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]
Originally Posted by Dave Lane:
Here this should work
Awesome. We're showing up in force, and I'm sure the committee is reading that page.
My worry is that they've already voted on Ermines, but if they're wise and savvy people then they've already passed us to the next round and our efforts will go toward getting Ermines into the top ten. We're going to UNDErmine the status quo when it comes to mascots. [Reply]
I've already resigned myself to the heavy probability that Ermines is going to fall out at some point in favor of something safer or more traditional like aviators or flickertails.
But, can you just imagine the insane explosion that would occur in this thread if the mighty ermine actually did prevail? [Reply]
There's an undocumented rumor emerging on the North Dakota forum that the list of semi-finalists through the G's is as follows. The number is the number of votes by a six-person committee. At least one vote was required to move to the semi-finals.
This has to just be a rumor. That's pretty much the worst set of names that could be picked. For North Dakota's sake, I hope this isn't true.
Maybe they had investigated and determined that most of the Ermine suggestions were coming from out of state around the KC area, and presumed it was just a bunch of jokers that should be ignored. [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
Maybe they had investigated and determined that most of the Ermine suggestions were coming from out of state around the KC area, and presumed it was just a bunch of jokers that should be ignored.
I dunno. These are people who voted for "Fighting Green Hawks" and "Blizzard Dogs". I don't have a lot of faith that they could pull off an investigation. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
There's an undocumented rumor emerging on the North Dakota forum that the list of semi-finalists through the G's is as follows. The number is the number of votes by a six-person committee. At least one vote was required to move to the semi-finals.
This has to just be a rumor. That's pretty much the worst set of names that could be picked. For North Dakota's sake, I hope this isn't true.
Aeronauts, 1
Aeros, 1
Arctic Blaze, 2
Arctic Force, 1
Aurora, 2
Aviators, 1
Badlanders, 1
Big Green, 4
Bison Slayers, 1
Blackhawks, 3
Blaze, 1
Blazing Stars, 1
Blizzard, 1
Blizzard Dogs, 1
Bombardiers, 1
Bombers, 1
Cavalry, 2
Charging Nokota, 1
Drillers, 1
Energy, 1
Explorers, 1
Fighting Green, 3
Fighting Green Hawks, 2
Fighting Hawks, 2
Fire, 2
Flame, 1
Flames, 4
Flickertails, 3
Fliers, 2
Force, 6
Force of North, 2
Global Hawks, 1
Green Bombers, 1
Green Hawks, 2
Green Pride 1
Grey Hawks, 1
The only thing I can figure is that they have a name picked out and didn't want any legitimate competition for it. So they killed off all of the good names before they started assigning scores. [Reply]
So this noble effort is over. Sadly, all we were able to accomplish was to cause 6 people sitting in a conference room in UND to briefly furrow their brow, ask "what is an ermine? A weasel? Nah" [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
So this noble effort is over. Sadly, all we were able to accomplish was to cause 6 people sitting in a conference room in UND to briefly furrow their brow, ask "what is an ermine? A weasel? Nah"
