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Minnesota to continue ban of UND

Heath Hotzler
The Forum - 11/01/2007

The University of Minnesota’s policy prohibiting the Gophers from playing
the University of North Dakota in all sports except hockey will remain
despite UND’s recent settlement agreement with the NCAA.

University of Minnesota Advisory Committee on Athletics chair Douglas
Hartmann said Wednesday his group will not address changing the policy
until North Dakota changes its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.

The North Dakota Board of Higher Education last week agreed to a settlement
with the NCAA that will allow UND to keep its existing name and logo for at
least the next three years. North Dakota has until Nov. 30, 2010 to retire
the nickname and logo or secure approval from the area’s Sioux tribes to
keep them.

“In our view, it’s not an agreement, it’s a waiting period,” said Hartmann,
a sociology professor at Minnesota. “Until that gets resolved, which it
sounds like is years away, we’ll be standing pat and not even opening (it)
for discussion, much less changing the policy.”

Minnesota instituted a policy in 2003 discouraging the school’s athletic
department from competing against teams with American Indian mascots and
nicknames.

Hartmann told his committee in September that there was no reason to
reconsider the policy because there were no significant changes in UND’s
court battle with the NCAA.

“The consensus around here is that the settlement doesn’t really change
anything for Minnesota until there is an actual resolution,” Hartmann said.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Heath Hotzler at (701) 241-5562.

Hotzler’s small college blog can be found at www.areavoices.com