Is “The Fighting Sioux” Offensive? NCAA Says Yes, Sioux Tribe Says No
13th March 2012
And guess who will win? Hint: Not the Sioux tribe. Political correctness always trumps reality.
“The Fighting Sioux” is the nickname and logo of the University of North Dakota. It is also the source of a decade-long controversy.
The NCAA opposed the nickname on the grounds that it was offensive to Native Americans.
God forbid that they should ask, you know, real Native Americans.
Through it all, the Sioux tribe has maintained that it does not find the name offensive—and has granted permission for UND to keep it.
Not that it matters to the NCAA. They know what they know, and don’t confuse them with facts.
March 13th, 2012 at 12:49
Eastern Michigan’s team was the Hurons for many decades, until about 10 years ago when the University president decided unilaterally to rename the team the Eagles–this despite the fact that the current chief of the Huron-Wyandotte tribe made a special trip to Ypsilanti to ask the regents NOT to change the name; far from being offended, his people were proud to have their name associated with the school. But alas, his efforts were in vain. Eagles they became, and Eagles they remain.
As Tom Clancy said, the difference between truth and fiction is that fiction has to make sense.
March 13th, 2012 at 17:58
The NCAA has harassed Florida State University over the name Seminoles also, despite the Florida Seminole tribe wholeheartedly endorsing it (I asked a spokesminion of said tribe once, and he allowed that he MIGHT change his mind if FSU ever became a perpetually losing time and hence and embarassment). Some from the Oklahoma Seminole tribe (who translate Seminole as ‘runaway’, whereas the Florida tribe says it means ‘unconquered’) don’t like it as much. But it’s the same story. PC types can’t get it through their thick heads that a lot of cultural groups are actually PROUD of their warrior tradition and like the fact that teams that practice a metaphor for war get named after them—to say nothing of the implements of destruction that get named for them.