I guess I don't quite follow what you're saying. On the one hand we should get away from the North Dakota mindset, but on the other hand ND and UND produce talented, creative people. ? So should we or shouldn't we employ someone from the area with ties to UND to design it? I think we should. Sort of like looking for a new president....there are people with UND ties that would do an outstanding job, but i'm guessing we'll end up with a lunatic liberal as per usual in academia.
I've seen some creative ideas here on this site that include a detail here or there that remind of the previous logo, which looked really nice, but if we end up with something completely different, that's ok, too, One thing I do know is I will be one of the last people to piss and moan about whatever the logo is.