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Negotiated Settlement?


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NCAA Statement on Settlement of University of North Dakota Mascot Lawsuit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, November 19, 2007

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Bob Williams

Managing Director of Public and Media Relations

317/917-6117

INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA recognizes the University of North Dakota's many programs and outreach services to the Native American community and surrounding areas. The University of North Dakota is a national leader in offering educational programs to Native Americans.

The University has indicated that it intends to use the current name and logo with the utmost respect and dignity, and only for so long as it may do so with the support of the Native American community. The NCAA does not dispute UND's sincerity in this regard.

The NCAA believes, as a general proposition, that the use of Native American names and imagery can create a hostile or abusive environment in collegiate athletics. However, the NCAA did not make any other findings about the environment on UND's campus. The NCAA also acknowledges that reasonable people can disagree about the propriety of Native American imagery in athletics. The NCAA believes that the time has come to retire Native American imagery in college sports.

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This is such BS! If the NCAA REALLY believes the time has come to retire Native American imagery in college sports why aren't they forcing all schools to retire their Native American imagery?!!! It really sucks to be basically be powerless against the NCAA. The NCAA should have to pay for the removal of all of this imagery as they are the institution that has forced us to make this change. If we would've gone after the NCAA correctly in the settlement this would've been one of the conditions the NCAA would've had to meet in order for us to agree to the settlement. The lawyers really screwed up on this part of the agreement as well. Future damages would've been good to go after as I imagine UND is going to take a hit on merchandise, etc... after logo merchandise is no longer able to be sold. This will happen just as it did in Illinois with the Illini. The University of Illinois banned all sales of Chief Illiniwek items after June of last year or something like that. I don't know the specifics but I know people were buying it all up just as they will do at UND when the name is retired.

It is too bad we didn't all make a bigger issue of this. If we had gone to Indianapolis and conducted large protests or something like this it would've been on the news and who knows how it may have impacted this situation. The winners in the end were those that did protest over the past 30 years. It paid off I guess.

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I don't understand the settlement. Why do we have to have two tribes agree?

I could be wrong, but I believe the NCAA has said that it will consider the view of any in-state namesake tribe that expresses opposition to a school's nickname. Standing Rock, of course, is opposed. Spirit Lake is either in favor, neutral or opposed, depnding on who you choose to believe.

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I could be wrong, but I believe the NCAA has said that it will consider the view of any in-state namesake tribe that expresses opposition to a school's nickname. Standing Rock, of course, is opposed. Spirit Lake is either in favor, neutral or opposed, depnding on who you choose to believe.

:D

I don't mean to sound obtuse but does this mean if Spirt Lake decides it's ok, we don't need to have Standing Rock's approval as long as they don't disapprove?

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The lawyers really screwed up on this part of the agreement as well.

The last time I checked, the lawyers work for the state of North Dakota, the State Board of Higher Education and UND. Don't blame the lawyers. Blame those who wanted to settle and accepted the settlement.

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I don't mean to sound obtuse but does this mean if Spirt Lake decides it's ok, we don't need to have Standing Rock's approval as long as they don't disapprove?

It means that if even one of the tribes is opposed to the Fighting Sioux nickname, UND must change it.

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Right. . . . Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are already on the way! :D

Not exactly. The above logo was used by an intramural basketball team at the University of (I believe) Colorado a number of years ago to showcase how oppressive a nickname can be and to highlight the supposed racism of Indian nicknames. The original intramural players are long-gone, but the team lives on.

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Not exactly. The above logo was used by an intramural basketball team at the University of (I believe) Colorado a number of years ago to showcase how oppressive a nickname can be and to highlight the supposed racism of Indian nicknames. The original intramural players are long-gone, but the team lives on.

This perfectly demonstrates how a slang name could be seen as oppressive, but not how a tribe name is oppressive. Fighting Whities would need to be compared to Redskins or other names like this but can not be compared to tribe names. A fair comparison the Native Americans would need to make would be how Fighting Sioux is more oppressive than comparable majority caucasian names such as Fighting Irish, Vikings, Rough Riders, Cowboys, etc... This is how the NCAA should look at this situation as well but that would make way too much sense. The name Fighting Sioux should not be considered oppressive as it is not a slang word.

Fighting Honkies, Redskins, The N-Word, etc... could be seen as oppressive because they don't have anything to do with a namesake or something like that.

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Where does the Chippewa tribe and the Turtle Mountain reservation come down on the issue? Change our name to The Chippewas, Indians, or Tribe...alter the logo a little bit and...? Just throwin it our there, it'll never happen.

If I remember correctly, the Turtle Mountain tribe passed a resolution against the Fighting Sioux nickname. They're probably not likely to approve of UND using their name, either.

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Perhaps the Standing Rock Council can go see Dennis Boyd and Delino DeShields and teach them about their misguided ways. If you haven't heard, Dennis and Delino have founded a movement called the Urban Baseball League in an attempt to encourage African-American youth to play baseball. A novel idea? Yes. But check out a couple of team names and logos:

How about the "Stacks"?

Tenn-Stacks.gif

Or maybe you prefer being a member of the "Afros"?

afro_round2.gif

What is one man's novel racism is another man's way of honor. Or is that the other way around?

If you think I'm making those logos up, go check out www.theubl.com and see for yourself.

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Besides, everyone knows the mafia doesn't really exist.

And that's why "Mafia" would be a perfect moniker: No protesters. :lol:

Imagine the press conferences:

Media jackal: "Godfather Hak! Godfather Hak! Can you tell us about the incident along the boards in the third?"

Godfather Hak: "I'd refer dat question to my Capo for dat neighborhood, Rylan Kaip. I'd like no oddah questions about it after dat, so fuggidaboudit."

Capo Kaip: "All I can say is don't mess with the guy Duncan, he's "a friend of ours", me and Finley. And when oh-ah defensemenz puts a hit on a guy, dey really puts a hit on a guy! No furddah comment."

Would we be able to refer to guys already drafted as "made men"? ???:silly:

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Ya know, I like this "Mafia" concept more and more all the time ....

As late as the 1950s, the funeral epitaph of the legendary boss of Villalba, Calogero Vizzini, stated that "his 'mafia' was not criminal, but stood for respect of the law, defense of all rights, greatness of character. It was love." Here, "mafia" means something like pride, honour, or even social responsibility: an attitude, not an organization. Likewise, in 1925, the former Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando stated in the Italian senate that he was proud of being mafioso, because that word meant honourable, noble, generous.

Hey, Myles Brand wants us to show more "social responsibility", right? ???

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just when we thought this whole nickname thing couldn't get any more zany....

The state Board of Higher Education unanimously accepted the settlement’s terms.

I can’t claim credit for the settlement. The AG actually wasn’t aware of the editorial when I mentioned it to him a few weeks ago. (There’s a fair chance somebody on his or the NCAA’s team knew about it, though.)

But I can claim credit for this: Our editorial board listened, discussed, debated among ourselves — and found a responsible middle ground, one that anticipated the issue’s ultimate settlement in every important way.

No other outlet in American opinion journalism does that on a regular basis. That’s the strength of an editorial board. That’s our advantage over talk radio and opinion sites on the Internet, almost all of which cater to the extremes.

[url=http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/nov/28/tom-dennis-editorials-can-play-vital-role-society/]

Tom Dennis: Editorials can play a vital role in society

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