Sioux moniker debate returns with students after winter break
Demonstrations before finals week just the beginning of protests for
the new semester
By Josh Roiland
Dakota Student Staff Writer
Controversy surrounded the end of the millennium for the University of
North Dakota as opposition over the Fighting Sioux nickname remained
strong. As the University geared up for finals week last semester a group
known as B.R.I.D.G.E.S. (Building Roads Into Diverse Groups Empowering
Students) held a rally in front of the Memorial Union where they, along
with other students and faculty, voiced their displeasure of the continued
use of the Fighting Sioux nickname.
This protest, however, was different from others held on campus, but
mainly indoors, in past years according to Holly Annis, assistant director
of the School of Communication.
"There was a different mood being out in public," she said. "People were
more vocal against what we were doing."
Annis said that some tense moments came when speakers were interrupted by
proponents of the nickname and told to quit complaining and find a
different cause. She added, however, that opposition wasn't necessarily a
bad thing because it meant that people were out and listening to their
message.
The prolonged winter break did nothing to quell the tensions on campus
surrounding the Fighting Sioux nickname. As Annis urged students to take a
break of the draining battles, one student found the strain to be too much
and transferred to a different university. Senior Ira Taken Alive, who
had previously voiced concern about feeling a need to focus on this issue
at UND rather than academics, left for the University of South
Dakota.
"The University lost a valuable person and a student leader," Annis
said.
Despite the loss of Taken Alive, Annis said the group has fires burning on
all burners and that they feel even more of a sense of urgency.
"We've got big things coming," she said. "We're going to take this to
another level."
That level may be protests at UND athletic events, where the nickname is
viewed with the most pride. Annis said that one target could possibly be
the UND/University of Minnesota hockey series because of the popularity
and the magnitude in the community.
Annis did say, however, that concerns of safety are not only an issue for
major happenings like sporting events, but for everyday life in general.
She said that Native Americans on campus have had cars vandalized and have
received threatening phone calls.
Protest protection
"If we do protest a sporting event we will have protection of some sort,"
she said. "Whether it be the police or whatever. People at those games can
be insane and then if you add alcohol to the mix ..."
For one student, however, the idea of open protests in a confrontational
environment was not the answer.
"I don't feel there's a need for that," said Donald Hall, an off-campus
senator and liaison to the Multicultural Awareness Committee. "I just
don't know if that's the answer."
Hall said he would rather see efforts to continue working through the
administration, believing that slowly, but surely, they are coming around.
"I feel a change coming," he said. "I just hope the administration has the
integrity and the bravery to make it."
Annis agreed that more heads are being turned in their favor, but the
cause has a long way to go.
"We have to keep the pressure on," she said. "It must be constant, that's
the only way a change will be made."