The University of North Dakota got rid of the Fighting Sioux in 2012, and since that time, they have been simply "The University of North Dakota." No mascot. Fighting Sioux was beloved by the community of Grand Forks largely because of the tradition associated with it in the university's college hockey program, which has been historically and recently one of the top college hockey programs in the NCAA.
The university has finally assembled a committee to look through suggestions and recommend a new mascot to the president of the university. They just need the suggestions. That's where you come in. Simply click the link and fill out the online form: http://und.edu/nickname/
Here are the basic guidelines to consider (from the UND announcement):
Spoiler!
Online suggestions, which must be 25 characters or less (including any spaces), will be accepted from Wednesday, April 1 at 8 a.m. CDT to Thursday, April 30 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. All mail-in submissions must be postmarked no later than April 25.
The Nickname Committee will evaluate submissions based on a list of attributes that the group has developed:
Be unique, recognizable, inspiring, and distinctly UND’s;
Promote a sense of pride, strength, fierceness, and passion;
Be representative of the state and region in a way that honors the traditions and heritage of the past but also looks to the future; and
Be a unifying and rallying symbol.
Submissions are anonymous; individuals submitting suggestions will not be asked to provide their names. All nickname submissions are subject to North Dakota open records law. Individuals submitting nickname suggestions are not entitled to compensation or anything of value in exchange for the submission, and all submissions become the property of the University of North Dakota.
The Committee will accept suggestions for nicknames only. Drawings, designs, logos, art files, special characters, etc. will not be considered.
Nickname suggestions will be sent directly to PadillaCRT, a group that has national expertise in nickname development and that has been advising the Nickname Committee. Any nickname suggestions known to be trademarked and/or subject to third-party rights or uses may not be considered by the Committee.
Since I'm originally from Grand Forks, I have connections to people who are abuzz with this process. I can tell you that there are already some favorites being championed:
--Flickertails. This was the university's mascot prior to becoming the Fighting Sioux in the 1930s. Given the university's recent goals of expanding into a tier-one research university, it makes a lot of sense to go with rodentia like their counterparts in the Big 10 (gophers, badgers). North Dakota is also known as the Flickertail State.
--Roughriders. The safest bet. Nothing says North Dakota pride like references to Teddy Roosevelt. Would also still manage to piss off a few people, since Teddy Roosevelt probably killed a few Indians when he was out in the North Dakota Badlands. It largely boils down to whether or not the university is cool with proudly stating to people, "Yeah, you might think of condoms when you hear our name, but we're still going to beat you in hockey!"
--Pilots. UND's aviation research and development program is unanimously known as the best in the country. It's odd to pick a mascot based on the strength of an academic program, but eh... weirder things have happened.
--Green Meadowlarks. This one combines creativity with tradition and old-sounding college mascot nomenclature, but it's also kind of weird. The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of North Dakota, and green and white are the school's primary colors. A problem with this is that I believe the Western Meadowlark is also the state bird of like 20 other states. It's still better than Banana Slugs.
--Keep using no mascot. The most likely option, I think. It's the last method that UND fans have to tell the NCAA to go fuck itself for making the university ditch Fighting Sioux. There's a rule in place that they can't have a racial mascot, but there is no rule that says the school has to have a mascot, just a nice little memo that says, "It would be really nice if your school had a mascot so we could maintain the entire aesthetic of the neighborhood. Smiley face." It would also make the university stand out and be truly unique.
But that doesn't mean you can't play a role in creating collegiate athletic history! So get in there! [Reply]
I mean this in the best way possible. I'm not trying to demonize a group of people here, and since a school mascot is there mostly for athletics, I understand why.
But that committee is stacked to the brim with jocks.
Schweigert, St. Peter, and Goering are all classic examples of dudes who were good enough for UND athletics but couldn't go any further with the skills they had. They're all successful individuals (especially St. Peter, president of the Minnesota Twins), but I really question if they think the same way people like Rain Man or I do.
Originally Posted by SNR:
In all these news links, reporters are picking out a chosen few and sharing them with people to give them a taste of what's on the PDF files.
None of them are mentioning ermines.
This is a problem. How the fuck are we supposed to gain national support for this cause if nobody's fucking reporting that "Ermines" is an option?
Should have sent a UND Ermines t-shirt to one of those guys Manny or Floyd and asked them to wear it the other night. Jimmy Kimmel probably would've worn it too. Really missed the boat on that one.
I liked that 2s is still under consideration because 'Grand Forks smells like No. 2 and UND finishes second in big games.' [Reply]
Originally Posted by SNR:
I mean this in the best way possible. I'm not trying to demonize a group of people here, and since a school mascot is there mostly for athletics, I understand why.
But that committee is stacked to the brim with jocks.
Schweigert, St. Peter, and Goering are all classic examples of dudes who were good enough for UND athletics but couldn't go any further with the skills they had. They're all successful individuals (especially St. Peter, president of the Minnesota Twins), but I really question if they think the same way people like Rain Man or I do.
And that's a problem.
My faith in the ermine remains whole.
But I must admit that it's a little worrisome to see that "Big Green", "Fighting Green", and "Green Hawks" are moving on. It may be the reporter who's not imaginative, so I hope the committee is being misrepresented in that article, but the few non-Green names that she reported are very trite and traditional. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
My faith in the ermine remains whole.
But I must admit that it's a little worrisome to see that "Big Green", "Fighting Green", and "Green Hawks" are moving on. It may be the reporter who's not imaginative, so I hope the committee is being misrepresented in that article, but the few non-Green names that she reported are very trite and traditional.
I've been making some phone calls to people connected with the Herald. Apparently Tom Dennis has been overloaded with political write-ins from people and wants to get those put out first because he claims that's what the letter section should be about for the most part.
So he still might get to our ermine letters in time, thankfully. [Reply]
They also didn't like the Butthole Lickers so you have that.
Don't scare me like that. Those were just dupes that were eliminated. We were still on the consideration list as of last night, and they made a call on Ermines then. But I can't find an update. Somehow they held a public meeting, picked 38 names from the first half of the list, and nobody apparently bothered to write them down.
Can anyone find the list of 38 from last night? [Reply]