Contact: Peter Johnson, UND Media Relations, (701) 777-4317
Don Kojich, Executive Associate Vice President for University Relations, (701) 777-4426
The University's appeal and attachments can be found at www.universityrelations.und.edu/logoappeal.
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The University of North Dakota today [Tuesday, Aug. 30] sent its appeal to the NCAA Executive Committee, which lumped UND into a group of 18 universities and colleges that would no longer be allowed to use its team name and logo in post-season tournament play.

President Charles Kupchella said the appeal is framed around three basic arguments

* The nickname and logo are used with the utmost respect and class and are in no way inherently hostile or abusive.
* UND has many substantive positive relationships with American Indians and the University has had -- and continues to have -- the support, including the formal support, of many Indian people.
* The University believes it is "totally unreasonable for the NCAA to ask us to change the terms of a contract in place whereby we would host the regional Division I men’s hockey tournament in the spring."

Kupchella said he expects a "quick and positive" decision from the NCAA. "We have articulated a strong case for an appeal that will entirely refute any sense that we somehow use our nickname and logo in an abusive and-or hostile manner. In fact, just the opposite is true. We use the nickname and logo with consummate respect. Our logo is a classical image of an 18th and 19th century American Indian, and it was designed by a well-respected American Indian artist, Bennett Brien. Based on the subcommittee's action in overturning the decision for Florida State University, I expect that we'll have a favorable decision," Kupchella said.

The University's relationship with the American Indian people is far more substantive and fundamental than the use of a nickname, Kupchella said. He said UND enrolls more than 400 American Indian students and has more than 25 programs - "probably proportionately more than any institution of higher education in the United States" - designed to support American Indian students. Over the years, UND has had dozens of cooperative programs in the fields of education, health care, economic development, etc. with the tribes throughout our region, he added.

Kupchella said the contract between UND and the NCAA where UND will host a hockey tournament in March is another issue in the University's appeal. Requiring UND to significantly change of the venue would be a violation of the contract, said Kupchella. In the appeal, Kupchella wrote: "We certainly have no intention, in any case, of covering images at the site of the regional ice hockey tournament. To do so would imply that we are somehow ashamed of an 80-year history of one of the nation’s most successful athletic programs and of our link to the proud heritage of this region."

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