Judge tosses Spirit Lake lawsuit against NCAA
May 1, 2012 at 1:30 pm in Grand Forks Herald
U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson has granted the NCAA’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, a major setback to American Indians trying to preserve UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname. Continue Reading
Spirit Lake doesn’t seem to have a very good lawyer do they? It seems everything he/she tries gets thrown out.
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Someone in Indian Wells, CA…please hand alwayscorrect a tissue and give him a hug.
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That’s TJ….She doesn’t stop part way….She made sure to run the whole gammit……By the way…….What damn rules are you referring to? Those Comment rules? That line of thought really should earn you some “Far Stretched” award if you actually think that her little comment violated those…..
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hidden due to low comment rating…heh heh heh
*Nothing personal None. You might win the next time around. I would offer you a tissue and a hug but I would be in violation of rules 1,2,3 so I better not.
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Imagine what a better place the world would be if state Supreme Court judges took their responsibilities as seriously as Federal Judges. I am glad someone’s judicial system is still willing to make a decision.
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I think the NCAA should sue to recover their costs for this unbelievably frivolous suit. This was a slam dunk from day one. What first-year student doesn’t know what makes a contract? Do stubbornly weak attorneys have insurance for complete incompetence? Why don’t they ever have to pay? Anyone? I could scream.
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And the frivilous law suit brought up by 6 students is still in limbo.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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This was a huge slam-down. Changing th subject doesn’t take any responsibility away from Soderstrom on the subject of this breaking news. He should pay these bills. The other lawsuit might be a loser, too, but is your lame attempt to justify this pathetic event. Shameful and typical.
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Different case entirely. They are not suing a private club for admission privileges and no one can deny they are directly affected by the outcome. Directly affected, not tangentially in the same neighborhood.
I think their suit is pretty much a waste of time, but you cannot deny they have grounds to sue where SL did not
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They have complete grounds to sue because of the settlement UND made with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights years ago. To avoid federal charges UND settled with the OCR and in the settlement they agreed to stop the violations that were causing NA to experience harassment, instead, because of the nickname controversy, harassment of NAs on campus has increased. The lawsuit brought by the students will be successful. Read the OCR report.
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I will be interested to see if you are correct grandforkian. Like I said above, I believe they have the right to sue. I am not sure of the strength of their case. I will be watching to see how things go
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Referendum Measure No. 4
This referendum measure concerns Senate Bill 2370 as passed by the Legislative Assembly in the November 2011 special session (Session Laws, Chapter 580). Senate Bill 2370 repealed section 15-10-46 of the North Dakota Century Code, which required the University of North Dakota to use the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
YES –means you approve Senate Bill 2370, the effect of which would allow the University of North Dakota to discontinue the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
NO –means you reject Senate Bill 2370, and would require the University of North Dakota to use the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
——————————————————————
The North Dakota University “Fighting Sioux” Referendum will appear on the June 12, 2012, ballot in North Dakota as a veto referendum.
Vote YES on Referendum Measure No. 4 to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
Vote YES on Referendum Measure No. 4 to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
Vote YES on Referendum Measure No. 4 to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
Vote YES on Referendum Measure No. 4 to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
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Now if the Committee will accept the truth and get the heck out of the way so UND can move forward.
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Yes, go with that, Spearman, you stubborn so and so. The judge doesen’t understand. hahahaha..I laugh in your direction.
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Sorry Spearman, I missed something. Exactly when were you appointed to the bench?
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Spearman stop lying. The NCAA is a private organization. And even tho it does not matter where the money comes from the statement that it was started with Public money by public Schools is just plain false. At the First Convention on December 29, 1906 their were 39 Charter Member colleges present. Here is a link to list from the NCAA. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/NCAANewsArchive/1999/19991108/active/3623n29.html
Of those Schools 9 were public institutions and 30 were private institution. Your making things up as usual. The NCAA is a private club that can make whatever rules it wishes for membership. The Courts have upheld this often.
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Public institutions present 9
University of Colorado
Miami University (Ohio)
University of Minnesota
University of Missouri
University of Nebraska
University of North Carolina
Rutgers College
United States Military Academy
Western University (Pennsylvania) University of Pittsburgh
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Private Schools present: 30
Allegheny College,Amherst College,Bucknell University,Colgate University,Dartmouth College,Denison University,Dickinson College,Franklin & Marshall College,George Washington University,Grove City College,Haverford College,
Lehigh University,New York University,Niagara University,Oberlin College,Ohio Wesleyan University,University of Pennsylvania,
University of Rochester,Seton Hall College,Swarthmore College,Syracuse University,Tufts College,Union College,Vanderbilt University,Washington and Jefferson College,Wesleyan University (Connecticut),Westminster College (Pennsylvania),Williams College,Wittenberg University,University of Wooster
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Right, the judge is wrong….on appeal? I don’t think so. Even Soterstrom knows better than that. You are in denial. I can’t believe you didn’t call the judge a name. What up?
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As usual always responds with classy, unmoderated comments.
Well, there goes Rob’s big PR chance of having the NCAA against the “poor lil indians”. Now, watch Rob and his groupies drop Eunice and Archie like hot potatoes, now that they can’t drag them around for their PR against the NCAA.
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I find it very interesting that alwayscorrect can break rules 1,2,3 and the Statue of Liberty doesn’t have a problem with that.
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I hope you are incorrect grandforkian, but somehow I doubt it.
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Rob Port is that you?
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This part is over.. The voters of the State of North Dakota will have their say come June. Oh and Always, stay classy.
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From what I can gleam from the article, this decision was spot on. He went to great pains to say he was not ruling on the merits of the nickname, only that the SL gang did not have the right to sue.
He was fairly brutal in his condemnation of some of their points and dismissed them outright, and he reinforced what we already knew and has been decided previously: The NCAA is a private organization no matter how much the opposition wants to make it appear otherwise, and the 1969 ceremony was not a binding contract. He also made it very clear that there is no coercion whatsoever on the part of the NCAA. it is voluntary.
That is what we have been saying all along. Now that those points of law have been convincingly settled, maybe we can get back to the basics:
Want NCAA = Lose the Name
Want the Name = Lose the NCAA
It is really very simple
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Again, Tim, we have discussed this issue many, many times before. I oppose the name on moral and ethical grounds. The athletic angle is purely tangential.
You rail against the hypocricy of the NCAA and you very well may be correct. How do you deal with an organization that does not meet your needs or live up to your standards? You leave.
I have said all along that the most honorable thing to do would be to resign the NCAA if you really want to keep the name. No one is even suggesting that. They want the NCAA to change to meet their needs and then have a temper tantrum when that does not happen.
It is time for the nickname supporters to put on their big boy chonies and move on. Either pass a constitutional amendment mandating the name and resign from the NCAA or drop it and withdrawal from the field of battle.
Pride and hubris are part of the big nasty list of sins for a reason. Like the famous words of a general in Vietnam: “we had to destroy UND in order to save it.”
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Tim,
We have been over this ground numerous times before: UND does not want the name. You keep acting like given the right information the students, professors, and staff of UND will see the light and rise up enmass in support of the name. They chose to retire the name before the Ralph was even built.
I am not trying to be contrary, I just can’t get passed the fact that you still believe the majority of people at UND and the SBHE want to keep the name. They do not and have shown that repeatedly.
They voted to retire the name before the NCAA was even involved. Why does their unwillingness to take the NCAA on over something they are not interested in keeping surprise you?
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And FN we have also been over my clear understanding that as soon as UND heard their plans to go D1 in sports other than hockey, it became an athletics threat, the racism issue they pledged to keep working on disappeared, and yes the wanted to drop the name.
You have to understand this ceremony was not new news to UND officials when the suit was brought. They were aware of it and past UND officials even mentioned it during discussions over the nickname. This was an issue they could have chosen to present to a court–as the federal judge implies here.
And “they chose to retire the name before the Ralph was even built”? Really? I’m a little surprised you would go there. I think you said once you were out of state for some time–perhaps those years were the years you were gone.
I noted you mention Kupchella a lot, but never Clifford or Baker. Clifford and Baker both looked into the issue and did something I don’t believe Kupchella ever did–they went out and met with the bands themselves face to face. Both of their visits led them to proclaim they felt the majority were OK with keeping the name. Out of those meetings both Baker and Clifford took steps to eliminate lingering pageantry/chants and other offensive uses from UND’s use of the nickname. It was Baker who moved to drop the incorrect/offensive “Blackhawk” logo. Both took steps–something Kupchella eventually did as well–to set a tone for zero tolerance of racism in many forms on campus.
Kupchella established a commission that considered–but did not finalize agreement of–dropping the nickname.
Following Ralph’s letter–the single fact you seem to frequently mention of events at that time as leading to a reversal of what you claim was a done deal on the name (which again it was NOT at that point, no decision had been made) a student vote was held.
The results of that vote were overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the nickname. I don’t recall the % but believe it was over 75%.
At that point, my memory is a bit fuzzy on who it was–either Kupchella or the SBOHE–defended a decision to keep the nickname by referencing that student vote, NOT Ralph’s letter!
After that time the consistent message from UND was one carefully crafted most of the time–but with a clear message they thought they were and could continue to use the nickname honorably and were hopeful that further work would bear their view out with the NCAA and others.
I remember when Archie Fool Bear’s name first became known to me–he had sent a letter to officials talking about votes in the majority of standing rock’s towns occuring, and that they supported keeping the name.
Kupchella took that word and ran with it, claiming UND had earned the support of the majority of Sioux tribal members as asked and the matter would soon be put to rest.
Numerous examples exist of this desire of UND to retain the name throughout most of the last decade. They took the NCAA to court, for crying out loud–why would they do that if they were committed to dropping the name?
They were waiting for a referendum at Standing Rock when the Summitt league D1 scare came out–immediately years of working in one direction were reversed.
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I’d like to share part of an article I came across the other day so please read with an open mind and open heart when it comes to other’s cultures.
It is unimaginable for a Native American to break his word after smoking the sacred pipe in the pipe ceremony. In the past, the signing of treaties was always accompanied by pipe ceremonies because Indians believed that smoking the pipe would secure the arrangement. No one would be foolish enough to lie or go back on their word once the pipe was smoked because the pipe was the vehicle for carrying their word up to the Creator. And in return, a blessing would descend from the Creator to the individuals smoking it.
Of course, we all know that the United States government did not share in these understandings, and sent representatives to the Indians to use the pipe as a means of deception. As White Deer of Autumn explains: “You’ve heard of the peace pipe. There is no such thing, in a sense, because that came about when the government sent emissaries to the Native Americans. At that time, we were still the lords of the land; we still held the power. The U.S. government had to deal with that. They understood that the pipe would allow peaceful transactions because no Indian would ever lie once spoken on the pipe.”
By dishonoring the meaning of this sacred practice, treaties were broken and land was taken but the benefits were short-lived, as White Deer of Autumn explains, “When the Europeans started to use tobacco, they saw it as a market, and thus corrupted its function. Now it is being misused, and you see what happens when a gift that has been given is misused.”
Yet, to those who understand its true significance, the pipe ceremony holds great power, White Deer of Autumn continues, “When a stem and bowl are disconnected, you have two sacred objects. When a stem and bowl are connected, you have a living being. And the pipe is addressed as a living, breathing being.
I just thought this was important to share and just shows how little respect is given to Native Americans.
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Excellent post, lifesnotfair.
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Ironic….
how the NCAA claims to be helping Native Americans …
as they spit in their face.
Makes all you supporters of the “private” NCAA proud…doesn’t it?
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Text of measure
The measure as it appears on the ballot reads:
This referendum measure concerns Senate Bill 2370 as passed by the Legislative Assembly in the November 2011 special session (Session Laws, Chapter 580). Senate Bill 2370 repealed section 15-10-46 of the North Dakota Century Code, which required the University of North Dakota to use the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
YES – means you approve Senate Bill 2370, the effect of which would allow the University of North Dakota to discontinue the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
NO – means you reject Senate Bill 2370, and would require the University of North Dakota to use the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.
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Order Granting Defendant’s Motion To Dismiss
http://www.scribd.com/doc/92226103/Spirit-Lake-Sioux-v-NCAA#
The Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe of Indians,
Plaintiffs,
vs.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association,
Defendants.
Case No. 2:11-cv-95
Dated: May 1, 2012
In The United States District Court
In The District of North Dakota
Northeastern Division
By: Ralph R. Erickson, Chief Judge,
United States District Court
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