PCM

So is it true that Craig Dahl is stepping down to serve as Jerry Springer's body double?

Aug. 31, 2005 From MSNBC.com: Tribe fights U. of North Dakota name, logo

I can't blame you for that. However, the point of reading UND's minority report to the NCAA is to demonstrate that short of UND dropping the Fighting Sioux nickname, there really isn't anything that can be done to satisfy those who want the name changed. You've probably noticed that GrahamKracker says the same thing over and over and over again. It's pointless to think that there's anything within reason that you could do to satisfy him and those involved in this cause.

Is it?

Have you thoroughly read this? It drives home what Kuchella said in his open letter to the NCAA:

If I remember correctly, all the other tribes in the state came out with a statement saying that giving the Turtle Mountain tribe a casino in Grand Forks would give it an unfair advantage.

You are correct. However, there are sometimes valid reasons for making general, qualified statements instead of specific ones. Maybe this is one of them. Or maybe someone felt that getting the appeal submitted quickly was more important than conducting time-consuming research to make a concrete, factual statement on a point that wasn't central to UND's appeal.

Many seem to assume that most citizens of Grand Forks want a casino in their community. I'm not convinced that this is true, reagardless of what happens with the Sioux name and logo.

Knowing what I know, I very much doubt it.

Not this one. The use of "probably" qualifies the statement. You're assuming that the statistics to make this statement are readily available and beyond reproach in their accuracy. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. I don't know. However, I suspect that if making the statement above was as easy as you seem to think it is, Kupchella would have done so. I've had enough experience using statistics on political issues to believe that he probably had a good reason for not making a categorical statement. Besides that, I don't really see this as being central to UND's appeal, nor do I think that making a categorical statement on this point at this time will have a significant bearing on what the NCAA's decides. IF the case goes to court, THEN UND might want to consider nailing down the numbers, assuming it's possible.

And all I'm saying is that any time you make a categorical statement, you're inviting someone to knock it down and call you a liar.

Yes, and compiling all that information to avoid saying "probably" would be a time-consuming task. In addition, the percentage of American Indian enrollment at a university doesn't mean much unless you compare it to the percentage of Native American population in a state. It has to be put into some context.

Where would we be without tony, the UND pseudo-expert, delivering advice from his position of moral superiority gained from NDSU's use of an NCAA-approved nickname and logo? It's wonderful that NDSU can proclaim itself "progressive" simply by slapping the word and a picture of an American Indian dancer on the front of a brochure. But in this world, there are universities that spin, universities that engage in symbolic gestures and universities that make a real difference in the lives of American Indians. I know which category UND is in.

It's not as easy as you think it is to get enrollment numbers from universities. Some of them make them available publicly and some don't. Some make them available, but they're hard to find. It took me over two weeks to find out SDSU's total enrollment from 2004 and its number of American Indian students that year. There are sources on the Web that listed this information, but I'm glad I didn't use them because they weren't accurate. If somone from SDSU hadn't e-mailed me the numbers, I'd still only be guessing what they were.

That's pretty much been done. It hasn't worked.

Aug. 31, 2005 From the Washington Post: Central Mich., N. Dakota Appeal Bans From the Punta Gorda Herald: And the righteous shall inherit the Earth (Scroll down) From IndyStar.com: C. Michigan asks NCAA to let it keep 'Chippewas'

Sometimes I think it's a sin When I feel like I'm winnin' when I'm losin again -- Gordon Lightfoot

From ChicagoSports.com: North Dakota Appeals to Keep Nickname

Were they invited?

Frankly, I doubt that the NCAA would have granted UND's appeal on the basis of rather weak support from one Sioux tribe. Besides, that's not where UND is hanging its hat. It's advancing the idea that tribal support doesn't mean much when it can be taken away just as easily as it's given, which the Spirit Lake Sioux just demonstrated in a timely manner.

I like this wording and I suspect that it was purposely stated that way. When the NCAA announced its policy on Aug. 5, Myles Brand and Walter Harrison tried to pretend that they were lawyers, tossing around legal terms and claiming that case law was on the NCAA's side. Ironically, the only person from the NCAA who didn't try to speak as a lawyer was Charlotte Westerhaus, who is an attorney. Unlike the NCAA, UND is not going to presume that it's legally right. Only the courts can determine that. The problem is that when you make categorical statements, there's always someone only too happy to prove them wrong. If you don't know for a fact that something's true, then it's best to say "probably."

Political pressure.

I've been told that the news coming from the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribal Council won't be good for UND.

To my knowledge, no other schools have formally filed appeals. I don't see why UND shouldn't get a quick decision. Then again, this is the NCAA, so who knows?

Contact: Peter Johnson, UND Media Relations, (701) 777-4317 Don Kojich, Executive Associate Vice President for University Relations, (701) 777-4426 The University's appeal and attachments can be found at www.universityrelations.UND.edu/logoappeal. UND Sends Appeal To NCAA The University of North Dakota today [Tuesday, Aug. 30] sent its appeal to the NCAA Executive Committee, which lumped UND into a group of 18 universities and colleges that would no longer be allowed to use its team name and logo in post-season tournament play. President Charles Kupchella said the appeal is framed around three basic arguments * The nickname and logo are used with the utmost respect and class and are in no way inherently hostile or abusive. * UND has many substantive positive relationships with American Indians and the University has had -- and continues to have -- the support, including the formal support, of many Indian people. * The University believes it is "totally unreasonable for the NCAA to ask us to change the terms of a contract in place whereby we would host the regional Division I men's hockey tournament in the spring." Kupchella said he expects a "quick and positive" decision from the NCAA. "We have articulated a strong case for an appeal that will entirely refute any sense that we somehow use our nickname and logo in an abusive and-or hostile manner. In fact, just the opposite is true. We use the nickname and logo with consummate respect. Our logo is a classical image of an 18th and 19th century American Indian, and it was designed by a well-respected American Indian artist, Bennett Brien. Based on the subcommittee's action in overturning the decision for Florida State University, I expect that we'll have a favorable decision," Kupchella said. The University's relationship with the American Indian people is far more substantive and fundamental than the use of a nickname, Kupchella said. He said UND enrolls more than 400 American Indian students and has more than 25 programs - "probably proportionately more than any institution of higher education in the United States" - designed to support American Indian students. Over the years, UND has had dozens of cooperative programs in the fields of education, health care, economic development, etc. with the tribes throughout our region, he added. Kupchella said the contract between UND and the NCAA where UND will host a hockey tournament in March is another issue in the University's appeal. Requiring UND to significantly change of the venue would be a violation of the contract, said Kupchella. In the appeal, Kupchella wrote: "We certainly have no intention, in any case, of covering images at the site of the regional ice hockey tournament. To do so would imply that we are somehow ashamed of an 80-year history of one of the nation's most successful athletic programs and of our link to the proud heritage of this region."