Eric J. Burton
(701)-610-9466
http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/

The thing that makes people all over the collegiate world, mad is its none
of the NCAA business. They went too far and tried to infringe on state
rights. Its not about a small group (not a big numerical number) of people
feeling something its wrong so they believe we need to change it
immediately, I mean is there a constitutional ammendment to not be offended?
No there is not. Its about over stepping your relm. I am hoping the NCAA get
slapped hard. The NCAA has been wrong from the start; they were meddling in
something that wasn't their realm. The name doesn't cause racism in my
opinion, stupidity and lack of education and ignorance cause racism.
Ignorance is a athletic director of an ivy league school coming out writing
a stupid letter about how sorry she is she invited a team that has an indian
mascot, talk about the pot callin the kettle black. When Dartmouth has more
racial issues than UND does.

Changing the name isn't going to make everything all right like some have
suggested, its ridiculous to think that, almost ignorant. If anything the
incidents at Dartmouth prove that changing an sports teams name does nothing
to end racism, if anything it has made incidents worse. The argument is
probably been shot out of the water with the racial incidents they have had
this year. It appears from reading the various newspapers and articles on
this is that Dartmouth has way more issues than UND has ever had. Funny we
keep hearing about incidents at UND but no one has ever offered anything but
anecdotal evidence and that doesn't count.

Here is what I am talking about.

From the lawsuit filed in Grand Forks County District court.
http://www.ag.state.nd.us/NCAA/Exhibits1of4.pdf
Page 14 question 5 asks "how does your institution ensure a safe environment
for all fans including American Indians during athletic contests and other
events that the institution's American Indian Mascot, nick name or logo is
being used or displayed?

Answer: Even though the events may not be reported to the police there is
much anecdotal evidence that students have experienced difficult situations
at sporting events, and therefore, no longer attend sporting events.

If you look at the definitiin of Anecdotal evidence: is an informal account
of evidence in the form of an anecdote, or hearsay. The term is often used
in contrast to scientific evidence, especially evidence-based medicine,
which are types of formal accounts. Anecdotal evidence is often unscientific
because it cannot be investigated using the scientific method. Misuse of
anecdotal evidence is a logical fallacy and is sometimes informally referred
to as the "person who" fallacy ("I know a person who..."; "I know of a case
where..." etc. Compare with hasty generalization). The problem with arguing
based on anecdotal evidence is that anecdotal evidence is not necessarily
typical; only statistical evidence can determine how typical something is.

--
In a better world, IMHO, the NCAA opts not to chase a murky proposition like
the purported perniciousness of a symbol, but rather uses its influence to,
say, make Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee mandatory reading in all high
schools.