UND's Fighting Sioux nickname going away

May 14th The North Dakota Board of Higher Education voted to stop using the Fighting Sioux nickname. The university is going to keep fighting this until the deadline on October 1st. This has been a controversial subject for the students and members of the public for years now. It is a symbol of pride for years, but they need to move on and choose something new. Unless the Indian tribes let the university keep the name. But the NCAA has not let the university host any tournements at the campus because of crontrovery. One of the tribes the Spirit Lake Nation has approved the use of the logo, but the the Standing Rock Tribe will not let the univeristy keep the logo. If the change does in fact happen, the most affected area would be the 100 million Ralph Englstead Arena where the hockey teams play. When the area was built he had hundreds of logos built in, including the Fighting Sioux logo that is on the marble floor of the arena. He said that he wanted to make sure that the logo was never taken away.

I think that the logo should stay, because this is what people hear and see everyday, they are a symbol of hockey by the green and black jerseys and every other sport on the campus. The hockey area would have to be totally ripped apart because all of the granite/marble would have to come up and be replaced with something else. It wouldn't be the same or as elegant without the Sioux. Englesteadt knew what he was doing when he built the arena, with the head in the floor, making sure that this would stay forever. The fighting sioux head being biult into the bricks and everyother aspect of the hockey arena. I want it stay, but there is no way that by October 1st, the Standing Rock Tirbe will change there mind and the change will be permanant, the arena will undergo major changes to the way it looks and to the students who go there.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/05/14/fightingsioux_vote/