“We are concerned that even if we were to cave in and change our name, you might subsequently hold us hostage until the great State of North Dakota changes all of its state highway signs which now depict a silhouette of an Indian. You might, some say, insist that the Indian logos on the doors of all of our (marked) Highway Patrol cars be removed.”
Right on! I wonder if he got the idea from my posts about the HP cars and highway signs. If so, I’m sincerely flattered. This blog has repeatedly received over 100,000 hits a month…if even one of those helps preserve the UND Fighting Sioux tradition, I am the happiest guy on the block!
One other point that President Kupchella brings up here is that UND does a lot to help out Native American students:
“Although you say you considered all of the material we put into our appeal, your responses and actions indicate otherwise. I point out, again, some of the extraordinary programming we have in support of American Indian students.
American Indian education is a $12 million enterprise at UND. Much of the total is provided by the tribes themselves, by the students and their families, and by the federal government. None of this would happen, obviously, if the environment here were in any way hostile and abusive. There is also a substantial University component as well. The University annually provides about $400,000, mostly in the form of waivers of tuition specifically for underrepresented groups. Nearly all of this goes to American Indians.
We have more than 30 separate programs in support of American Indian education. Most of these are administered by a staff of seven American Indians. Most of the programs are based in a new American Indian Center funded by the University and by generous donors. These programs include a thirty-year-old Indians-Into-Medicine program which has educated about one-fifth of all (enrolled) American Indian physicians in the United States. Your action has, unfortunately, put all of this under a cloud of “hostile and abusive.” We must find some way to set the record straight.”
Amen to that! I’m glad he took the opportunity to point that out, as I mentioned in
a previous post concerning the logo an UND’s programs for Native American students.
You can read the full text of President Kupchella’s open letter to the NCAA by clicking here. Well said, sir! Let’s hope that logic and prudence win the day in your struggle to keep the nickname.
