Tribe sues NCAA to let school use name

[The Straight Story]

Tribe sues NCAA to let school use name


GRAND FORKS, N.D., Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The Spirit Lake tribe Tuesday sued the NCAA for blocking its attempt to let the University of North Dakota use the sports nickname Fighting Sioux.

Tribal attorney Reed Soderstrom said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court challenges the NCAA's policy banning the use of Native American names and imagery by collegiate athletic teams.

He said the suit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association was brought on behalf of more than 1,004 members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe "in direct response to their attempt to take away and prevent the North Dakota Sioux Indians from giving their name forever to the University of North Dakota" despite a tribal vote in 2009 and a "sacred and religious spiritual ceremony" by tribal leaders in 1969 that granted "perpetual use" of the name to the school.

"However, the NCAA has unilaterally decided that the name 'Fighting Sioux' is derogatory to the very people who feel honored by the name -- the North Dakota Sioux tribes," Soderstrom said in a statement posted on the tribe's Web site. "The NCAA has declared, without input from the Dakota Sioux, that UND will be prevented from hosting any post-season sporting events; and is encouraging other universities to boycott UND if the university does not remove the name 'Fighting Sioux' and the accompanying logo honoring the traditions and customs of the proud Dakota Sioux people. These actions are a violation of the religious and first amendment rights of the Dakota Sioux tribes, and show the NCAA believes it knows the interests of the North Dakota Sioux community better than Sioux people themselves."

http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2011/11/01/Tribe-sues-NCAA-to-let-school-use-name/UPI-64071320174769/

[RebelOne]

1. OK, so the white men

believes they know the interests of the North Dakota Sioux community better than Sioux people themselves. This is ludicrous. If the Dakota Sioux tribes are in agreement with the use of the name Fighting Sioux, what is the big deal? Have we not taken enough from them and now we deny them the right to decide for themselves?

[Brickbat]

3. The tribes are not in agreement.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Is Notre Dame (French, btw) still the Fighting Irish? n/t

[Brickbat]

4. Are Irish people objecting?

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. Not French, Catholic.

The name refers to the Virgin Mary ("Our Lady").

[Tansy_Gold]

17. "Notre Dame" is FRENCH for "Our Lady"

Just as "Nuestra Señora" is SPANISH for "Our Lady."

"Catholic" is not a language; French is.

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. Sure, but the SCHOOL is not "French".

Nor has it ever been.

[Tansy_Gold]

19. I never said the school was French.

The point I was trying to make was that this school has a FRENCH name but the nickname is the Fighting IRISH, which makes little sense especially when there hasn't been a huge outcry from the Irish.



Tansy Gold, one-time Illini whose daughter was a Horned Frog

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. Makes perfect sense, actually

since it's a CATHOLIC school and a majority of Catholics in the Upper Midwest at the time the football team acquired its nickname (around the 1920's) would have been second or third generation descendants of Irish immigrants.

[ChandlerJr]

5. I'd be more concerned about Scottsdale CC

Talk about not having a voice in the matter.



Somebody please think of the poor Artichoke would ya?

[KamaAina]

6. I'll bet they're called the 'Chokes for short

especially after blowing a late lead. :P

[tularetom]

7. I'm not sure that's any better than UC Santa Cruz

Go Banana Slugs!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. Sioux is not a Native American name

Sioux is the name that the first white explorers and trappers started calling the people who called themselves the Lakota. Many tribes are now know by names that aren't the original names, like Cheyenne instead of the original name Tsististas or Navajo instead of their real name, the Dineh.

[Kaleva]

9. Which is based on a word borrowed from neighboring tribes.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

11. Actually the Lakota were called Nadouessioux, by the Ojibwa tribe

and it apparently meant some kind of snake (not a friendly name). The word was shortened to the Sioux by French trappers and then was translated into English. 'Sioux' never had a meaning before that.

[scarletwoman]

12. "Sioux" is a French word derived from the name given to the Dakota/Lakota by the Ojibwe.

The original Ojibwe name basically means "enemy" - or more literally, "snake in the grass".

As the Ojibwe (an Algonquin-speaking people who originated from the east) migrated west into Minnesota, they fought many bloody battles with the Dakota/Lakota, pushing them further west in turn.

The French fur traders had longstanding trading relationships with the Algonquin tribes, which is why they came to use the Ojibwe term for the tribes who were being pushed out as the Algonquin speakers expanded their territory westward.

[pennylane100]

10. I could certainly understand them not wanting their name used

But it will be hard to make the school use the name unless they are signed a contract, which they will gave to honor.

I must say I wonder how "not using their name" is a violation of their religious rights. But then again, I know nothing about their religious beliefs.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pennylane100]

14. Well as I said in my post.

I could certainly understand them suing to STOP the use of the name but the first line of the post seem to me to imply something different.

"The Spirit Lake tribe Tuesday sued the NCAA for blocking its attempt to LET the University of North Dakota use the
sports nickname Fighting Sioux."

I read that as their suit was to force the NCAA to use their name. But it has been a long day and I could be wrong.

[tama]

15. Likewise, a long day :) nt