North Dakota is appealing its use of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo. AP
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Since launching its crusade August 5 against nicknames deemed "hostile or abusive" to Native Americans, the NCAA has itself endured hostility and abuse, mostly from people who deride the initiative as "political correctness run amok." The new policy includes an appeals process through which the 18 targeted schools can demonstrate they have the support of their namesake tribes. Three schools have successfully appealed on this basis -- Florida State (Seminoles), Utah (Utes) and Central Michigan (Chippewas).

Now, the University of North Dakota, home of the Fighting Sioux, has appealed for an exemption -- even though UND's nickname has been officially condemned by the vast majority of the tribal leaders in the state. This should make the school's appeal exceedingly easy to reject. If the NCAA does otherwise, there would be no point in having a policy at all. "This is a moral, ethical and civil rights issue," says Leigh Jeanotte, the director of UND's American Indian Student Services department. "We have to chip away at this over time. Slavery wasn't changed overnight. Women's suffrage wasn't changed overnight. More and more people are becoming aware that using American Indian names in collegiate sports is just not the right thing to do."

I submit to you that Jeanotte, a Chippewa who has worked at UND for 32 years, is far more qualified to weigh in on this matter than the yahoo who hosts your local sports call-in radio show. Yes, there are plenty of Native Americans in this country who say they are not offended by the nicknames, but there are also plenty who say they are. In the end, the sentiments that should prevail are those that belong to the Indians who live near the schools in question, especially if they work there or attend as students.

UND's case for its appeal was made in a disingenous letter written to the NCAA by university president Charles Kupchella. In the letter, Kupchella cites two national polls indicating a majority of American Indians do not object to these nicknames. But he fails to mention that a survey conducted on his own campus five years ago showed 67 percent of UND's Native American students believed the school should junk its Fighting Sioux nickname.

Kupchella also conveniently omits the fact that four of the state's five federally recognized tribes have passed resolutions -- all predating the NCAA's current initiative -- condemning UND's use of the nickname. Kupchella proudly informs the NCAA his school has more than 25 American Indian programs, yet he declines to acknowledge 21 of those programs oppose the nickname.