INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — University of North Dakota president Robert Kelley and four state leaders have arrived at the NCAA headquarters to make their case for keeping the Fighting Sioux nickname.
The group will meet with NCAA President Mark Emmert on Friday afternoon in Indianapolis.
In 2006, the NCAA placed North Dakota on a list of 18 schools with American Indian nicknames, logos and mascots considered “hostile and abusive.” In October 2007, a court-imposed settlement of the school’s lawsuit required school officials to retire the nickname on Aug. 15, 2011, unless the state’s two namesake tribes approved of its use.
One has, the other has not.
Earlier this year, the state legislature passed a law requiring the school to use its current nickname and logo.
