FARGO, N.D. (AP) – When Mark Kennedy took over as president of the University of North Dakota a year ago, he discovered that fans of the school’s athletic teams were pledging allegiance to three different logos: a Fighting Hawk, a Fighting Sioux and an interlocking ND.
“It was brand confusion on steroids,” Kennedy said, adding that the school has yet another logo – the letters UND with a flame – used in official communications and advertising.
Kennedy is trying to unify the school’s message with a new $3 million branding initiative, with the slogan “Leaders in Action,” as the school continues to work past a decision to replace its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo its sports teams had used. The new program is meant to go beyond athletics and unify the branding and message of a school that Kennedy says became defined by the nickname controversy.
“In many ways our athletic logo was filling the cavity left by having an undefined brand.” Kennedy said. “It was doing double duty. It was being the athletic logo and our brand.”
Although the state Board of Higher Education retired the Fighting Sioux logo in 2012 after years of arguing over the moniker deemed by the NCAA to be hostile and abusive to Native Americans, it took until 2015 to settle on the replacement, the Fighting Hawks. Many people are still unhappy about the decision, although the state’s residents voted overwhelmingly to dump the Indian head moniker.