By Dale Wetzel
Associated Press
BISMARCK -- Tribal community colleges may rethink whether they should recommend UND to Native American students if the school keeps its "Fighting Sioux" sports nickname, Native American leaders said Saturday.
Carol Anne Heart, president of the National Indian Education Association, said tribal leaders have discussed whether to advocate a student boycott of UND because of the state Board of Higher Education's vote this month to keep the nickname.
David Gipp, president of the United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, said United Tribes and other tribal community colleges have academic ties to North Dakota's state colleges. Many of their students go on to attend four-year colleges in the state university system.
North Dakota's Native American reservations have growing populations and are an important source of students, Gipp said.
"Each of the tribal governments need to examine their relationship with respect to this issue at the University of North Dakota, how they will send students there in the future, and how, if at all, they will rely on the university for programs," he said. "Perhaps there are alternatives other than just (UND), and the university system."
Urge rethinking
Gipp, Heart and Tex Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, spoke at a news conference in Bismarck on Saturday to urge the Board of Higher Education to reconsider its decision to keep the "Fighting Sioux" nickname.
Last week, the board voted 8-0 to keep the nickname. Hall said Native American leaders have asked to meet with the board to discuss the question again. Before the board's Dec. 21 vote, its members had not indicated they would be debating the nickname.
Gipp said he hoped the board would reconsider. "I would hope there will be a response, and . . . that it will be a lot more proactive than what has just developed here," he said.
Board open
William Isaacson of Stanley, president of the Board of Higher Education, said the board would be open to meeting with tribal officials to talk about the dispute. "I think we'd be willing to meet with anybody," Isaacson said Saturday.
Asked about the possibility that keeping the "Fighting Sioux" nickname could lead to fewer Native American students attending UND, Isaacson replied, "People are free to choose where they want to go to school."
"We have a number of Native American programs, and I think we're interested in having Native Americans on our campuses, without question," he said.
The board's vote came as Charles Kupchella, UND's president, was close to announcing a decision on whether the nickname should be kept. A special commission, picked by Kupchella, had been studying the issue for almost a year.
Heart said the National Indian Education Association, which is based in Alexandria, Va., opposes the use of Native American names and logos in sports. She said the "Fighting Sioux" nickname was hurtful and perpetuated a stereotype about Indians.
The association represents more than 500 Indian tribes. Its board of directors is meeting next month in Billings, Mont., and will discuss ways to express its displeasure about the nickname, Heart said.
Boycott
The Board of Higher Education's vote "is going to initiate some strategies to start talking about how to handle this, and I think a boycott would be something that we could discuss," Heart said. The matter could also be raised with organizations that accredit UND programs, she said.
Hall said graduates of the Three Affiliated Tribes' Fort Berthold community college often go on to attend UND. He said Indian students at UND who are critical of the nickname have been "threatened and intimidated" and had their property damaged.
"If there's intimidation that exists, and a threat to students, we will have no choice but to ask our students not to attend. We would have to boycott the University of North Dakota," Hall said.
Hall said opponents of the nickname plan to make their case to the state Legislature, which begins its session Jan. 9, and to new Gov. John Hoeven if the board refuses to budge. Hoeven and legislators could help racial unity by taking up the question, Hall said.
"This issue is just not going to go away by the board saying, 'Oh, here's a letter. We took the decision away from the president. We're going to do it,'" Hall said. "That's not going to get us anywhere where we need to go, in terms of reconciliation, in terms of moving forward together."