Fighting for a cause

FILE - In this March 22, 2010, file photo, an American Indian head logo stands on the exterior of Ralph Engelstad Arena, a sports arena on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks, N.D. An NCAA executive says the university will face penalties for continuing to use its Fighting Sioux nickname and American Indian head logo. Executive vice president Bernard Franklin says a new North Dakota law that requires the university to use the nickname and logo doesn't change NCAA policy. (AP Photo/Dale Wetzel, File)

The University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname isn’t going away without a fight. The nickname was among several the NCAA deemed “hostile and abusive” in 2006. The NCAA threatened those schools with sanctions if they didn’t change their nicknames and logos. The university dropped its nickname and logo — the profile of an American Indian warrior — last year after the repeal of a state law requiring the school to use them. This week, organizers of a petition drive delivered about 4,000 more signatures than are required to put the question to voters. The university’s president then said the school would resume using the nickname until the referendum process is completed. Good for them. The NCAA was wrong to bully schools such as UND and others. We’re still waiting for it to put the squeeze on the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame. Not hostile and abusive enough, apparently.