The University of North Dakota has won a battle in the war to fend off the politically correct nickname police. A judge has issued a temporary injunction that will allow the school, whose sports teams are called the Fighting Sioux," to host a Division II playoff game Saturday. The state of North Dakota in October sued the NCAA for the right to continue using the nickname.
The injunction is a good step, but by no means does it signal an end to the NCAA's overzealousness related to team nicknames. North Dakota and the Sioux are inextricably linked, and the nickname has been part of the Grand Forks-N.D., university since the 1930s.
The nickname was adopted "in honor of the first inhabitants of the region and some of the American Indian tribes of the state," according to the UND Web site. This, of course, doesn't matter to the NCAA in its haste to eliminate anything with the slightest possibility of offending one's sensibilities.
If North Dakota prevails, as it should, the NCAA will have suffered a legitimate setback in its quest to create an environment free of conflict, even that which naturally occurs on the field of play. The NCAA -- in the name of fairness -- should have backed off when a lawsuit was first threatened, as it did When Florida State University threatened legal action over plans to ban its Seminole nickname and mascot. But it's easy to say no to North Dakota.
Matchup: Winona State at Fighting Sioux, Saturday
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