Commission announced
Students, alumni and state representatives among those appointed

By Howie Padilla
Dakota Student Staff Writer

It may have taken UND President Charles Kupchella little more than a semester at this school to realize the firestorm of controversy that surrounds the school's Fighting Sioux moniker. But it took him only four weeks to form a commission to research the issue.

A total of 16 people -- among them UND alumni, administrators and current students -- were named as part of the fact-finding commission Thursday. The list of names also includes those of two former North Dakota governors and a retired federal judge who now serves as a consultant on mediation and arbitration.

"It's a pretty good makeup," said Chris Semrau, UND's student body president. Even though Semrau said his summer plans were uncertain and he was somewhat unsure if he would be able to attend all visitations by the commission, he was instated as a student representative to the committee. "I think it's going to do what he set it out to do."

What Kupchella had set out to do was to gather a group of people who encompassed a wide array of members of the UND community.

At the Jan. 27 University Senate meeting, he had said it would be the commission's duty to gather facts.

"I think there are a lot of unanswered questions out there," said Leigh Jeanotte, director of the UND Office of Native American Programs and commission member. "Our job will be to identify a number of them. There's not a lot of accurate information out there right now."

Making it clear that he would make the final decision as to whether UND would continue its use of the Fighting Sioux name, Kupchella specifically said that the commission would not be responsible for making the final call. In the announcement Thursday, he said the commission should outline alternative courses of action, indicating how negative impacts either keeping the name or doing away with it can best be reduced.

And while that may serve as something of a relief to commission members who are merely fact-finders, Semrau and Jeanotte said they still expect some degree of pressure to be put on the commission.

Semrau said he feels the best possible thing for the commission is that its members won't be charged with making a final decision.

"I think if (Kupchella) would have said, 'You guys go and figure out whether we should keep the name,' most of us would have said, 'I don't want to be on the commission,'" he said.

And while hailing the decision to appoint Phil Harmeson, associate dean of the UND College of Business and Public Administration the commission's chair, Semrau said he feels the attention the issue will receive throughout the summer will be intense, possibly complicating the commission's task.

"I just hope the commission can stay focused on the task at hand and not be distracted by all of the press and publicity we are going to get," he said.

"I personally haven't felt any of that pressure yet," Jeanotte said Friday afternoon. "But my guess is that it will be forthcoming."

Kupchella said he may add one or two more individuals to the commission.