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This new ruling by the NCAA states that no NCAA colleges or universities cannot display images that are "hostile and abusive racial/ethnic/national origin mascots, nicknames or imagery at any of the 88 NCAA championships." What this means is that if your college or university has a Native American nickname, Native American imagery or logo, you have to do something about it. You can't have these things during any championships. The penalties of this include not being given a spot in the playoffs, or not being allowed to host a playoff game.

What are your choices? For one, you could change the name and logo of your school. Or, if you don't do that, you are forced to cover up the name and logo on any paraphernelia you wear, such as jersies.

There are eighteen schools that still use Native American names:
Alcorn State University (Braves)
Central Michigan University (Chippewas)
Catawba College (Indians)
Florida State University (Seminoles)
Midwestern State University (Indians)
University of Utah (Utes)
Indiana University-Pennsylvania (Indians)
Carthage College (Redmen)
Bradley University (Braves)
Arkansas State University (Indians)
Chowan College (Braves)
University of Illinois-Champaign (Illini)
University of Louisiana-Monroe (Indians)
McMurry University (Indians)
Mississippi College (Choctaws)
Newberry College (Indians)
University of North Dakota (Fighting Sioux. This is the university of my hometown.)
Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Savages)

These new rulings apply to all these schools. The goal of this ruling is to prevent any utterance of "racial slurs" that may occur. But here's the problem: 80% of Native Americans support the idea of having a college named after their ethnic group. Not many oppose the idea. This is one of my problems with the new ruling. The other is that those who would say something like "Sioux suck" are yelling at the team, not the ethnic group itself. The NCAA claims it is being "democratic" by satisfying the want of those who do not like the idea of having a college named after thier tribe. This group is a minority. What I get from this is that the NCAA would rather appease the minority, rather than support the majority. That is some of the most backward (not to mention leftist) thinking I've heard.

Maybe I wouldn't care so much if this hasn't been an issue before, or if I lived in an area with a university named after a Native American tribe. Here in Grand Forks, we have the Ralph Engelstad Arena. It's huge, and one of the nicest ice rinks in the United States. Here's the webpage for the place. The logo for the Fighting Sioux is everywhere. It's outside on the building, it's everywhere in the building, and it's the logo on center ice. These would all have to be covered up or removed. Any reference to the "Fighting Sioux" would also have to be removed. That is ridiculous.

Florida State University has already declared it's going to court over this ruling. UND says it's "confused by the ruling, and will give it more thought."

This is completely unfair to us. Plus, it's basically telling those who ARE racist that they've won, because we're forced to change our name. I hope we battle long and hard over this issue.

The name of our school has been an issue for a while, now. They argue, that is the Sioux people who do not like the idea of UND being called the Fighting Sioux, that the "fighting" part of the name is incorrect. They claim that the Sioux people were "peaceful," and that they only knew how to fight when the white man came around. Tell that to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes who were nearly wiped out by the Sioux.

We've also had problems with the logo. The first one we used copied the Chicago Blackhawks logo. The second, which is my favorite, was a geometrical representaion of a Sioux warrior with a headress (Seen here.). The Sioux people claimed that the logo, the second one, was derrogatory and incorrect. So UND hired a Native American artist to make a new logo (Seen here..) They even complained about that one. They said it was racist and stereotypical. We kept it anyways. There's just no pleasing some people...

UND's president Charles Cupchella was on ESPN radio talking about the new guidelines, and he totally slams the NCAA. Looks like we're ready to fight..

On a somewhat related note, the NCAA has earned the "Just Shut Up" award for this week from ESPN.

To make matters worse, PETA has now become involved in this "battle," saying that a college with their team name being the "Gamecocks" should also be added to the list, not that that has anything to do with Native Americans.

But then they would just form a splinter group called PETAA...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal Activists. xd

rolleyes I remember PETA wanting the 'poor' carriage horses in Central Park to be turned loose on the range to be "free"...talk about signing the death warrants on those animals! And then the scandal about all the kittens and puppies they were supposedly adopting out....turns out they were euthanizing them and throwing the bodies in the dumpster. Open season.....?? Oh, YEAH!!

*starts cleaning her rifle*

twisted

I want to see a mockery of this policy by somebody who either has to get away with it or the NCAA make asses of themselves trying to stop them. Perhaps a Jewish college changing their team name to "The 'Brews" or "The Kikes" or a black college changing their team name to "The Niggers" or "The Coons". I would come up with one for whites, but whites aren't allowed to have colleges anymore.

Unfortunately, I don't see this happening. It would certainly make it obvious how far from sane these policies are.

The NCAA is a joke.