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Last modified: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 7:14 AM CST
Order bars retiring nickname until after hearing
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — A judge is barring the state Board of Higher Education from doing away with the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname until after a Dec. 9 hearing.
Monday’s order from Judge Michael Sturdevant of Bottineau is in response to a lawsuit filed by nickname supporters from the Spirit Lake reservation.
The group says the board would be ignoring the rights of the Sioux people if it retires the nickname at its meeting next week.
As part of a legal settlement with the NCAA, the state board agreed to drop the nickname and Indian head logo unless it gets an agreement from the Standing Rock and Spirit Lake Sioux tribes to keep using them.
The chancellor of state university system, William Goetz, has asked Standing Rock Sioux tribal Chairman Charles Murphy to meet with him before the board’s Nov. 19 meeting.
Murphy told the board earlier that tribal officials are willing to discuss it “without deadlines and other stipulations.”
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