OUR OPINION: North Dakotans ‘rally to UND’s side’
June 12, 2012 at 5:44 pm in Grand Forks Herald
As this editorial was going to press, the “Yes” side of Measure 4 the side that would let UND retire the nickname led in every county in which results were available. In Grand Forks County, with 27 of 27 precincts reporting, the “Yes” vote had garnered 70 percent to the “No” side’s 30 percent. Continue Reading
I’m relieved for the University, but am overwhelmingly sad about the name. The tradition of the Fighting Sioux name has been long and proud and never meant to offend any group in any way. There will never be another name that will be as good. (Try to picture the Minnesota and Wisconin fans running around in their little animal ear caps.) If the NCAA truly thinks Native American monikers are hostile and abusive, they should be gone across the board, not just for the schools they can successfully bully. From the beginning, I thought the world would come to its senses regarding this issue, but I guess I was wrong. The only positive to take from this event is that North Dakotans did rally across the board to protect UND when they thought it was in trouble. Thank you for your editorial, Tom.
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“So, the debate for the past few months really has been about the effects of the NCAA sanctions on the university”
Actually, it was about the effects on athletics. Granted, there was speculation that somehow the university would dry up and blow away if athletics didn’t have a conference, but no evidence was ever presented to validate that. Much like UND is no different whether the hockey team wins the NCAA or not, the institution would remain the same even if athletics disappeared.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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From a philosophical point of view, I am distressed that there are so many people who believe that just because they never meant the name or logo to be hostile or abusive, that it wasn’t. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not the sender.
That said, more than anything I am glad it is over. If the vote had gone the other way I would have taken the alumni association off my giving list but not much else. I would still wear my UND ring and still be proud of where it came from.
This issue has consumed too much time, too many resources, and generated too many hard feelings. It is simply not worth it.
Gene is correct, if the SBHE got rid of the reason for the name’s existence (the athletic program), UND would go on. Not the same as before but it most certainly would not curl up and die.
I think we need to keep that fact in the forefront as we go forward. If it ever becomes clear that UND is nothing more than a hockey team with a university attached as an afterthought, then I will take off my ring and hide where I came from.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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” If it ever becomes clear that UND is nothing more than a hockey team with a university attached as an afterthought, then I will take off my ring and hide where I came from.”
This was the mindset of Ralph E, who did see UND as a pretext for hockey. If it’s any consolation, it’s found all over the country…sometimes for football (Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio St), sometimes for basketball (Kentucky, Duke, Indiana). I have no doubt that there are those who believe UND is more prestigious than Harvard due to seven hockey champioships versus one.
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Ralph said when he gave UND the $100 mill. that he was grateful that the UND college experience had opened a world that he had been unaware of. He became a student of history & had collected 1000s of military items incld. vehicles (not just Hitler’s car) that were stored in massive warehouses in Las Vegas. There was much more to the man than hockey.
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FYI, the above was initially modded I assume because of ref. to Hit. & then for the 1st time in a long time actually approved.
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Ralph said when he gave UND the $100 mill. that he was grateful that the UND college experience had opened a world that he had been unaware of. He became a student of history & had collected 1000s of military items incld. vehicles (not just Adolf’s car) that were stored in massive warehouses in Las Vegas. There was much more to the man than hockey.
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I do not question Ralph’s motives anymore than I question Chester Fritz’s. The difference between Ralph and Chester (they both made their fortunes the old fashioned way) was emphasis.
Chester left his money (or his wife did) for a library. Ralph for a hockey arena. While I loved attending games at the Ralph, one cannot help but wonder what the inside of the Fritz would look like with just $1 million for books and electronic databases.
In a building that cost $110 million, less than 1% of the total would not be missed.
The Bible teaches where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It is quite clear where Ralph’s heart was.
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I wonder what $1 million would be worth in today’s money.
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In 1997 dollars, $1.4 million.
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Ralph’s love of academics was shown when his $50 million pledge to it all went to an arena.
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Initially it was $50 for arena & $50 for academics until the attitude of the faculty surfaced agaisnt him & the name
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Just shows how venal he was. And that the arena was more important as a monument to his ego.
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If I remember correctly, Chester Fritz’s initial gift for the library was $1 million. Now that same amount barely covers the cost of the electronic databases that are indispensable to a student’s success.
I am not sure $100 million for a library is even prudent. Overkill on a nuclear scale.
A nice even $15 or $20 million should allow UND to prepare for the realities of 2025.
To keep this in perspective we spent $12 million on my second favorite building on campus: the Wellness Center.
1st = Chester Fritz
2nd = Wellness Center
3rd = Ralph
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I remember years ago one of the old time History profs commenting to me on the unsavory business dealings of Chester Fritz in Asia. But then as now, UND administrators never cared what the origen of the money was, just as long as they got it.
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Since history professors never die, I probably had the same one. I remember stories of gun running in China and that the Fritz was just an attempt to buy his way into heaven.
I do not know, but the stories are still there.
Then again, Carnegie Libraries were the same thing and they did more for the average American than any other single philanthropic gift I can think of.
God will not let you buy your way into heaven, but if it makes you feel better to try, go for it.
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“Since history professors never die”
Lamentably, this one did.
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If we question the origin of every dollar that comes to UND as a donation we could undoubtably open lots of cans of worms. We would question the very core of capitolism and how people make thier money. I think this is wasted time.
Instead I choose to focus on the fact that people donate to the place of learning where they learned thier chops. Most of them were succesful in some large part to the education they recieved while at UND. They worked hard within the capitolistic system to become able to give back to UND.
If you want to argue about how people made thier money that’s another topic for another time. I’m glad that these folks gave back to UND. To try to make thier contributions to UND seem unsavory is more the job of the Minnesota press who is hell bent to make UND and North Dakota look bad any way they can.
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