John Chaske, member of Spirit Lake Sioux tribe, expressed support for the UND use of the logo in 2012. Photo courtesy of mprnews.org.

You may have heard about the recent controversy involving the UND chapter of Gamma Phi Beta. It recently found itself in trouble for displaying a banner for the NCAA Frozen Four Hockey tournament. The banner read, “You can take away our mascot, but you can’t take away our pride!”

UND President Robert Kelley went so far as to send out an email apologizing for the banner — claiming it demonstrated a lack of sensitivity, civility and respect.

I would disagree with this interpretation of these events. Several besides President Kelley have claimed this sorority acted in a manner that was racially insensitive, implying the name was dropped for being offensive to Native Americans which is demonstrably false.

The name was dropped because of pressure from the NCAA, and not because of actual offense voiced by the local Native American tribes. In fact, they not only failed to be offended, but many actively supported the name and fought to keep it.

Frank Blackcloud, a spokeperson for Spirit Lake (one of the local Sioux Tribes), told KXMB CBS 12 he was proud of the logo.

“We gave UND permission years ago,” he told the TV station. “This was a gift, and that’s what the NCAA doesn’t understand, nobody has the right to take that gift away except a Sioux tribe, and the only reason we would take it away is if they were doing dishonor to the Sioux name, and they aren’t doing that. They are holding it respectfully and with honor and in its tradition — and are doing everything proper.”

People keep trying to make it a race issue, but it has nothing to do with race. At least it doesn’t to the very people who were supposed to be offended by it.  It seemed as if no one but President Kelley was openly offended by the banner.

Another important thing to understand in the context of this issue, is that even though the university has officially retired the logo, the students never have.

All across campus, students display the Sioux logo on their backpacks, T-shirts and everything else. I even have the Sioux logo on the back of my van. Am I racist for displaying this logo on my van? Should I also attend sensitivity training? I am, after all, Indian.

The other problem with President Kelley’s actions is that they were violating the first amendment rights of the sorority. I certainly agree that a sorority should not be free to be openly racist or insensitive, yet it’s unfair to label actions as such when it’s clear that was never the intent.

Some have pointed out the purpose of the banner was criticizing the NCAA and not native Americans.

This makes a lot of sense, especially considering the amount of students that have refused to accept the name change. Also, if the purpose was indeed to criticize the NCAA, then instead of offending the local Sioux tribes, they actually would be honoring their wishes as the quote from the Spirit Lake spokesperson shows that they were not fans of the actions taken by the NCAA either.

While the sorority’s actions were not offensive, President Kelley’s actions were, both to students and the native Americans. He is neither representing nor protecting the interests of either party.

 Michael Rauser is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].