Fighting Sioux Nickname--GET RID OF IT

I had taken the stance that as alumni, we needed to keep the the Fighting Sioux nickname. Recently I have changed my way of thinking.

After hearing certain Sioux dignitary's speak on the issue, I began to feel sad. After all, the University is paying "bribes" to the Sioux to attend their college. If by the word "bribes" he meant scholarships as I suspect, I would like to know how many of the Sioux families are turning down the money? UND has a vast array of Indian programs designated to help Native Americans overcome the stigma that has plagued their nations for years. InMed, Indians in Medicine is a wonderful opportunity for Native Americans to become Doctors! What do you think would happen if the nickname changed and all of the alumni support disappears? Budget cuts will become necessary. Hmmm.... Which programs should go first? If the University is just "bribing" them with funding to attend an institution of higher learning, why should that University continue to support the Indian Studies programs?! Another concern of mine is why are we working so hard to defend their culture and heritage? Someone at some point obviously thought that the Sioux tribe was worth honoring! Why? I grew up near a reservation and while not all Native Americans are bad it seems that the bad is all I remember. When I was a Freshman in high school, I had a teacher kidnapped by 3 Sioux tribe members over A QUART OF OIL!! Growing up we lived near a major highway and we constantly had them in our yard asking "have you gotta rim and tire we can have?" or "if you could give us gas to get home, you can have this watch" which by the way was on clearance for $2 at walmart, I had seen it that very same day. Just recently a woman stopped by our neighbors at 1am and asked to use the phone. He let her and turned his back to afford her some privacy. He heard keys jingle and the door close. Then he heard his pickup drive off. Why not follow her? He was wearing a robe in the "crisp" ND winter air. They finally threw down road spikes to stop her west of Devils Lake. These are reasons for NOT keeping the nickname. What kind of honor is there in a nation of people who aren't interested in preserving their OWN honor? We do everything else for them why not keep their heritage alive too?

Here is another thing, while attending class I was approached by my Prof. and asked to remove my UND Fighting Sioux sweatshirt because it was offending someone in the class. Well, now that is a problem! Someone CHOSE to attend UND knowing full well what the mascot was and has been since ????? Maybe somebody should have done a little research? It wasn't as if this student chose UND, and 2 days later they changed the nickname and mascot. I bought that shirt on campus and I was going to wear it on campus.

I say change the name to something that really means honor for something! I mean since UND is so technologically savvy, why not be the University of North Dakota Techies! or the UND Northern Lights! How about the UND Liberals!! UND Bobcats--the list goes on and on.