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Date: 18 Jan 2001
Time: 10:47:19

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http://web.northscape.com/content/gfherald/2001/01/18/news/MB118RESOL.htm Thursday, January 18, 2001

NICKNAME ISSUE: Tribal council assails ed board's action

Business boycott approved; UND boycott considered

By Michael Benedict Herald Staff Writer

The Standing Rock Tribal Council condemned Tuesday a December action by the state Board of Higher Education that retains UND's Fighting Sioux nickname.

In its action, the council also voted to boycott any business connected to UND's nickname and Indian-head imagery. The tribal government has done business with companies connected to the UND, said Jesse Taken Alive, a member of the Standing Rock Tribal Council.

The resolution, which was not available late Wednesday, also contains language that could initiate legal action or join any other legal action against UND, Taken Alive said.

Last, the resolution gives the tribal government's support to any legislation, state or national, that eliminates the practice of using human being as athletic mascots, he said.

Standing Rock is one of three reservations in the state considered the home of Sioux people. It's in the southern midsection of the state, and extends into South Dakota.

'Unfortunate'

"I would have to say that that's (the tribal government's action) unfortunate," said Jason Bernhardt, a UND student and member of the state Board of Higher Education.

"I haven't met with any member of Standing Rock," he said. "I don't know why they would take any action without sitting down and talking to us about what we did."

The board's unanimous vote to retain the nickname and approve a new logo was Dec. 21.

Bernhardt said board members would hope that the tribal government changes its position and offer its support of the Fighting Sioux nickname.

He said the board would like to see more Native American education programs initiated on public campuses throughout North Dakota.

Some of these programs might be required for all students and could promote greater understanding and respect between cultures.

Racism

Taken Alive said, however, that UND and the North Dakota University System are -- perhaps unknowingly -- promoting institutionalized racism with the Fighting Sioux nickname and Native imagery.

"Some people in the state are taking racist action against people of color and not even knowing it," Taken Alive said. "This is substantiated in the fact that there is no civil rights office in the state."

He said he's asking state legislators in Sioux County, the site of a large portion of the reservation, to take action to change UND's nickname.

Because the nickname has led to human rights abuses -- especially to Native people -- Taken Alive said, the tribal government is continuing to review its options.

Among the most severe option, councilmen are "strongly considering" no longer financially supporting Standing Rock student enrollment at UND.

Financial boycott?

The council would continue to fund its students at other state universities, but it could institute a financial boycott of UND.

Before it would completely shut off funding, the council would allow Standing Rock students time to find other education sites, he said.

UND students from Standing Rock receive up to $3,000 every two semesters, depending on need, to attend the university. There are between 30 and 40 Standing Rock students at UND.

"I'm really pleased they (the tribal government) didn't come out and say boycott (in the resolution)," said Leigh Jeanotte, UND director of Native American programs.

"I imagine they're trying to come up with things to address the issue of UND keeping the Sioux name," he said of a financial boycott. "My feeling is they're very concerned about this issue. It probably won't go away."

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http://web.northscape.com/content/gfherald/2001/01/18/editorial/ANDEREGG18.htm

Thursday, January 18, 2001

MAILBAG: UND doesn't need this kind of negative national publicity

UND doesn't need this kind of negative national publicity

GRAND FORKS -- Ever since arriving at UND some 28 years ago, I have heard much talk about the excellence of UND as an educational institution. Much of this talk was naive and ill-informed, based on little more than wishful thinking, but it did provide me and other faculty members with a goal to strive for: the goal of turning UND from a decent state university into a good regional institution, one capable of drawing on a significant number of out-of-state students while serving the most eager of North Dakota's learners.

Although this goal has not been fully achieved, it remains not only desirable but, in fact, urgent as we see the number of students graduating from North Dakota high schools decline. President Charles Kupchella, who since arriving on campus has devoted a good deal of his energies to long-range planning, has indicated on a number of occasions the importance of greater out-of-state visibility for UND.

Now, at least one part of Kupchella's goal has been accomplished. In the coming weeks and month, UND no doubt will receive national attention. UND has, in fact, been featured in national publications several times in the past 20 years, and in each case that attention was negative and was attached to the name Ralph Engelstad.

UND is again well-positioned to become a laughingstock far and wide, along with the entire state of North Dakota. Before the Engelstad letter became public, the resistance to changing the name of the sports teams already had pointed up the parochialism of the university and the state. Instead of acting with honor and courage and integrity, many in the state and on campus seemed more interested in acting like juveniles for whom a college education is pretty much equivalent to an unending fraternity kegger.

Instead of exhibiting a mature understanding of the underlying racism and ethnocentricity of the "Fighting Sioux" name and logo, some preferred to make hypocritical and unconvincing noises about "honoring" Native peoples while at the same time belittling Indian students and threatening to undercut Indian programs.

Instead of seeing the nickname issue as a human rights issue, many preferred to utter mindless phrases about "political correctness" and "bleeding heart liberals" and "ungrateful Indians."

Instead of standing up for what is so clearly right, many, including, to its shame, the state Board of Higher Education, prefer to give in to the threats of a bully with a fat checkbook. A checkbook, I should add, that provides little or nothing to promoting the value of the educational experience at UND, but provides instead a massive steel and concrete monument to the ego of the donor.

In spite of all that has happened in recent months, I still believe that UND can be an institution to be proud of, can reach beyond the borders of North Dakota while serving the state's daughters and sons and can live up to its own aspirations as a beacon of learning on the vast prairie. To do this, however, we need to call Engelstad's bluff---the worse that can happen is that Grand Forks will end up with an impressive ruin, a monument that simultaneously symbolizes the egotism and arrogance of one man and celebrates the courage and wisdom of the people of North Dakota.

Who knows, it might even become a tourist attraction.

Michael Anderegg

Andregg is Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of English at UND.

Potential donors watch treatment of Engelstad

CROOKSTON -- After overcoming many obstacles to develop a profitable business, I understand the importance of working hard and smart. Timely decisions are essential. I also understand that the more successful you become, the more detractors there are.

My modest success changed the way I look at anyone able to donate $100 million. Taxes take a huge bite and sometimes are used to assist your competition. You watch others enjoy free time while putting in long, intense hours. You invest your profits in building the business while others enjoy their new toys. You become the servant of all because your success depends on helping others get what they want.

UND is not above business; business makes UND possible. Businessmen can prosper without a college education, but the university cannot thrive without donations.

Ralph Engelstad is not wrong to have and express strong feelings concerning the name he played under and the use of the funds he contributes. The way he is treated will teach other intelligent businessmen whether it is prudent to share their wealth.

After what I have observed, my response to appeals should be a hastily written "Remember Ralph Engelstad" on a voided check.

Ron Graham

Engelstad, board show their true colors

DEVILS LAKE -- Well, at least Ralph Engelstad had the fortitude to finally declare what has all along been the prevailing force in the UND Fighting Sioux name retention: money.

From the beginning, it has been the prevailing threat from the monied alumni that has prevented any honest and valid discussion of the situation, since from the beginning it has been the monied alumni -- who threaten to withhold further funds from UND if the name is changed -- who have carried the power, other issues be damned.

There was one redeeming feature in the letter: I didn't have to go to the comics page today to get my laughs. Engelstad provided all the laughter I needed in his statement, "Please do not consider this letter a threat in any manner, as it is not intended to be."

The tragedy, however, is not in Engelstad's pathetic, unilateral and dictatorial assumption of control over both UND and the Board of Higher Education. The tragedy is in our Board of Higher Education, which succumbed to the "nonthreat" and within hours made the name decision by "fiat for money," other issues and concerns in the matter be damned. So much for a mature, education-minded, "for the public good" board.

My respect for the board would be intact had they told Engelstad to take his money back home, called in the National Guard to have the unfinished arena leveled to the ground and erected in its place a shrine to democracy. Now what we'll have is an eternal shrine to a sellout to money.

I have lost total respect for Chancellor Larry Isaak and the current sitting board for their hypocrisy and abdication of responsibility.

Reuben Schnaidt

Some things can't be bought

ROSEVILLE, Minn. -- UND President Charles Kupchella had the right idea, but, unfortunately, it's all about the money.

UND should call Ralph Engelstad's bluff: Let him take his money and go home, and then put Engelstad's name on the unfinished building and let nature have at it. It would be the perfect monument to a man who seems to think money can buy everything.

Does anyone have the courage to tell him that money is not always the answer?

Donn Satrom

Satrom graduated from UND in 1968.

Letter from Engelstad: The last straw

GRAND FORKS -- If I had been a member of the North Dakota Board of Higher Education, Ralph Engelstad's letter would have swayed my decision. No matter what I had decided prior to reading it, as soon as I saw that letter, I would vote to immediately change the name and the logo of the UND teams.

Unbelievable. Where are our morals?

Janet Gerla

Engelstad makes rude, uncalled-for comments

GRAND FORKS -- As an alumnus as well as a current student at UND, I was appalled at the comments made by Ralph Engelstad concerning the fact that the completion of the new hockey arena is contingent upon the use of the Sioux name and logo.

For Engelstad to think that the president of the university is not qualified to make decisions is ridiculous. Charles Kupchella was hired as president by the state Board of Higher Education to make decisions and to see that the best interests of all students are met.

Engelstad seems to believe that because he has money, he is more worthy and capable of making decisions about the university than Kupchella. Engelstad seems to be stuck in his glory days as a UND goalie and student. I would like to ask him whether it was his tenure as a UND goalie or his business degree that served as a steppingstone toward his career as a successful businessman.

I think that many people, especially Engelstad, are forgetting that the purpose of UND is to promote higher learning through academic programs. Perhaps, this should be considered as buildings are deteriorating on campus and faculty salaries are some of the lowest in the country, which prevents the university from attracting and keeping quality professors and researchers on campus.

UND is in danger of losing its strong tradition of academic excellence if it continues to act as a pawn in Engelstad's ego-driven game.

Karen Lewco

Lewco is a graduate student in speech-language pa thology at UND.

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