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The NCAA threatened sanctions against the school, saying the nickname and logo were hostile and abusive and that UND was not endorsed by one of the state's two namesake tribes. The state Legislature put a moratorium on replacing the nickname until this year. The 15 names still in the running: North Dakota, Blaze, Cavalry, Explorers, Fighting Green, Fighting Hawks, Force, Green Hawks, Nodaks, North Stars, Pride, Roughriders, Spirit, Sundogs and Thunderhawks, WDAZ-TV reported (http://bit.ly/1GdnPJr). One possibility that was dumped Tuesday night was Flickertails, which the school used before adopting the Fighting Sioux nickname.

BISMARCK, N.D. — Setting up a potential clash with the NCAA, the North Dakota House on Monday approved a bill that requires the University of North Dakota to keep its Fighting Sioux nickname. The university has been preparing to drop the nickname and an American Indian head logo this summer as part of a negotiated lawsuit settlement with the NCAA, which considers both to be hostile and abusive to American Indians. House members voted 65-28 to approve legislation Monday that requires UND to keep the nickname and logo, and directs Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to consider an antitrust lawsuit against...

The Big East's football expansion plans leave the conference with 17 universities, including non-Football members. That's a terrible number for scheduling; the only way the basketball teams can schedule an even number of games is if they play every other team only once. 18 teams would allow three divisions of six teams each. Any team would play the other five teams in its division twice, and one half of the twelve other teams in the conference. 18 sounds like worsening the problem of too many teams, but having three divisions could actually restore some rivalries, and return the conference to...

<p>Published: Monday, November 15, 2010 at 2:37 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, November 15, 2010 at 2:37 p.m.</p> <p>GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Duke without the Blue Devil? Notre Dame without the Fighting Irish? Most students and alumni at those proud universities wouldn't dream of dropping those enduring symbols of school pride.</p>

Here is the website address of a new petition to Father Jenkins to request the prosecutor to drop trespass charges against those who demonstrated against Notre Dame's honoring of President Obama: http://tinyurl.com/yb8dsts The sponsors are Human Life International, headed by Fr. Tom Euteneuer, a Notre Dame alumnus (and a strong supporter of Sycamore Trust), the Thomas More Law Society, headed by Thomas Brejcha, another Notre Dame alumnus (and another supporter of Sycamore Trust), and LifeSiteNews, a principal organ of the pro-life community. (South Bend counsel for the defendants, Tom Dixon, is also a Notre Dame alumnus and also a...

E-mail to my brother: "Mom brought home a knife with a swastika on it today that one of her hospice clients was sending to good will. It turns out to be an authentic Hitler Youth Knife with the original sheath: "I don't want it in the house. I could clean it up and sell it on ebay... I could keep it until one of Obama's youth corps shows up at the door and hand it over to them with a good explanation. Don't know if you would want it. Its interesting for something like this to turn up at a...

After reading my rather apocalyptic article "From Civil War to Civil Unions," fellow Domer and former head of Illinois Right to Life, John Ryan, whole-heartedly agreed with my gloomy assessment, but then asked, just "Where does Notre Dame stand in relation to this looming civil war?" Specifically, Ryan wondered what the response of orthodox regular and subway alumni should be if Obama won the presidency and ND President, Fr. John Jenkins, extended the university's traditional invitation to the new commander-in-chief to be the keynote speaker at the school's upcoming commencement. While I definitely agree with Ryan that just as in...

The Gamma Phi Beta sorority at University of North Dakota has been put on temporary social probation while the university investigates complaints stemming from a November party during which sorority members and their guests donned mock Indian garb and red face and body paint. The temporary probation was issued by both the UND Dean of Student’s Office, which will investigate the complaints, and by the Gamma Phi Beta International office in Centennial, Colo. The probation means Gamma Phi won’t be allowed to host or participate in social activities with other sororities and fraternities or other student groups, either on...

A T-shirt produced by a North Dakota business at tempting to poke fun at the UND Fighting Sioux logo con troversy has inflamed ten sions on an already sensitive issue. The shirt, which James town, N.D.-based Orriginals Inc. began printing about a week ago, includes the words: "No Sioux Logo No Sioux Ca sinos!" It also features UND's Indian head logo with the words: "Hostile and Abusive," and plots out the location of three casinos in North Dakota and South Dakota, which it describes as "Destructive and Addictive."

Imagine being a fan of a football team known as the Flickertails -- named for a small, wide-eyed ground squirrel. That's what the University of North Dakota sports teams were called back in the 1920s. "It must have been hard to rally people around the Flickertails," says Peter Johnson, UND's associate director of university relations. UND's archrival was the North Dakota State University Bison. A bison, of course, is a hulking creature that can squash a ground squirrel in one step. In 1930, UND adopted a more formidable name -- the Sioux -- and its teams later became the Fighting...

A district judge has granted a preliminary injunction to stop the NCAA from banning the University of North Dakota from hosting a postseason game because of its "Fighting Sioux" nickname, state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said. Stenehjem said judge Lawrence Jahnke alerted him to the decision Saturday night. Stenehjem did not know the details. UND is among a handful of schools with American Indian nicknames and logos that the NCAA considers hostile and abusive. Those schools are barred from holding postseason tournaments, or from using their nicknames during road playoff games. Stenehjem, in asking for the injunction, said the ban...

Stung by the NCAA allegation that its 'Fighting Sioux' nickname is disrespectful, University of North Dakota wants to sue. GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- In their showdown over the use of an American Indian nickname and logo, the NCAA leads its series with the University of North Dakota 3-0. But the Fighting Sioux are still fighting. Trounced last year by an NCAA mandate to change its 80-year-old Fighting Sioux nickname or lose some post-season rights, then rebuffed twice on appeals, the university now wants to take the battle of wills into federal court. A defiant UND President Charles Kupcella will confer...

Williston, N.D. -- North Dakota's Board of Higher Education has decided to sue the NCAA for penalizing the University of North Dakota's use of its "Fighting Sioux" nickname and Indian head logo. Following a 90-minute, closed meeting with Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, the board voted 8-0 Thursday to authorize the lawsuit. Its motion specifies that the lawsuit be financed by privately raised funds rather than taxpayer money. The NCAA has concluded that the Fighting Sioux nickname and Indian head logo are hostile and abusive to American Indians. UND may not use them during NCAA postseason tournaments, and it may not...

June 7, 2006National Collegiate Athletic Association c/o Myles Brand and Bernard Franklin 1802 Alonzo Watford Sr. Drive P.O. Box 6222 Indianapolis, Indiana 46202Dear All,I have chosen to communicate with you in this way for several reasons. Since you have had what you say is the “final” word on the issue of our nickname and logo, we must now consider legal action. I want you, as well as University of North Dakota stakeholders and the general public, to know why we must. The NCAA leaves us no recourse but to consider litigation to make the point that the policy you...

CROOKSTON - The body of Dru Sjodin, the UND student who disappeared last November, has been found, authorities said Saturday. Polk County Sheriff Mark LeTexier sobbed as he told volunteers, "Dru is home." He later confirmed that authorities had found Sjodin's body. Volunteers had joined the search for the 22-year-old student on Saturday. A group at Crookston High School broke into applause after his announcement. Sjodin's father, Allan, and her boyfriend were in a trailer at the high school serving as a makeshift command post for authorities organizing the search. Sjodin, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., disappeared Nov. 22 from a...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the University of North Dakota's hockey arena early today to join the search for Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old UND senior missing since Saturday night. The volunteers were given identification badges and assigned to teams to search for Sjodin, who police believe may have been abducted. ``I was up all night, because I've just been itching to get out and do this,'' said Jerrod Arneson, one of the volunteers. ``You never think something like this would happen here, and when it does, you want to do something.'' Michelle Vogt said she lived...