The National Collegiate Athletic Association and the University of North Dakota have settled a lawsuit over the university’s use of the “Fighting Sioux” mascot, the NCAA announced Friday morning.
Under the terms of the settlement, the university will have three years to obtain approval of the mascot from the state’s two prominent Sioux tribes. If the tribes approve the mascot, the university will receive a waiver from the NCAA’s policy barring colleges from using American Indian imagery it deems hostile and abusive.
If the tribes do not approve the mascot, the university must adopt a new logo and mascot that do not violate NCAA policy. If the university keeps the mascot without tribe approval, it will be subject to certain NCAA restrictions.
The case had been scheduled to go to trial in December.
“The settlement confirms that the Sioux people -- and no one else -- should decide whether and how their name should be used,” Bernard W. Franklin, an NCAA senior vice president, said in a written statement.
But North Dakota officials said on Friday they felt vindicated. “We don’t believe anything that happens at this institution or that we do can be described as hostile or abusive,” Peter Johnson, a North Dakota spokesman, said in an interview.
Seeking Support From the Sioux
Mr. Johnson said one of the tribes, the Standing Rock Sioux, had asked the university to stop using the nickname, while the other tribe, the Spirit Lake Sioux, had given “lukewarm” approval to the nickname as long as the university provided educational opportunities to American Indian students.
A central point in the debate over the university’s mascot has been the $104-million, 11,600-seat Ralph Engelstad Arena -- “Home of the Fighting Sioux” -- where the university’s top-ranked men’s ice-hockey team competes. The facility, which opened in 2001, features thousands of images of the head of a Sioux warrior: on the floor, under the ice, and on the exterior.
In 2005 the NCAA’s Executive Committee issued a policy stating that 18 colleges and universities would face postseason sanctions if they did not remove their American Indian imagery. North Dakota sought a waiver from the policy, but the NCAA declined to give one.
The following year, in October 2006, the university sued the association in state court, asserting that the NCAA had no authority to govern member institutions, enforce bylaws, or select postseason championship sites, and that the university was under no obligation to follow the new policy.
The debate over the university’s nickname roiled the Grand Forks campus long before the litigation and does not appear to be fading. In a memorandum just last month, the university’s affirmative-action officer warned academic departments and programs publicly opposed to the nickname that they may be creating an “unwelcome” environment for students who support the nickname.
