Part One: http://northdakotarunner.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-opinion-on-und-nickname.html
Part Two: http://northdakotarunner.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-opinion-on-und-nickname-part-2.html
Big news came out yesterday after the first round of voting for the final nickname that UND will adopt.
1.) The Fighting Hawks had the most votes, and in fact collected almost 1/3 of the total votes.
2.) Only about 27% of eligible voters actually voted.
3.) President Kelley allowed for the Nodaks nickname to continue to the final round of voting, reasoning that because it was only 100-and-some votes short of the second place finisher, Roughriders, it should be brought along. The North Stars and Sundogs were eliminated.
To begin, I was stunned to find out that Fighting Hawks had garnered the most votes. Off the top of my head I cannot name anybody who indicated to me that they would vote for this name, but rather I heard droves of people who would vote for Nodaks. It has been offered to me that many of these votes come from out-of-staters, and while I've noticed that now as well, there's no possible way for me to assert that without some evidence.
What stunned me more was the low turnout. For all the hullabaloo this issue has generated, the voting was frankly pathetic. I will reiterate what I say to people during political elections: if you don't vote, your opinion doesn't hold weight. I don't want to hear your opinion if you refuse to vote and actually contribute to the process. The only exception to this might be those who want to stay 'North Dakota' and refuse to vote out of protest, but even that is beating a dead horse. To those who don't vote because they want the Sioux nickname, believe that the process has been corrupted, and that the Sioux were silenced, I have more to say about that topic later*.
Why didn't people vote? It's sad. UND's spokesman said he was pleased with the turnout because it was the largest online survey response ever. That's one way to spin it, I guess. 27% is still small, no matter how you slice it, especially when the future of the university hangs in the shadows.
Some people are all up-in-arms about President Kelley's allowance of the Nodaks into the final round of voting. First of all, he was in a tough spot. If he keeps it out because that's what the rules said to do, he would take flack from those who would consider him unflexible and tight-fisted. If he allows it to move on, he takes flack from those who accuse him of circumventing the process and imposing his will on the voters. I personally found his decision to be a smart one, because it was so close to Roughriders. Second, who is surprised? We have precedent of Kelley suggesting change on the fly. Remember when the lists of names was being whittled down, and when 'North Dakota' was removed, he claimed that he would consider allowing it back in, even though the committee had already made a decision? Whatever you believe about his motives, this should not have surprised you.
Think back to the public nickname submission process. Remember the hundreds of cool names people came up with? I was excited to see all the creativity and ingenuity people had! As names were whittled down, I noticed that some names were much more bland than others. Unfortunately, my friends, we are close to assuming the blandest name that could have come from that list- The Fighting Hawks. Seriously? It's so generic and boring! But, people claim, I saw this cool Hawk logo on the internet- it kind of looks like the Chicago Blackhawks logo. Well, that's great. It still doesn't alleviate the real problem here- the fact that out of any cool name that we could uniquely label ourselves as, we choose some tasteless, run-of-the-mill nickname. What a waste of time and money.
[Now, I'm going to advocate for my choice of the three- Nodaks. First, we have been the Nodaks before. Second, it has nice flow to it. Last, but far most importantly, it's flexible and unique! I can't tell you how many times I've heard this: "Nodaks is dumb. What the heck is Nodak anyway?" WHO CARES. Nodaks doesn't have to be anything specific. That's something that we can come up with after the vote. We can define what it means to be a Nodak. We can define what a Nodak is. Nobody will mistake our university's nickname or its fan base, because we will have a unique nickname. It will stand out and give people something to talk about. Fighting Hawks is not special and will not draw attention- it's boring and dry. Nodaks is special, unique, flexible, and something we can be ultimately proud of. Vote Nodaks for UND's nickname.]
*As promised, here's a vent I've held in for a long time (there's some sharper tone in here, and I apologize if that bothers you). These past years I've heard so many people claim that they are concerned that the NCAA mistreated the various Sioux tribes, either by ignoring them, denying them autonomy, overstepping them, or generally not caring for their input in any way, shape, or form. Well, I'm touched that people seem to care about this supposed 'Silencing' of the Sioux. But since when do any of you give a rip about the Native Americans? I'll tell you when the Sioux were Silenced: they were silenced 150 years ago when many were killed by US military aggression (we call them 'wars' to justify it), drew up some 'treaties' (you know, like those treaties where one side suppresses the other and stuff), and over time shoved them onto reservations that we drew up for them.
Those of you most avidly voicing your concerns for the Sioux and claiming that you have sympathy for the suppressed people, do you also voice concerns about reservation alcohol and drug abuse? What about their schools? Are you involved in assisting their communities in any way? Surely you must to speak so forcefully on their behalf. I do not claim to understand what any Sioux tribe went through when the NCAA told us to get rid of the nickname. I've never been to a sacred pipe ceremony. I have not spent significant time on any Sioux reservations.Quick question: if I approached you right now, could you- without the help of technology- name the Sioux tribes involved? Could you identify their leaders that you occasionally bash? Do you regularly consult the people? My guess is you can't. Sure, there are some who can, but they won't be the majority.
My point is this: there are many people who need to admit the obvious- the main reason they are suddenly concerned about the voice of the Sioux people being silenced is entirely due to anger at the Sioux nickname being taken away and the tradition dying. These people are easy to spot. They say things like "Well now that we aren't the Sioux, I guess we don't need to give scholarships to Indians anymore" or "Indians shouldn't be getting any special spots in the med school anymore now because of this", as if this nickname was directly tied to problems of poor education and medical care on some reservations or something. To them, the Sioux people are a convenient addition to their argument, but this comes down to anger over the Sioux nickname. It needs to stop. People need to move on. This whole ordeal WILL go down as a stain in the university's history, and we need to learn from it. What have I learned from this?
1.) I'm never going into politics. What a mess.
2.) People really loved the Sioux nickname.
3.) Convincing people to share your idea in an emotional topic like this is almost impossible.
4.) Some people get angered too easily at things that don't matter.
5.) Social media can be an ugly, ugly place.
6.) The general American public doesn't care or know anything about UND.
7.) NDSU fans will still know us as the Sioux.
8.) We will endure.
So there you have it. We're almost done with this colossal mess. I pray that we can move on. Someday.
-Nate
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