The fight over the Fighting Sioux is headed for the ballot box in North Dakota.
Supporters of the nickname for University of North Dakota sports teams, which critics say is offensive to Native Americans, appear to have more than enough signatures to put the question to voters. Lee Ann Oliver, an election specialist for North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger, told FoxNews.com that the supporters had 1,449 more signatures than necessary to ensure a June 12 vote on the issue. At least 13,452 signatures are required.
"It's a done deal unless arguments on Thursday tell us something else," Oliver said.
The North Dakota Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the case Thursday. The state's Board of Higher Education has said the law -- which mandates the university to use the Fighting Sioux nickname and American Indian head logo -- is unconstitutional. The board is suing Jaeger in an attempt to block the vote in June.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Let's Hear It For The Fighting Sioux
And screw the NCAA if they don't like it:
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In other news, Notre Dame's use of 'Fighting Irish' is perfectly acceptable. So are the FSU Seminoles, Utah Utes, Cleveland Indians, etc . . .I've never understood the rationale for claiming these team mascot names to be demeaning if they are named after humans. A mascot is meant to represent something about your region that is either dominant, historic, or both. Meat Packers in WI don't hate Green Bay; steelworkwers in Pittsburgh don't hate the Steelers. The citizens of Pittsburgh, Oakland, and Tampa Bay probably realize that they have very little to do with actual pirates (well, maybe TB) but they aren't offended. The ONLY time I can get behind this is if the mascot is derogatory, and I can think of two cases: Syracuse, props for changing away from Orangemen; Washington, Redskins is probably just as bad.
As an amusing aside . . .my daughter told me that her backup school to UVA was going to be University of Hawaii. I told her, cool choice, and did you know their mascot was the Rainbows? She lit up and said, "REALLY?!". I told her how they used to be called the Rainbow Warriors, but the native people were offended, so they changed it. Her response was, "That's stupid. Why would anyone be offended by that?"
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