The epic saga of the University of North Dakota’s controversial “Fighting Sioux” mascot took another swerve today, as the university’s president, Robert O. Kelley,
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The epic saga of the University of North Dakota’s controversial “Fighting Sioux” mascot took another swerve today, as the university’s president, Robert O. Kelley, declared that it would resume using the symbol while the question of the mascot’s fate was put to the state’s voters, the Associated Press reported. The NCAA, which considers the nickname to be “hostile or abusive” to American Indians, has said it will penalize the university as long as it retains the mascot.
The university has sought to retire the “Fighting Sioux” image for years, but has had to bow to legislation, litigation, and wavering public interest in the issue. The state’s legislature passed a law last April that required the university to keep the symbol. But the law was repealed in November.
This year supporters of the mascot pushed for a statewide referendum, and on Tuesday they filed a petition to put the matter on the ballot in June, the AP reported. The petition bears 17,000 signatures, nearly 4,000 more than needed to qualify for the ballot.
(This post has been updated to correct time references for when the recent nickname law was approved and when it was repealed.)
