College Hockey:
North Dakota to discontinue Fighting Sioux nickname, logo, effective Jan. 1

USCHO Staff Report • Dec. 1, 2011

In a statement released Thursday by the University of North Dakota and the WCHA, the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo will no longer be used by UND as of Jan. 1, 2012.

As of that date, the school is asking to refer to its athletic teams as simply the University of North Dakota and to use the interlocking ND logo as the official logo of the UND Athletics Department.

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Guest
This has been an inevitable situation for a long time. I don’t like it and to me they will always be the Fighting Sioux but times change.
LMDubbs
I think if the NCAA wants to be so PC they should ban all people-related mascots…Get rid of the Irish and Dutchmen et al, and make everyone an animal or inanimate object. It could get really boring (everyone is named tigers and rams, which itself is actually sexist since it’s only the male sheep) or really creative (Who wouldn’t want to cheer for a team like the banana slugs or fighting koalas?)
- ibanezist00
  Duck the Futchmen!
Cryan1995
This is great!
- Iowaviking0413
  You must be a ghopher fan.
- Asda
  it’s now the “Flicker Tails”!
Ms London
What’s the reason behind it?
- Scott Reed
  are you kidding?
- Guest
  The Sioux is a controversial name because UND is honoring a people who do not uniformily agree (officially) that the school using the name is an honor.
guest
SO Im sitting here underground chewing on a few nuts and heard that the souix is no longer the souix. This is unfair. Im calling the Huskie, the Badger and the Bulldog. The unfair treatment of animals has gone way to far.
The Gopher
- http://twitter.com/Butterz07 Aaron G.
  “Sioux”
- Siouxper Fan
  We haven’t seen PETA get involved, yet…… they will be filing for protection of all living animals from the abusive relationships to collegiate sports. Imagine, if you will, how many gophers’ lives could be saved if the name were dumped from the UM nickname and less that many gophers slung out on the sheet of ice at hockey games???? Imagine it…… PETA would be saving lives.
  I bet they are conducting meetings at this very moment!
Anonymous
I think the Film Actor’s Guild is behind this
- GeauxSioux
  That was almost witty. Almost.
  - Anonymous
    Geaux F yourself then, I’m on your side here
    - Scott Reed
      I don’t think he was insulting you…
Scott Reed
what a crock… a group of people in Indian City (Indianapolis), Indian Land (Indiana) can force a university to change their name because it is hostile and abusive to Indians…
I can see the conversation long ago with a bunch a white men with all their slaves running around… “Bill, what should we name our college?” “I’m not sure Edward, The mustangs?” ”No Bill, I hate the Sioux Indians, we should name it the Fighting Sioux to make fun of them.” “Good idea Edward, naming a major state university after them is such an insult!”
- Jake
  Except “Fighting Sioux” didn’t come about til 1930
  - Scott Reed
    as a nickname correct, but you still get the point…
CheeseAndWhine
It would be too much to hope that with a new nickname the UND fans would stop whining about the polls.
- FightingSioux4Ever
  So original. How many poll threads did you have to read to come up with that one? Schmuck.
- Scott Reed
  as we are a second half team coming off a sweep and just getting going… the polls will take care of them selves, and more importantly… the tournament at the end of the season.
  - CheeseAndWhine
    Typical. “Polls don’t matter this time of year but we’re going to scream about how the current number one doesn’t deserve it!” Going on two years now.
    - Scott Reed
      Did Yale deserve it last year?
      - CheeseAndWhine
        who cares? At the time the voters thought they did. Yale started hot and fell off. That alone doesn’t prove they didn’t “deserve” to be number one in December. Merrimack just lost so there will be a new number one next week. Under normal conditions this would be business as usual. You guys just go ballistic when it’s an eastern team, especially one without the right pedigree.
      - Scott Reed
        What??? somebody from the east coast with out the right pedigree? not possible…people on the east coast are far better than the rest of us, just ask them, they’ll tell you.
- Anonymous
  Right. Because Merrimack’s ascent over the past few weeks has caused absolutely no whining from any other fanbases. Gopher fans have been totally accepting of the current #1.
  - stickontheice
    Gophs should be accepting after going 2-3-1 against 2 unranked and the #20 team and only dropping 4 slots. Personally, I think the first poll after a pre-season shot in the dark should be first week of Jan.
  - Guest
    Funny that you mention the Gophers. They have the second most annoying fans on USCHO after North Dakota. They used to be number one until last season when North Dakota’s whining about Yale gave them the top spot.
- http://twitter.com/Butterz07 Aaron G.
  who is whining? No matter where the sioux are in the polls, they always end up in the frozen four anyways.
  - CheeseAndWhine
    You must be new here. The Sioux fans rarely whine about their own poll ranking. They whine when they don’t approve of those ranked at the top.
    - Scott Reed
      Right… because MC so clearly deserved it.
  - WCHA Fan
    With the exception of 2010, 2009, 04, 03, 02, 99, 98, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, etc… Of course….
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IBX3ZLT5XKNZDOL2YZHPVX27VI STEVEN P
  What do they have against Poland?
Goonie
Ha, Ha, I love it!! Let Go Fighting SUE! mascot could be an angry ginger with pigtails.
- Darker98
  We would be sued by Wendy’s, Carrot Top, Pippi Longstocking, or Chucky.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XWVU5YKBKBDNFNA6GMIQ2LGKYA Dirk
I would actively support a new governing body for collegiate athletics! Along with this hypocritical nonsense, they’ve managed to screw up college football. DUMP THE NCAA!!
BeaverHockey
The word “Sioux” is a derogatory term that was given to the Lakota Tribe by the rival Ojibwe Tribe. If memory serves me right, it translates to Two Serpents, or Two Devils. That is why some of the local Native tribes are against it, if the mascot was named the Fighting Lakota, it may not of been an issue.
- Scott Reed
  its actually “snake in the grass” (as told to me by my tour guide at the On-a-slant-villiage, in Ft. Aberham lincoln state park) which can seem degrading but the meaning is contested. Either snake in the grass as a bad thing, or a compliment, when the Ojibwe came to the prarie lands to fight the Sioux they ere use to fighing in the forests of minnesota and didn’t know how the sioux camouflaged themselves and hid so well in the prarie… they were like a snake in the grass… Its just a story told to me by a tour guide, but how many times do people say things that are taken the wrong way?
  - BeaverHockey
    This is a website that I think best explains it.
    http://www.lakotacountrytimes.com/news/2009-03-12/guest/021.html
    - Scott Reed
      Not really, I am not saying its wrong, its one side of the argument, how can you prove what the intention was when they were first called the Sioux by the Ojibwe? They have a oral history that along with their culture is being lost. Thats a good argument for one side but when someone says something that can be taken multiple ways and they are unclear about what they mean… people pick what they think it mean and look for ways to support that. On many many occasions I have heard members of those tribers refer to themselves as the Sioux, why would they do that if is was truley an insult and not a word? its even in legal doccuments filed by themselves in federal court.
    - http://twitter.com/Butterz07 Aaron G.
      yeah its so horrible…..so explain to me why most sioux tribes actually prefer to be called “Sioux” can you explain that one? i win
    - Badger from Ho-Chunk land
      Looks good to me!
    - Scott Reed
      look at the front page of that site… the word Sioux is all over it, they are using it themselves, please stop passing along this wrong information.
- Scott Reed
  The Lakota are only one of the three tribes, the Dakota, and Nakota are the other two, they are all part of the Sioux Nation
  - WCHA Fan
    It is so hard for me to say this, but I actually feel bad for the fans of UND. I think this change was unavoidable with the current NCAA and societal trends, but still sad. That said, has their been any talk about a new name? Are they accepting suggestions from students or alumni or is this going to be a behind closed doors kind of process? If someone wants to pass on my suggestions, the “Whining Suzies” or “Suzies’ Cheating Goon Squad,” it would be appreciate. Thanks.
    - WCHA Fan
      appreciated… geez, you would think I went to UND….
      - Scott Reed
        no if you went to UND you would have known you can hit the edit button and correct your mistake, lol
    - Scott Reed
      can’t stop taking shots at us huh?
      - Guest
        call the wahhhhambulance.
- wake up people
  You better read up on your history unwise one. It was a French word, your story is wrong and a simple Google search will teach you the truth.
  - BeaverHockey
    Well if you read my article that I posted a little bit further down, it is a mixture of a French and Ojibwe word. Where did you get your info? Wikipedia?
    - wake up people
      Just check the source of your story, I wonder if he has a special interest in making this lie a reality.
      One source does not make it right.
      - BeaverHockey
        Can I ask where you are from? I am not saying that you are wrong or right, it’s just that I grew up in a little town in Minnesota, not far from North Dakota. We studied about the local tribes quite often in high school and then as a student at Bemidji State (which has three Reservations within a 45 minute drive) I took another class learning about the local tribes. So that is what I am basing my knowledge from.
- Badger from Ho-Chunk Land
  As I understand it, Sioux is a contraction, or slang, version of the Ojibwa word which has a pejorative connotation, approximately “those little snakes.”
  The names Lakota, Dakota and Nakota refer to the linguistic groups which identify the bands.
  I now see it’s being beat to death in later comments, so as Emily Littela once sid, “never mind.”
Fan Man
Wow, really….. Thanks for ruining my day with the new news uscho! J/K I knew it was inevitable but comon’ man. Could it not have waited til the end of the season. Not like we were holding a regional tourney or anything like that here in GF
Anonymous
Absolutely ridiculous….
- northhockey
  @BBear94:disqus Whats ridiculous is your highly innapropriate image depicting not only a black man, but the US President as an ape. I hope you have some level of respect even if you disagree with him, and change it.
Timmay!
No update on unloloing that building they play in? Wasn’t that part of the ncaa’s new rules?
- Scott Reed
  There was a nice write up in the Grand Forks Hearold about what would have to be removed and what wouldn’t… bottom line was most off all the Sioux logos will stay because they are “historical” “cultural” or very cost prohibitive to remove
ME
I’d love for them to go back to their original nickname….”The Flickertails”!!
Riverrat8690
Their new name can be Hackstals Band Of Thugs.
- http://twitter.com/Butterz07 Aaron G.
  thug is a term given to gangbangers, druggies, thieves and just plain bad people. hmmmm yeah i dont see it.
  - Soundvision909
    What Aaron!? you’re kidding right? Thugs, as per definition, treat people violently or criminally, often by contract. I now present my case for this being, while tongue and cheek, a proper term for the University of North Dakota Thugs.
    I always love the innocence surrounding Sioux fans. Don’t get me wrong, love the team for their gritty play, but when they play their rivals they are antagonistic after the whistle. I generally don’t mind that style of play, it shows the emotion of the game, but the complaining that Hakstol engages in after there is a penalty against his team is childish. Also, what about the incident a few years back with Blake Wheeler during the hand shakes? He was pulled out of line! Or T.J. Oshie’s underage consumption antics? Finally look at the Friday night game against Minnesota, there was 5 people in the box at one point, no they aren’t chippy at all.
    I hate to say it but I think since the Sioux are under performing this year, penalties are also down since they do not have play to back up their words.
    - Scott Reed
      The friday night game.. its their biggest rivals, and they still are among the lowest in the country for pen/min game. Go look at youtube videos of what the gophers did last year when UND swept them in MN. Why not go back to the best hockey fight ever, UND in Wisconsion back in the 80′s. It was started by UND assistant coach now. Great fight! they were fighting the police on the ice!
      - Dan – series results
        You lost me when you said UND swept MN in MN last year. They played once last year, in Grand Forks, and it was a split. MN is 3-0-1 against UND at MN last 4 times they have met in MN and 2-4-1 over last 7 at UND.
      - Scott Reed
        Yes you are correct, I honestly don’t know what I was thinking, I can’t place where my mind was when I was typing that… but the spirit of my comment, big time rivalrey and the gophers start just as much stuff as the sioux do when we play them.
    - Guest
      I’m hardly a UND fan (from out east) but every time I’ve seen UND play, in out-of-market broadcasts and in the nat’l tourney, they’ve been a hard hitting but clean team. The PIM stats seem only to reinforce that. Not sure whose partisanship is affecting their point of view more, yours or the UND fans.
- Guest
  Really? How about you look at the facts big boy! The Sioux are the second least penalized team in the WCHA and when you look at the top 40 schools in the nation they aren’t on that list either. The only team that has fewer penalties in the WCHA is Omaha (when you look at it on a per game basis).
Jakemalloy
I agree with others who say this is unfair. I am donating significant money to my alma matter to start a D-1 hockey program. My only stipulation is that the school change its name to the Skating Niggers – its a tribute to blacks. No offensive, right?
- wake up people
  Are you an idiot? Calling a team the skating niggers is not like the Sioux name, idiot. A comparable would be fighting Irish, fighting Norwegians, etc…
  Sioux people are known as Sioux, nigger is an awful word and a totally disrespectful word used by stupid people to describe other human beings, a slang word. Wake up..
  - Guest
    Sioux is a derogatory term used to describe Native Americans. Sioux is not a tribe. The tribe are the Lakota. Sioux was coined by the Christians all those years ago to describe Native Americans (aka non Christians) as devils, more specifically serpents. It was used to describe the Native Americans as evil, as a means to dehumanize their souls and spirit because of their refusal to become Christianized. So technically speaking, “Skating Niggers” is a comparable name.
    - Scott Reed
      I would like to know where you got that from?
- Darker98
  REALLY??????
Guest
Turmoil over the UND nickname? When did all of this happen?
;)
Anonymous
How is it that referring to the Irish as “Fighting” isn’t offensive, but referring to the Sioux that way is?
In a related question, how is a guy dressed in war paint, riding a horse, and flinging a flaming spear not offensive?
UND, you didn’t pay off the right liberals…..
- Guest
  Florida State has the support of the Seminole tribe, that’s the difference.
- http://twitter.com/gnomehole The Gnome
  Tired old moronic question. Sioux and Irish are not the same things.
  Think about it.
  Fighting Micks would be a better comparison…
  Some of you Sioux name backers aren’t using your heads anymore and thats why you lost this argument. Maybe a little education would have helped.
  - GodSquadForever
    Please support your facts moron!
  - Scott Reed
    where did you get you information? do you have any proof of “Sioux” being insulting? When they use it themselves all the time its hard to believe that is would be wrong. Also, any liberal institution (any college in the country) probably wouldn’t be so careless, I’m sure you are not more informed on the situation than the large group of people deciding on the nickname when they changed from the flickertails. Your just passing along rumors and common misconceptions. You need a little education…
Info
Fighting Sioux or the Fighting Irish, any difference?
- stickontheice
  Quite, actually or at least according to the masterminds in Indy. The Irish nickname was supposedly chosen by those of Irish descent, thus since self-imposed, it is different.
  - Scott Reed
    The sioux nickname was given to UND during a religious ceremony held by the Sioux, The Spirit Lake Sioux tribe has a law suite filed in federal court saying the ceremony from their elders gave permission and the NCAA doesn’t have the right to take that away. The current Sioux head Logo was designed by a Sioux artist. But we don;t have consent?
    - acron
      The sioux nickname was given to UND during a religious ceremony held by the Sioux, The Spirit Lake Sioux tribe has a law suite filed in federal court saying the ceremony from the STANDING ROCK elders gave permission and the NCAA doesn’t have the right to take that away. The current Sioux head Logo was designed by a NATIVE AMERICAN artist. But we don;t have consent? Fixed you postNot that the changes cause the point you were making to change, just thought it should be factually correct
      - Scott Reed
        Thanks
- Scott Reed
  I am part Irish and their nickname offends me… but I am a middle class white male and nobody in this country cares what we think.
Fast fwd to the hockey part
What in blazes has happened to this site? I can remember when it used to have discussions about hockey??? Farewell USCHO – posts from the last several years have shown a complete lack of respect and admiration for the game. If anyone knows of a good place to actually discuss college hockey, please post a link.
Scott Reed
18 of 48 comments… come on, just erase them all and stop allowing posting on this article… you awesome moderators can erase 30 comments here but can’t approve another one I have had waiting for 2 days on another article?
- ibanezist00
  Or you could click that magical “Load more comments” button at the bottom of the section, and poof! More comments appear
  - Scott Reed
    wow, yes I was dumb I jumped to a conclusion after seeing some comments removed and seeing that not all of them were being displayed for me.
Guest
What happened to the Nokota horse idea? Horses make good logos and mascots. I still laugh at how Texas Tech has bamboozled everyone into thinking a Red Raider is some kind of Zoro looking guy when in realty Red Raider was a term for an Apache. ND should have just changed their name to the Fighting Sault with some kind of river/rapids logo like the Colorado Avalanche. Fighting the rapids is a common canoeing/kayaking term.
LtPowers
Why don’t they just go back to using the Richardson’s ground squirrel as their mascot?
Asda
I like North Dakota Flicker Tails
FD8
Just name them the Suhaki and get it over with.
- Fan Man
  Might as well! The jerseys really dont look bad at all
hockeyfan
so does this mean they have to take the engelstad arena and complex down? i thought i had heard a while back that it was in ralph’s will that if the name changed he wanted the rink bulldozed down with it? could have been a rumor or an actual aspect of the story, just wondering? and in our state it is getting bad too, high schools with indian names have dropped them a lot recently it was about 6 schools already this year just during the football season
- Scott Reed
  That was always rumored but I have never seen any proof of it, and I have seen a lot of variances to the story so I think thats what it is, just a story.
  - hockeyfan
    thanks scott was just wondering cuz i have a friend that goes to school there and everytime this debate came up, and he is a huge hockey fan he would always say the place will get tore down but he tends to stretch the truth a bit with that kind of stuff
    - Scott Reed
      It would make for a crazy twist to the story though… but who would really tear down a beautiful 1.25 miliion dollar facility like that.
      - acron
        FYI, you shorted the cost by about $100 million
      - Scott Reed
        edited…
Scott Reed
If people have a problem with Indian names, there is a small town in northern MN named Squaw Lake, have fun changing that!
Coachjimm
Next will be the Fighting Irish in favor of an Interlocking ND.
Scott Reed is Off his Meds
wow does anyone else think Scott Reed spends just a bit too much time on these boards? UND is an underachieving school. Gets great players, wins nothing, other schools have much bigger academic burdens. Nice
- nogofer
  You know not about which you opine…
- Fan Man
  Are you off your meds? Ya your right, UND is a terrible school. Only med school in ND, Law school, Graduate school, but ya totally underachieving…. Moron! You better try just getting into a University before you comment on one
- Scott Reed
  hahaha I have my own hater!!! when people rise above… there is always someone trying to bring them down.
Fan Man
Could somebody tell me why (USCHO Staff preferably) their are so many comments dismissed on this particular blog? You do have my email as it is required to log in and post yourself, so if it is for any other reason besides the obvious (discrimination) I would love to here it. It that is the case, well than shame on all the users on this site for “being hostile and abusive”.
Impalervk
Let’s see. All Illinois needed was the approval of one ex-Illinois tribe and the could keep their mascot yet North Dakota needed approval of the two major bands of Sioux. The ND legislature last month put the ending of use of Fighting Sioux at 2015 pending the outcome of the lawsuit gainst the NCAA. Also it would have made more sense to “retire” the logo and nickname at the end of the school year
Iraqredbull
So when is the University of Illinois going to forced to drop their nickname “Fighting Illini”, another native nickname? Granted Notre Dame is a private institution and Florida State uses the Seminole name under license, so there is no argument with either institution.
GodSquad Forever
This is simply sad….but on the bright side….all these liberal radicals will be changing all the “so-called” politically incorrect nicknames (Redskins, Seminols, Fighting Illini, etc.). Give it 15-25 years. Actually I bet all sports will get rid of nicknames. Next the Fed will start taking rations from states that actually can balance their budgets and make money. Oh wait they already do.
I also say the NCAA needs to go…too much influence from Big Brother.
- Asil
  Welcome to BHO’s BRAVE new world!!
Grwang
The University of North Dakota is closest to the Spirit Lake nation, home of the Sioux nation that has filed a law against the NCAA because they DO NOT want the logo to go away. They are backed by the people of Standing Rock nation of North Dakota.
Why have their concerns been ignored?
Big Boned
North Dakota keep the “Sioux” but cross out the “i’ and the “o.”
Maverick
Why not simply call them the “Sue?” A whiny little girl (complaining about liberals) would look good on the green.
Samjenson
:,( Sioux fan 4 life once a Sioux alwaysnansioux
Bnfboh
WCHA Fan I’m partial to the fighting Lutefisk
Hakstols Fugly
Sandbaggers would be a perfect nickname, since that’s what North Dakotans do every spring for the annual floods.
Oh Boo F@ckem Hoo
This is so stupid, no other tribes complain about the Washington Redskins, K.C. Chiefs, Florida State Seminoles and the other American Native Nicknames being used!!!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2F3FLTCKWKYHEWAUBKPPTQEVVA James L
Why is the NCAA taking action on this and not consulting those people that are represented by the human mascots? I feel as though the NCAA is assuming that the groups of people represented by logos such as the Fighting Sioux are furious about their person being resembled as a mascot. In some cases, this is not true, and as a matter of fact, those groups are honored to be represented by a collegiate or professional program. The NCAA needs to make a better effort to make sure their changes to collegiate programs are what the majority of people want, not just what they want or what they THINK the people want.
Han Solo
“Fighting Sue”, anyone??

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