The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux are back! For now, anyway — although UND was just snubbed over the name, so watch this space.

The Grand Forks-based school has been embroiled for decades in a tug of war over its moniker and logo, which features a Native American warrior wearing a feather headdress.

Traditionalists have fought to keep it while those who believe it is offensive to Native Americans have long argued it needs to be retired in favor of something more politically correct.

UND officially dropped the divisive nickname in late 2011 but it was resurrected this month after local residents collected 17,000 signatures seeking to put the issue to a state-wide vote. As part of the process, a law requiring the school to reinstate the nickname went back into effect. Continue reading...

North Dakota may have the fourth fewest residents of any U.S. state, but they’ve got more stubbornness than most states put together.

In 2005, the NCAA told its member schools that they needed to get rid of any American Indian nicknames if area tribes didn’t approve of the name or face penalties. Even though only one of two major Sioux tribes approved of the name, the Fighting Sioux of the University of North Dakota have fought that ruling at every step. The pair reached a settlement in 2007 that would have the university change its name by this past Monday, but then the state went so far as to pass legislation in the spring requiring UND to keep the name, USA Today reports.

Indian Country News reports that despite the NCAA’s hard-line efforts on getting rid of offensive American Indian logos and mascots, the association’s site still sold University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux gear this week after the deadline it had imposed.Continue reading...