blackhawk-style logo.  UND used that logo with permission from the Chicago Blackhawks.  Bill Wirtz was a greedy SOB, saw an opportunity to make money, and demanded that UND pay to use the logo.  Blackhawks games were all but non-existent on TV and stars were leaving the team in droves.  Fans?  They had none.  Remember, this was when Michael Jordan ruled Chicago.  Baker said "no" to paying for permission to use the logo and it was promptly scrubbed away from UND.  

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Tom Clifford shook my hand when I graduated in May of 1992.  

Kendall Baker gets a bad rap for "dumping" the old Blackhawk-style logo.  UND used that logo with permission from the Chicago Blackhawks.  Bill Wirtz was a greedy SOB, saw an opportunity to make money, and demanded that UND pay to use the logo.  Blackhawks games were all but non-existent on TV and stars were leaving the team in droves.  Fans?  They had none.  Remember, this was when Michael Jordan ruled Chicago.  Baker said "no" to paying for permission to use the logo and it was promptly scrubbed away from UND.  

That's pretty odd considering the Blackhawks played in the Stanley Cup finals in May 1992.

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Interesting take.  So in this instance the ncaa's policies are permanently set in stone? 

After all the hullabaloo about the ncaa and what punishment they may drum up for going without a nickname, it just seems like a bad idea to go with any name with a human element.  One person complains that Nodakers is derogatory, or one person claims Roughriders were racist gun toting white cowboys from the desert southwest, and all of a sudden we have a new headache on our hands. 

 

go sUNDawgs!!  a daschUND would be a solid mascot. 

Not going to say they are set in stone; however, going after all "human" nicknames, after they couldn't get all the Native American nicknames, is something I don't expect them to try for a couple reasons:

- They couldn't get all the "race, ethnicity, or national origin" names because of a few power players, so why do they think they can get "all humans" done?

- Going after "all humans" brings in even more power players to the fight against them (and the NCAA hates losing)

It comes down to this: the NCAA was tired of hearing the haranguing by a few dedicated career protesters over a couple nicknames so they ham-handedly tried something that partially worked. It hit the little guys. As long as they don't hear those nicknames, and don't hear the associated haranguing, they'll ignore the nickname issue. But as they said, as soon as they start hearing the noise again, they bring the sanctions out again (most likely by some new ham-handed policy). 

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That's pretty odd considering the Blackhawks played in the Stanley Cup finals in May 1992.

In 1991, Wirtz came up with the idea of "Hawkvision," which was a pay-per-view service that broadcast the Blackhawks.  Regular season games were not shown at all in Chicago unless you purchased this service.  Fans only got to see the Blackhawks on TV if they made the playoffs.  Hawkvision was discontinued in 1993, but the exodus of stars from Chicago was just beginning - Tony Amonte, Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, etc.  Wirtz was a penny-pincher - and THE primary reason the North Dakota "Blackhawk" logo died.

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Not going to say they are set in stone; however, going after all "human" nicknames, after they couldn't get all the Native American nicknames, is something I don't expect them to try for a couple reasons:

- They couldn't get all the "race, ethnicity, or national origin" names because of a few power players, so why do they think they can get "all humans" done?

- Going after "all humans" brings in even more power players to the fight against them (and the NCAA hates losing)

It comes down to this: the NCAA was tired of hearing the haranguing by a few dedicated career protesters over a couple nicknames so they ham-handedly tried something that partially worked. It hit the little guys. As long as they don't hear those nicknames, and don't hear the associated haranguing, they'll ignore the nickname issue. But as they said, as soon as they start hearing the noise again, they bring the sanctions out again (most likely by some new ham-handed policy). 

I hear ya.  it's understandable if that is the ncaa's stance, at this time.  as we continue down the PC road of insanity, the ncaa may feel pressure in the future from other constantly offended groups.  Midgets is now controversial.  

Even if it's not the ncaa that has a problem with a certain "human" name, if other groups of wake up offended-type folks do, time and resources will be wasted. 

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