Dispute highlights North Dakota’s tough sell of new nickname

FARGO, N.D. – A dispute between the University of North Dakota and one of its most generous benefactors is underscoring the difficulty the school has had in selling its Fighting Hawks nickname.

Engelstad Family Foundation trustee Kris Engelstad McGarry and school president Mark Kennedy are at odds over the foundation’s plans to paint the words “North Dakota” at centre court of the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, a basketball and volleyball arena. Kennedy wants the Fighting Hawks logo.

McGarry says the foundation only opposes featuring the Fighting Hawks emblem at centre court because it believes there are longtime fans and supporters who do not identify with it.

The school retired its Fighting Sioux nickname in 2012 after the NCAA deemed it “hostile and abusive” and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe refused to endorse it.