Sal Atticum

Come out to race, cheer, or take photos! More information here: http://talk.campusdakota.com/index.php?topic=4904

It's possible sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but exams are coming up too, so I'm not sure (and I'm still recovering from this one). I will definitely make a post for the next event, whether it's cx or an alleycat.

In the spirit of the successful "That's My Bike!" allecyat, we're throwing another race, this time for those who like cyclocross. (Learn more about cyclocross here.) Beginners and spectators welcome! Official announcement here, but here it is again: Sunday, November 22 2009 Register 2:30 PM Race 3 PM Lincoln Drive Park, Grand Forks, ND (meet at the warming house) $3 entry + any booty you want to donate toward the winner The course is a loop that's less than a mile long and all visible from the start/finish. Race will be 30 minutes+1 lap. Ride any sort of bicycle you want, but knobby tires are suggested. Sorry about the late notice, I'll try to get the next announcement up earlier if there is interest. Up next could be another alleycat, but there is definitely going to be an icebike race on February 13th during Winterfest.

The Title Sponsorship Package auction closed today at 6 pm. The going price was $102.77, and this was for a sponsorship package that was estimated to be worth $2,500 for the year. There are currently no bids for the Gold and Silver Sponsorship Packages (estimated worth of $1,500 and $1,000, respectively). The high bid for the Bronze Sponsorship Package auction is currently $31.02.

As far as I know there are none being sold at the moment; they used to be stocked at Ski and Bike Shop. We will be ordering 2010 jerseys/bibs sometime around the end of the month, once we get all of our sponsorship lined up. The turnaround time will be 8-12 weeks and they should be on sale at a local (Grand Forks) sporting goods establishment. Once jerseys are on sale an announcement will go up on the message board at http://undcycling.campusdakota.com. You can send an email to siouxcycling@gmail.com letting us know of your interest; there are a number of people who have already requested jerseys and so sending out an email when they get in shouldn't be too hard.

Do you want to have a direct impact on UND student athletes? The UND Cycling Team is selling sponsorship packages (jersey placement, event title, web advertising) for their 2010 season THIS WEEK on eBay! Get your name and logo on the jerseys and website--this is a unique opportunity that the cycling team has to offer. For those who are questioning this, yes, UND DOES have a cycling team, and yes, it DOES compete throughout the region against other colleges and universities. The governing body is USA Cycling, not the NCAA. The eBay auctions started last week Monday, so the first auction will be closing TOMORROW (Monday 10/19) at 6 pm. As of right now, there is one bid of $100 for a whole year's worth of sponsorship (a package estimated at $2,500 in value) including event titles ("UND Cycling Team and Your Business Here present . . ."). Although the news report that went out based on the Grand Forks Herald article says the team is using the money to buy bicycles, this is incorrect. Sponsorship money will go directly to gas and food for the athletes when they travel to other schools to compete. With schools as far away as Kansas, the travel costs add up. The only funding the team gets is from SAC rather than the athletic department. Here is a link to the UND Cycling message board where you can download the sponsorship packet with details: http://talk.campusdakota.com/index.php?topic=4758.msg17101 Here is a link to the UND Cycling website: http://www.und.edu/org/cycling/Welcome.html Here are links to the auctions with the current bids: Title Sponsorship Package $100.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...=STRK:MESELX:IT Gold Sponsorship Package $100.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...=STRK:MESELX:IT Silver Sponsorship Package $100.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...=STRK:MESELX:IT Bronze Sponsorship Package $00.01 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...=STRK:MESELX:IT

I think you're taking my point much further than intended. I'm just confused as to why the agreement is that only the Sioux tribes in ND have to agree, rather than the Sioux Nation (in its official capacity). The nickname is heard outside of ND, so why are only the ND Sioux allowed to have a say? I was never advocating for a vote in the capacity you are suggesting. The agreement should be between UND and the Sioux Nation, both acting as corporations and representing what they believe is the best course of action. To those who suggest that my reason for being less than fond of the nickname is political correctness, sorry guys. I just personally think it's just dumb to have another group of people as your totem.

So you admit that students from the east are more sophisticated? How very self-defeating of you.

As a (non-Jewish) graduate student, I can say that I generally know very little about anything going on. I imagine this is the norm. For example:

You got this part right. For the record, Bill Ayers (if that is the "terroist" [sic] to whom you are referring) already came in early April. He gave an interesting and informative talk.

An interesting book to read on this topic is "Beer and Circus" by Murray Sperber.

Aye. I assume you never go anywhere, and just sit in your house 365 days a year?

Of course students should get to vote in Grand Forks! They live here, they have an effect on the town, and the actions of the town affect them. The clash between UND and GFK needs to be figured out by enabling everyone to vote, not by denying people the right to vote.

I just wish there was a chance UND would decide not to go DI.

Does anyone know where I can find some architect plans/drawings of the new building that is supposedly coming out of this?

Haha, you've got me there. Those are the most interesting forums to me. The difficult part is letting people know that their voice can be heard, and that whoever yells the loudest doesn't always win. Such boards tend to attract those who want to be loud, and the people who have the most sense or the best ideas are usually scared off by the loud ones or get fed up with the whole thing. Best of luck. I'm doing my part by trying not to shoot my mouth off without evidence to back it up.

This has sadly been my impression since I first started reading the board. It's disappointing that you need such a thick skin to be able to post and deal with people lashing out at you. It might be possible to identify certain areas of the forum as places where the rules are slightly different. I see two options: --Identify specific boards as "flame-free," that is, attacking other people is an immediate warning. This drives the threads with high potential for incivility to other boards. --Identify specific boards as free from flaming rules--that is, where people can be as idiotic and inflammatory as they want. This again would tend to focus spirited argumentation. I've seen this work in the past, most notably at Wordforge.net. Posters in the Red Room can post whatever they want (within reason, according to the dictates of the community), but those same posters are perfectly civil in the Green Room. Some people like to argue, and some like to cause trouble. Finding the difference between those two (especially in the middle of a high-paced thread where posts may not be read carefully) is the difficult part.

So who is the "we" in your statement? "We own this land." Do you? I certainly don't. It makes me warm and fuzzy inside every time someone from North Dakota comes out with "if you don't like it, leave." Such a solution to everything.

O jeez, I don't even want to get started with Katherine Kersten over her Critical Mass article . . . Glad you guys are doing the research. I'm glad someone took the time to dig up that post! EDIT: I was going to write more of a reply, but I figured it wasn't appropriate for this discussion. I have started a new thread here.

This is how I'm wrestling with it right now, and I wish the majority of people would look at it this way too. It's great when you can laugh at someone else for having to do something, but when you have to do it yourself, it sucks. I'd be pissed if my college team wasn't allowed to be the Saints anymore, and I see how people are pissed about potentially not getting to be the Fighting Sioux anymore. I'm with you there--it means a lot, the name, and I wouldn't change my cheers. However, I think that the nostalgia and pride we all feel for our college team is a different issue than that team name being called racist. I would like to separate the two issues. Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? I think that's an entirely different (and much more philosophical) debate. I said that that was the impression that I got, and still occasionally get. This is a touchy subject for a lot of people, and I'm doing my best not to get into the anger on either side. I know that a lot of this stems from this being a board devoted to the Fighting Sioux. It's unfortunate that many people will continue to see this place as a bastion of hatred and racism simply because of your association with the name (and now this article from the crazy lady). Can't agree with you more. It's always fun to try though. I was claiming that it does not follow from someone joining the board that they support the nickname. You've admitted yourself that around half the people here (according to polls) think the name should be changed. I wasn't trying to say anything else. Gods no. This is the tricky part we're here to figure out together, isn't it?

I have a thicker skin, and I'm still on the fence. Plus you amuse me. Non sequitur. I would argue that, as fans of the UND sports teams, the name doesn't come into the argument at all. The team is the same, so why does it matter what we call them? I do understand that most of the people are aren't in the mood to go behead people for disagreeing with them though. A lot of people who are for the name feel that they have safety in numbers. I don't think that anti-nickname writers should be granted anything more than pro-nickname writers. I can't claim to have cited any demographics. I just get the impression that fans on this site (just like fans on any site) are likely to be riled when an alternative viewpoint is presented. Voltaire said "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it." I totally agree, which is why I am in favor of personal moderation of speech rather than legislation.

I really don't want to get into this right now, but as someone who is still on the fence about the morality of naming a sports team after a people, this place does give off the impression that anyone who disagrees with the Sioux name should be drawn and quartered, or at least verbally badgered until they go away. (I haven't read the whole article, since I refuse to give information to the Herald for something I should be able to get for free.) Not everything can be blamed on liberal arts. People have ideas for their own reasons, and all a liberal arts degree tries to do is educate people to be able to deal with as many situations as possible, based on the information at hand. What is the alternative to a liberal arts school anyway?

I think we should just have the monorail, and forget the college hockey hall of fame. I think it would be a great investment for the city, an alternative to driving buses on snow-covered roads, and useful for everyone if they laid out the track right.

We have a list going on at Campus Dakota of nickname ideas. My favorite is the UND Tornados. http://talk.campusdakota.com/index.php?topic=1264