In an interesting twist, the New York Times reports that some members of the Spirit Lake Tribe, which is one of the two Sioux groups in the state of North Dakota, have expressed concern about the University of North Dakota’s decision to drop its nickname as the Fighting Sioux. Apparently, the university decided to drop the name because it was considered to be “hostile and abusive” to American Indians. Some members of the Spirit Lake Tribe, however, have expressed concern that dropping the nickname will take the Sioux one more step toward obscurity.

“When you hear them announce the name at the start of a hockey game, it gives you goose bumps,” said Frank Black Cloud, who is a tribal member, in the New York Times article. “They are putting us up on a pinnacle.”

So, in an ironic turn of events, a legal standoff is now taking place between the top lawyers of the state and the members of the Spirit Lake Tribe, who are actually suing in an effort to maintain the Fighting Sioux name and logo, which depicts an Indian with feathers draping down. Outside of the courtroom, the debate has also created a rift among those who support the nickname and those who want to comply with the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s recommendation that all colleges drip their names and mascots that may be considered derogatory to Native Americans.

According to some members of the Spirit Lake Tribe, those Native Americans who are pushing to get the nickname changed are simply jealous because they belong to other tribes whose names have not been recognized in such a manner. Yet others claim that the operators of the team’s home stadium, the Ralph Engelstand Arena, are actually behind the lawsuit because they have spent over $100 million on an arena that bears approximately 2,400 images of the current logo. Both members of the Spirit Lake Tribe and hockey stadium officials deny these allegations.

“To do what they’re doing, you’re more or less selling out,” said Frank Sage, who is a Navajo and one of the approximately 400 American Indian students who attend the university. “They’re just being used.”

Nonetheless, eight members of the Spirit Lake Tribe filed a lawsuit last month in an effort to prevent the nickname change from occurring. As a result, the university is experiencing difficulty with complying with the N.C.A.A.’s regulations, which include threatening to withhold any university’s abilities to show its images at any championship that is controlled or hosted by the N.C.A.A. Since the N.C.A.A. initiated this regulation, several colleges have changed their logos while others have sought out permission from local tribes to maintain their current logo.

While the University of North Dakota initially reached a settlement to maintain its logo, some university officials have expressed concern that keeping their logo has caused other institutions to avoid participating in competitions with them. Furthermore, officials have grown concerned that the debate is taking away from the university’s academic focus. It is particularly concerning to university officials who feel that the backlash from the debate is occurring mostly on the university campus.

“We’re talking tears and heartbreak here for our students,” said Linda Neuerburg, who is the ssistant director of American Indian Student Services at the university, which currently offers 29 programs for American Indians, in the New York Times article.

Now that the university has decided to go ahead and change its name in order to put the debate to rest and focus on the future, the members of the Spirit Lake Tribe are maintaining that the school needs to honor its prior agreement to wait until November 2010 before making any changes. So, now the real question revolves around who has a legal standing in terms of whether or not the name change can take place. Furthermore, others are worried about the potential repercussions of making a change.

“If you think there are some tensions at the university before, just think what repercussions there will be for Indians then, said Frank Black Cloud, who is a Spirit Lake member, in the article. “You are going to kick us back a century.”