Following the NCAA rejection of its appeal to be removed from a list of schools with "hostile and abusive" nicknames, the University of North Dakota is maintaining it uses the "Fighting Sioux" moniker with the utmost respect for the Sioux tribes native to the region.
Jesse Taken Alive, council member for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said the nickname is racist and offensive to his tribe. He added, instead of the "Fighting Sioux," it would be more appropriate for the school to be named the UND Fighting Nazis.
"I suggested to them, why don't they use a German for their mascot, one of Hitler's groups," Taken Alive said. "Why not do that? If they want to really identify with a mascot or a logo, use the Third Reich."
Taken Alive, whose tribe was one of two which confirmed their opposition of the nickname to the NCAA, stressed he meant the suggestion sincerely rather than sarcastically, and said it was inappropriate for universities to name their sports teams after any group of people.
According to Taken Alive, should the university "feel the need" to name their teams after a group of human beings, they should select a group more representative of the school's background.
"I made it in good taste, just to share with them our perceptions," he said. "If they feel they need to use human beings as mascots, why not use one of their own heritage or their own race?"
UND spokesperson Peter Johnson said the university would appeal the NCAA's review of its first appeal, a process dictated by the NCAA. If that appeal is unsuccessful, Johnson said the case may end up in court.
"We don't like the fact that they're calling us hostile and abusive, we don't think that's at all accurate," Johnson said. "We don't have some of the antics going on at other schools. We don't have a mascot, never have had one, [and] we have a very respectful logo — it's not a caricature."
According to Johnson, UND has a substantial number of American Indian related programs. In addition, Johnson said 20 percent of the American Indian doctors working in the United States were educated at UND.
"If what we do is abusive or hostile, how could we have that great a turnout of students coming here all the time?" Johnson said.
Bob Williams, NCAA Managing Director of Media Relations, said three universities initially named as offenders — Florida State University, Central Michigan University and the University of Utah — were removed from the list after successful appeals before the UND decision.
"They differed from North Dakota in several ways. First, in each of those three instances there was one, main-stake tribe that not only had a longstanding relationship [with the university] but also came out and documented support," Williams said. "In the case of North Dakota, there are three Sioux tribes in the state, two of the three clearly opposed [the use of the nickname]."
Williams said the NCAA has jurisdiction only over postseason play, and so the "Fighting Sioux" nickname would only be banned from the postseason, as well as from any postseason events held on UND's campus.
"We're the only race of people treated like that," Taken Alive said, predicting if the University of Wisconsin decided to use an African-American mascot and rename their teams after a "Fighting" African tribe, the decision would not be as well accepted as UND's traditions.
"There's actually no difference," Taken Alive said. "Here we get universities throughout the country saying they're honoring us when in fact resolutions from the tribes … oppose this, yet the universities think that even though we'll oppose them, we'll continue."
Johnson said the university has not considered changing the nickname since Dec. 2001, when it was decided to retain the "Fighting Sioux" nickname. UND has no plans to revisit Standing Rock's request in the near future, he added.
"Right now our approach is to fight the denial of the appeal," Johnson said. "It'd be the same maybe, if somebody were asking you to change your personal name."
