UND to Take Tomahawk to NCAA

North Dakota state officials are prepared to take the NCAA to court for penalizing the University of North Dakota over its name and mascot.

The NCAA decided to ban the nicknames and mascots of 18 schools, including North Dakota’s “Fighting Sioux” name and Indian head logo last year.

The states attorney general, Wayne Stenehjem, is unhappy that some schools were forced to change its name while others, like Florida State, were given a pass.

The NCAA's executive committee, "more or less by fiat, decided that some institutions were going to be subject to this rule, and some institutions, for reasons that are not understandable, were exempted," Stenehjem said.

As I understand it, the difference between UND’s situation and FSU’s situation is that the Seminole Tribe of Florida is in full support of Florida State while a number of Indian tribes would like to get rid of the Fighting Sioux name.

It’s sad, but maybe if UND could put a perennial Division 1 power house on the football field each year, they wouldn’t have to deal with a name change.

In reality, no school or professional team for that matter should be allowed to be nicknamed after anything considered to be ethnically or racially abusive. You don’t see any teams called the “Colored Slaves” or the “Flying Hicks” around, do you?

Fighting Sioux... – Random Jottings
Leader Wants To Drop 'Fighting Sioux' Lawsuit – Cruel Kev’s Scuttlebutt