The Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Photo by Chester Beltowski/The Dakota Student.

Three North Dakota State University students were arrested outside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Oct. 8 after they were caught tampering with the Sioux Center sign and then proceeded to run from police.

Police officers were dispatched shortly before 11 p.m., and when they arrived at the scene they found a large group of people wearing NDSU shirts, UND Police Sgt. Danny Weigel said. One male suspect had climbed on top of the arena near the Sioux Center sign.

The group appeared to be trying to hang an NDSU-related sign on the arena, although Sgt. Weigel isn’t sure what the sign said.

“It was taken down by the university police and Facilities and taken from there,” Weigel said.

Police officers charged Kyle Mason, William Ogdahl and Alan Patterson with refusing to halt after the three students fled the scene.

Both Mason and Ogdahl pleaded guilty at their court appearances Monday morning while Patterson pleaded not guilty.

Judge Lee Christofferson, a UND graduate, fined each of them $225 and, in addition, gave them an out of-the-ordinary punishment: Each are to write a two-page report explaining why UND is a good school and file it with the Clerk’s Office by Nov. 1.

The three students were can The three students were candidates for NDSU’s 2014 Homecoming King, but the school put an end to that following the incident, according to the Spectrum, NDSU’s student newspaper.

Pranks between UND and NDSU are uncommon, although that hasn’t always been the case.

“There used to be a back and forth between UND and NDSU back when we had the Nickel Trophy,” UND spokesman Peter Johnson said.

The Nickel Trophy, an oversized 75-pound replica of a five-cent piece, used to be awarded to the winning football team after each game UND and NDSU played against each other. It was put into retirement following the NDSU’s switch to Division I in 2004.

“Prior to that, it wasn’t unusual for students to try to ‘Mission Impossible’ and take that trophy,” Johnson said.

Student reactions to the NDSU students’ attempted prank have varied.

“I get the rivalry and everything like that,” junior Ashley Prescott said.

However, she was surprised that they would come up here and do that.

Graduate student Bea Stokkvik was more surprised that people were apprehended following the incident.

“Reacting so harshly to that is kind of silly,” she said before describing the extremes that rival schools used to go to in her home country of Norway. “It could be a lot worse,” she said.

Jamie Hutchinson is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].