Chewey

How could the SBoHE not agree to extend the deadline now? Predictions??? After all, they do seem quite weak-kneed. Great job and thank you Spirit Lake Tribe and Council!!!!! Congress could learn a thing or two from SL: Follow the wishes of your constituents.

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I agree; I feel the same way. Pancreatic cancer is a bearcat for anyone to die from, even someone with whom I vehemently disagree. On a similar note, I wonder how most of the anti-nicknamers felt when Ralph passed away.......... We all know that, don't we? They were hardly mature about it.

Yep. It's this sort of waste of mental resources that has contributed to the problem. Fighting Sioux nickname is bad. ACORN encouraging people to defraud the taxing authorities is ok or not that big of a deal to report much about. Of course, the greasing of the political palms by special interest groups never hurts either.

Brand is the one who dreamed up the "policy" and the board just went along with it. I guess Walter Harrison was an integral part, too. I can appreciate the sentiment, even though I do not agree with it, and the honesty behind it. Such sentiment is not uncommon when tyrannical people who abuse authority are discussed by those whom their policies or actions have oppressed. I do not care for either Brand or his "policy" but I do feel bad for him and do not wish him ill. I am sure that he is realizing how unimportant and inane nickname "controversies" are in light of his present circumstances. I wish him and Patrick Swayze speedy recoveries.

Yes, and if the nickname is not such a huge issue why are RHHIT and professors and other pc'ers getting so bent out of shape by it? If it's so trivial, should they be insulted by it? Of course not. One will not find logic or reasonable thought with 4 winds and his ilk.

The PC and victim-oriented NA's, blacks, etc. should take a long look at the Jewish example. Those people have been persecuted since recorded history began and they, of all peoples, could spend the rest of eternity ruminating about it and grieving over it. They've been victims of the Nazis, Romans, Assyrians, Philistines, etc. and they have survived and thrived. Where would they be if they all had the victim mindset of RHHIT?

And I, being a white man in 2009 and not 1809, am responsible for that how exactly? Achieving a small bit of retribution through the nickname issue 200 years later is hardly a way to productively address whatever present-day issues stem from the conduct of people who lived 200 years ago.

Well, horrible logic and all, it's still being bought and believed and forwarded by administrators and faculty and a few complainers to can the nickname and parties in positions of authority are not opposing it. Everyone knows it's baloney logic. It's just that certain politicos do not have the spine to stand up to the few whiners and screamers.

I stand better informed. Thank you. I still think it's an asinine name though. Winona State has gotten by with "Warriors" and they are not on the NC00 S+99 list. They do have a European symbol of some sort. I guess they did not consult with the Sioux tribe up by Red Wing. Some do-gooders were out in DickinsonND a few years back making trouble about the "Midgets" nickname that the public high school uses. I think they were told to pound sand, in so many words, by all of those Germans out there. Had the SBHE made an announcement there about that nickname and not the "Fighting Sioux" nickname they probably would have been asked to kindly leave Stark County.

"Golden Eagles" is a stupid nickname, in my humble opinion, but it is marginally better than "Gold." Last I checked, eagles were not golden. They are brown feathered with white feathers at the head. Watch out, however, the "Golden" part of it may offend the working proletariat and may connote elitism to some. BTW, my brother is an English prof in suburban Chicago (and Marquette grad) and he wears his "Fighting Sioux" jersey with pride and he refers to Marquette as the "Warriors." I guess not everyone in the Humanities is a fruitcake.

There was a case, in the last couple of years, in CA (I forget where specifically but I think it was there) where the union members objected to the uses to which their dues were being applied. The Court said that it was their money and they had an interest in determining where the dues were applied. It related to the unions' massive campaign contributions to democratic groups/candidates. I think both parties are an absolute pox on American society but at least those union members who objected were able to select which pox they wanted. IF only we could do this with our tax dollars. There is a reason why this name-changing garbage has not worked in professional sports. If you change the team name of the Cleveland Indians to pacify a fraction of a fraction of a minority, how long does anyone think that franchise would exist as fans stop buying tickets, merchandise, etc.? There is no public dole to underwrite that kind of absoute silliness like there is with UND who has the poor ND taxpayers and some alumni (but not this one) who get stuck with the bill as a result of the SBHE's lack of spine and complete lack of real-world perspective. The free-market and private enterprise are great things, indeed, if only because they help to insulate against this business and prevent it. This is why no private owner should be amenable to accepting public dollars to build stadiums. There is a chance that public dollars turns into "public" dictating by a minority of a minority regarding entirely private matters. Could you see some PC city/state/county hacks telling the Indians that the lease payments for the Jake will go up or that they could not use the Jake unless they changed their name? The first time you accept public dollars, the greater the chance that stupid politicizing like this will occur. I can tell you that there would be a Hue and Cry so huge in Cuyahoga County if this ever happened that even consummate back-water liberals like Dennis Kucinich would be opposed to it.

My modest donations were being used by people and programs that I do not support and whom I consider to have very warped political views and a phobia about not only free expression/speech but also different ideas. This is how we in America show our disapproval of weenies like many of the faculty and administration at UND. Dollars are very hard to come by these days and this is the wrong time for the SBHE to be cutting things so closely and not allowing things to play out along the time line that it agreed to in the settlement. If you do stuff to piss off alumni and you have a systemic problem where professors label those who disagree with them as racists, don't expect to get any money from the alumni; it's that simple. If you want another modern-day example, look at people who were forced to pay union dues and had no control over where they were applied.

Never. I will not buy anything with another logo on it. When (or if........there's still some hope) the name/logo change, my purchasing stops as do my yearly contributions to UND. My contributions to the law school stopped two years ago when I saw some of the absolute politically bent sideshows that they have there. What a waste of money my donations to the law school fund were.

Yes. You did make such a statement and I am sure that anyone who is more proficient in seaching on this site than I am could dig it up. You're a racist which also makes you a hypocrite since you castigate others for this same thing. This is the overall sentiment that the anti-nickname people have. I did not know the university was supposed to kiss your butt while you were there. It's awfully convenient to say this or that or to indicate that you just did not feel good while you were there and concoct "Racism" out of that. Where are the university reports? Where are the police reports? Just because someone did not acknowledge you or may have looked crosseyed at you does not mean that racist behaviour occurred. Welcome to the real world. I don't know what kind of ivory tower you want to live in but if you are that thin-skinned and emotionally fragile, you should see someone for it professionally.

Just "North Dakota" would be fine with me. I liked those hockey sweaters when I was there anyway. I agree with Scott M. There is no mandate to have a new nickname but you can bet that the same old nuts are going to be pushing for one because they would figure that by just being "North Dakota" people would revert to the old nickname. The real question becomes whether the SBHE and the administration have any spine left.

OMG!!!!! Please do not come in here with this absolute drivel. How was the show promoted? Was it even given a chance to reap the tickets sales from people who may have chosen to come to the show within 2 weeks prior to its playing? GF is not the Twin Cities. Even "Rent" had a night or two of poor attendance at the Orpheum; this was true notwithstanding all of the thespians and effete, pseudo-intellectuals in the TC area. As far as your Target experience goes, trying to stretch what allegedly happened there into some sort of racial insult says more about you than it does about the girl. You should familiarize yourself with the medical/psychological condition called "paranoia." Maybe this girl knew the people ahead of you. Did you ever think of that? If I walk past you and look at you and do not say "hi" because I do not know you, that must mean I am insulting you, right? I would not want to bear witness to all of the hobgoblins in your psychological closet. My God. Get a grip, if you please.

I'd say the nickname supporters are the ones who are jubliant. At leat the vast majority of one tribe has said that they do not want the nickname retired. I am sure the members of the tribe who support the name are happy that they finally had their voices heard above the non-sensical racist cacophony of the name changers.

I think I'll "bank" elsewhere. I keep hearing that kind of blather and it just encourages me even more. The "we will never quit" and the "name is still going to be changed......, bank on it" just smacks of PC frustration and that is humorous.

Another thing to highlight: The vote indicated that the vast majority of the tribe supports the nickname and logo and does not find it "hostile and abusive." The vote itself certainly seems "binding" or, at least very instructive, as to the original stated purpose for the NC00's conduct, namely, that the nickname and logo are "hostile and abusive" and "offensive" to NA's. "Binding" or not, the vote results eviscerate the stated "policy" claims of the NC00 and the vulgar, sanctimonious claims of "racism" by the PC side shows.

Yes, indeed. The PC hordes do need another good political beat-down like they got from Spirit Lake. BTW, if UND gets permission from both tribes via a vote it has satisfied the NC00's criteria in the "settlement" so the Summit should have no problems with UND as there would be no re-imposition of "sanctions." It's all is good with the NC00 PC morons it should be good with the Summit PC morons, right? I guess I'd be mistaken to expect consistency and rational thinking from such types.

Right. The programs are an absolute good. To try and revoke/rescind them would be simply a puerile, knee-jerk reaction to an unfavorable result. This is sort of like what the PC zealots/racists would do.

I don't really mind the Bison fans here. All points of view should be tolerated. It is strange, however, how some NDSU people just relish the thought of UND going through this business. It's all good until your own ox gets gored. Just wait until the NCAA starts pounding on NDSU's door about retiring a symbol/nickname that is sacred. Remember, it's just Fargo and it's just NDSU. It's not like Fargo/NDSU are anything special outside of ND (it's not like they're anything special inside the state of ND either except to the "we wanna be Minnesotans" Fargo crowd) and it's not like there is any greater political clout against the NC00 there.

I'm not completely knowledgable about them but I did work on one of the ND's reservations - the TMBC - one recodifying their Tribal Constitution. I understand your points and they're good ones but, perhaps, as times goes on an ongoing working relationship could be established. Perhaps I am a bit of a Pollyanna but I don't think that this avenue should be abandoned at this point. I am sure the tribes have been preached to and preached to over the years by the PC whiners/racists. UND really has not had the opportunity to counter that negative energy. Once that negative energy begins to be countered, I think that the status between the university and the tribes would be much better.

To be sure, this is a concern. However, wouldn't it be likely that, once approved by the tribes, some written agreement would be entered specifying a time frame like "we're approving it for 5 years or 10 years"? I guess I don't see the rescission as a big spectre if something like that could be agreed to. I am not convinced that the NA's get a whole ton of stuff. This is a common misperception. As far as I know, they pay their way just like anyone else. To the extent that they do get anything additional, why take that stuff away? I certainly would not advocate for that. Even though some such programs, if they exist at all, benefit some of the anti-nicknamers, they would be of significant benefit to all NA's and would help to improve life for NA's. Regardless of one's stance on the nickname, I think everyone agrees that helping NA's through such programs is beneficial. Revoking such programs would cause the university to drop down to the grimy realm of the PC troglodytes. I vehemently disagree with those who say we should just change to be rid of the PC nags. Such people have been used to getting their way by throwing out racist invective, fabricating evidence, being "plants" on message boards and spewing garbage on such sites and foisting their views upon everyone else and conditioning grades on the acceptance/rejection of such viewpoints. Their tactics need to be exposed and fought and they need to be called on the carpet for the racists that they are. Once you acquiesce by being silent in the face of their nefarious, baseless accusations, their idiotic labels stick - at least for some people - and they go one continuing to bully people with that business. If you confront them and call them for the racists that they are you are indicating that you do not accept their idiotic judgments.