From:
Date: 09 Jan 2001
Time: 11:26:53
Here is a very good letter to the editor that puts this messy debate into perspective. But he is right, unveiling the new logo was like throwing gas on the fire with this debate. It is seen as a backwards step toward the old Blackhawk logo.
http://web.northscape.com/content/gfherald/2001/01/09/editorial/PETROS08.htm
Tuesday, January 9, 2001
MAILBAG: Logo played pivotal role in UND nickname debate
GRAND FORKS -- The recent ruling by the state Board of Higher Education to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname and adopt a new logo was dramatic. Ironically, only two days prior to the ruling, Larry Isaak, chancellor of the North Dakota University System, publicly asserted that the decision was President Charles Kupchella's and that the board would support him.
There are some who argue that the ruling was positive because it took the pressure from Kupchella, and will allow him to focus his energies on the other problems of UND. There are still others who argue that the board took action because it was worried that Kupchella was actually considering changing the name, after the thoughtful work performed by the commission he appointed to study the nickname issue. Shortly after the board's ruling, supporters of keeping the nickname and the new logo began to assert that mending fences and a healing process needed to begin on campus over this issue.
At the same time, some faculty who were quoted in the Herald as opposing the board's ruling, with years of dedicated service to the students of UND, were summarily labeled as "bleeding heart liberals" by one of our local radio personalities. This same gentleman has recently seemed to come to double as the unofficial media representative for the interests of the UND Athletic Department and the UND Alumni Foundation. I was always taught that before any true and meaningful reconciliation can occur, each side must come to respect the other.
In my experience outside the UND community, I have learned there is a great deal of misunderstanding of the precipitating cause of this recent bitter and divisive controversy. Well, in the summer of 1999 we were anticipating the arrival of our new president, who had stated during his interview that he would not deal with the nickname issue until he had been on campus for some time. However, the debut of the new logo in the fall of 1999 was clearly the precipitating cause of this bitter controversy. Certainly we would have had forums and discussions about the Fighting Sioux nickname during the academic year 1999-2000, without the bitter controversy which erupted with the presentation of his new logo.
The introduction of the new logo was like tearing open the scab from a festering wound. So I have to ask, whatever possessed anyone to introduce this new logo? Some say that it was introduced to placate UND benefactor Ralph Engelstad. However, we know this cannot be true, because Executive Vice President Emeritus of the UND Alumni Foundation and Association, Earl Strinden, has vigorously argued against this explanation every time it has surfaced. Yet we know it was Strinden who had the logo drawn, and Roger Thomas, UND athletic director, who formally asked President Kupchella to introduce the logo. Both Strinden and Thomas have been important members of the UND community, and certainly must have known the furor its introduction would cause.
So my question is, "Why did they introduce this new logo at that moment in time?" The introduction of this new logo came as a complete surprise to most people on campus. Could it be they were attempting to exploit a new president before he was even acquainted with our campus? An honest answer to this question might begin the process of helping our campus community heal its deep wounds.
Thomas V. Petros
Petros is professor of psychology at UND.
©2000 Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald - All Rights Reserved
From: A UND Prof
Date: 09 Jan 2001
Time: 17:13:17
Petros is likely correct; Kupchella got blind-sided by Strinden. Probably because the latter was ticked off because a ND native was not added to the short list of finalists after someone else withdrew. Just what UND needed: another good ole boy as president of UND. We still haven't recovered from Clifford! Anyway, these sorts of machinations reveal the opposite side of the North Dakota nice coin: North Dakota nasty. Machiavelli would have been proud.