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 displacedinMN:
North Stars will tick off some Minnesotans. They are still mad at them leaving.
Some still wear North Stars stuff today.
And some like a friend of mine took all of his north star memorabilia out to the parking lot and burned it all after they left [Reply]
Fighting Hawks
Green Hawks
Nodaks
North Dakota
North Stars
Roughriders
Sundogs
My new friends over at the UND sports forum appear to favor Roughriders and North Dakota. North Stars is clearly the best nickname left, though the locals are concerned that it's somewhat of a symbol of Minnesota, and apparently they don't want to be considered part of Minnesota. [Reply]
North Dakota is very likely going to win if the fan vote is given the deciding factor, as a protest against having to remove the Fighting Sioux, to defiantly state that they will not have a nickname at all. [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
North Dakota is very likely going to win if the fan vote is given the deciding factor, as a protest against having to remove the Fighting Sioux, to defiantly state that they will not have a nickname at all.
If "no nickname" wins, that opens the door again to use an ermine as the mascot. [Reply]
Originally Posted by :
The newspaper’s online poll has close to 5,000 responses, and 37.3 percent have cast their lot for “none of the above.” (Wither the poor Sundog, with just 6.73 percent of the vote.)
Can a team not have a mascot? Is it legal to just be The University of North Dakota? [Reply]
My preference for the final names (even though these were all bottom-half submissions in the first place)
1. Sundogs- It's the only acceptable and original name left that combines creativity in the mascot design with something that makes North Dakota identifiable
2. Roughriders- Like I said before, it's not perfect or preferable, but if you're going to get made fun of for condoms and BB guns, own it with pride
3. North Stars- Boring. Really fucking boring
4. Nodaks- Dumb. Nobody knows what the fuck a Nodak is, but they won't be intrigued enough to research it like they would with Sundogs. They'll just assume it's a truncated combination of NOrth and DAKota. Fucking idiotic.
5. Fighting Hawks- It took a nickname committee to come up with THIS SHIT? I'm going to find where Karl Goehring lives and I'm going to fork his lawn if they really pick that shit. [Reply]