"As of Thursday, the North Dakota Board of Higher Education has officially approved a plan of action for addressing the Fighting Sioux nickname battle, something that has been in the waiting room since a settlement was reached with the NCAA last November. The proposal was introduced by board member Duaine Espegard and was passed with the addition of a few amendments. The changes were based mostly on wording issues and additional amendments stating that the proposal was subject to change based on scheduling abilities by the athletic teams. So, after a year of waiting on the State Board, they have finally laid forth steps to be taken in order to officially seek permission from two North Dakota tribes.
In the proposal, a committee consisting of the state's top governmental officials will need to be formed by January 2009 in order to meet with tribal leaders and, if nickname approval does not seem forthcoming by Jan. 2010, then a transition team will be formed for the university in order to prepare for the name change.The proposal also confirmed that it was the board's responsibility to acquire permission, and not UND's.
So it seems that, at last, the state board took the pressure off of UND as the supposed responsible player in the continued nickname saga in the year that they have had since the settlement to take action. Since the transition the action on the nickname had been foggy as to who should be responsible, and when responsibility was finally laid upon the state board they did nothing for a year. It seemed that it wasn't until Chancellor William Goetz stated that either something should be done or the state board should drop the fight that the wheels actually started to turn towards progress.'
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