*Note: I didn't want to write this. But after scrolling through social media these last two days, I had to speak up.
My name is Nate Peterson and I'm a student-athlete at UND. I'm entering my fifth year of school so I can continue on and finish with my track and field eligibility. Track has been going great and occupies a lot of my time. I have finished a math major and am now working through a history major so I can teach both subjects in North Dakota.
Both of my parents are UND grads and I was raised in a Fighting Sioux household. Every year we tried to make it up to a Sioux game, and I remember checking the paper for women's basketball results because they would always be like 26-1 late in the season. When I narrowed my school search down to universities in North Dakota, the choice was easy: UND.
For years now I've been able to throw on that North Dakota jersey, and I've grown more in my pride for my school and state every year as a result.
My first semester of freshman year we were still the Sioux. Man it felt good to be in the huddle before a cross country race and hear 1..2..3 and yell SIOUX! But going into track that winter we had to get rid of the nickname, removing it from all parts of the team. We couldn't even have the logo on our water bottles. I was upset at this overreach and NCAA-brought injustice, so I cheered for the Al Carlson-led legislature when they forced, through law, the University to keep the nickname. Then, my sophomore year we didn't get invited to a meet at the University of Minnesota because of our name. Through that (and my Dad's wisdom) I realized that it was over. The Sioux nickname was gone. It still is. IT STILL IS. So you can retweet and repost all the UND hockey players you want, but the Sioux name is not coming back.
Eventually people moved on, because that's what North Dakotans do- they move on when awful things happen, just like we move on after bad storms. That brings up an interesting thought: what is the spirit of North Dakota?
The natives were obviously here first, some settling calmly near the Missouri in agriculturally-based permanent settlements, while others were more nomadic and travelling around (and much more prone to fighting). They were resourceful and came up with stunning ways of defeating both the winter cold and summer heat of Dakota (remember: no heat or AC back then).
The white settlers: first trappers, then military, and finally homesteaders, all had to endure the similar climate, unforgiving loneliness of the prairie, and ruthless exploitation by outside railroad and grain interests. They endured. Through an insistence on the strength of family and community coupled with a 'God will provide but you must also work' mentality they fought out a living here. Hail would destroy crops, droughts would scorch the land, and floods would wash life away, but they endured. They were able to move on and not dwell on the past. Things change, and we understand that in a state where storms can rise up in a matter of minutes.
North Dakotans are hesitant to embrace change initially, especially in government and politics, but we eventually get there. People can set aside their own interests for others as they always have and move towards a common good. That's the North Dakota spirit. What isn't the North Dakota spirit? Refusing to let go of something that's gone; downright insulting those whom you do not agree with; making outrageous claims to show anger. Here are two examples from facebook:
"The solution? If UND Fighting Sioux Hockey has the nerve, a petition of names of people who will NOT attend a und sport activity under any name other than North Dakota. I will stand right at the door refusing to cross that elitist, non participating yet knows what best for us, name making boards threshold. Of course it will hurt the Ralph, but I can imagine him barring the door with his own arms crossed."
"We should destroy the REA. It should go down with the Fighting Sioux. That's what Ralph would want all the f***** whiny a******* can go build another arena themselves with their crazily stupid new name."
STOP. Just stop. You are not helping anything. You are making all of us look bad to the nation, but you are also poorly representing North Dakotans and hence the University of North Dakota. If you truly love the University, you help them through this tough time, not act like a child.
My honest opinion? IT'S JUST A NICKNAME. Tomorrow the sun will rise and set. Winter will come and spring will follow. People will do great things that they never believed they could do. The Earth will even continue to orbit around the sun. If we continue to dwell on the past and refuse to move on, at some point down the line we will go through this entire process again. It's absurd to keep fighting. When fighting an enemy, you keep fighting if the only other alternative is to lose. What is the loss here? Are the new nicknames really that bad?
Fighting Hawks: The Fighting Hawks captures the North Dakota spirit. Their sharp eyes and piercing talons are perfect for the open rolling prairies here. Often you can see them perched upon a fence post or hay bale, waiting and looking for their next meal. Even in a land without trees, hawks have adapted. That's the ND spirit. I would support this nickname.
Sundogs: For those of you who don't know, a sundog is a halo of rainbow that you see in the sky on frigid cold and clear days in the winter. Normally this kind of cold is what we receive after some kind of blizzard or we are in some kind of cold spell. Nevertheless, sundogs are a beautiful sight that only endurance of some kind of harsh weather can bring about. The North Dakota spirit has a lot to do with enduring hardships and finding beauty in the aftermath. Also, sundogs are beautiful! I would support this nickname.
Roughriders: This is an obvious reference to Theodore Roosevelt and is already a nickname for Grand Forks Red River high school, but what's the problem here? Roosevelt fell in love with western North Dakota and its rugged beauty. The calm and peacefulness of the spectacular landscape affording him enough courage as to even say that he would not have gotten as far as he did had he not been in North Dakota. Even so, if you think about a more literal meaning of the word, there are so many folks in the state that enjoy riding horse, and especially out west there are plenty of rough areas to ride. That's the North Dakota spirit. I would support this nickname.
Nodaks: Kind of rolls off the tongue, eh?
North Stars: Too much of a Minnesota thing, so I'll pass.
My recommendation is this: MOVE ON. We will not be the Sioux again. I honestly don't care about the injustice the NCAA committed to UND by telling them their nickname was offensive. It's in the past and can't be changed. We can either wallow in self-pity and anger, looking bitterly on the past, or we can look forward to a new future. If you truly love this university, THIS STATE, you need to realize that you are giving it a crutch by continuing to beat this dead horse of not having a nickname. Being nickname-less sucks. Every other school has some kind of cool mascot and logo except us. It's time to move to the next stage of UND's life. Are you ready?
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