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Thursday, April 15, 2010

FRANK BLACK CLOUD: GOVERNOR HOEVEN - RIGHT THE SIOUX WRONG

By Beacon Author on April 15, 2010 at 12:55 pm
2 Comments

April 14, 2010

 

Dear Governor Hoeven,

We are respectfully asking you to use the influence of your office to correct an unfortunate disregard for the wishes of the majority of the members of Spirit Lake and Standing Rock who are North Dakota citizens.

We did not ask to be included in the court settlement agreement between the NCAA and the North Dakota Board of Higher Education and the University of North Dakota.  This agreement allows for both reservations to give approval for the continuing use of the name and logo by November 10, 2010.

The members of Spirit Lake voted by over 67% favoring UND Athletics teams being identified as the Sioux or Fighting Sioux. 

A petition drive at Standing Rock calling for an election on the issue garnered over 1,000 signatures which amount to over 50% of the number who voted in their last tribal election.

The Board of Higher Education unilaterally changed the agreement and ignored the action at Spirit Lake and the petitions submitted at Standing Rock.

We want to believe the sad history of broken promises to the American Indians had ended but obviously the calloused and disrespectful actions by the Board of Higher Education prove otherwise.

The large majority at Spirit Lake spoke out loudly by our vote.  They believe this identification with the University of North Dakota is very important.  To lose this will only mean further isolation which will be harmful to the Sioux citizens.

We are respectfully asking you to use your leadership so we can fulfill the role given to us in the court approved agreement.

With kind regards and with our sincere hope you will assist in righting a wrong. 

                                                                                                Yours Truly,

 

                                                                                                Frank Black Cloud

 

 

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Comments

Avatar for Lynn Bergman

Frank is absolutely correct! The ND Board of Higher Education has not even attempted to bridge any differences in our two cultures. One of the most obvious differences is the concept of time. Spirit Lake and Standing Rock citizens rightly deliberate very methodically, discuss at length, and ponder the ramifications of important issues of the day. The Board has not honored that cultural asset at all by their knee-jerk action to dismiss the issue in favor of the liberal left politically correct crowd on the campus of UND. I deem the Board’s action no less than a “hostile and abusive” lack of respect for a culture slightly different from their own!

Speaking of “hostile and abusive” action, The NCAA is currently accepting applications for a lottery to be held May 1st to determine who will get the 19,000 or so tickets to the NCAA 2011 Frozen Four hockey tournament at the Xcel Center in St. Paul at $195 a pop for three games ($65 a game). They are immediately charging all applicants’ credit cards, and have said they will refund the money to all unsuccesssful applicants. This is likely an NCAA standard practice…take our money, draw interest on it, and refund the principal after a month if we’re unsuccesful. Then draw interest on the winners’ money for almost a year prior to the event. Quite a scam…something I would call “hostile and abusive”, and standard operating procedure of the NCAA!

Lynn Bergman on April 16, 2010 at 11:36 am
Avatar for Lynn Bergman

Postscript:

The interest income on the successful lottery applicants is about $92,000 and the interest income on the unsuccessful lottery applicants is about $23,000 meaning a cool $115,000 income to the NCAA from just the UNEARNED INTEREST on the lottery participants. Shame, shame on the NCAA!

Lynn Bergman on April 16, 2010 at 11:50 am
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