A TV monitor displays the virtual town hall meeting held by the nickname task force. Photo by Jennifer Friese/The Dakota Student.

Although coupled with minor technical difficulties, the virtual town hall meetings went underway Monday night with Nickname and Logo Task Force members in Gamble Hall leading the meeting for all locations.

Student Body President Tanner Franklin and UND alumnus Karl Goehring led the discussion, which was linked through the Web by video camera to meetings in Minot, Williston, Fargo and Bismarck. People joined online through Adobe Connect from such diverse areas as Boulder, Colo., Vancouver, Wash., and Columbus, Ohio.

The purpose of the meetings were to gather input on which stakeholder groups should have a say in choosing a nickname and logo and what kind of timeline should be followed in choosing  them. Participants wrote down their answers, shared them in small groups and then shared their answers with the rest of the cities.

While the conversation was supposed to focus more on stakeholder groups and timelines, many participants took the opportunity to give their opinion on the nickname itself.

“I think that as a student here at UND, every student I’ve talked to here is very biased toward keeping the name … I think it represents us well,” Nick Stevens said.

Andrew Klamm, a 2012 graduate of UND, said, “I think it’s up to the people, and they should have a vote.”

He also felt that “the Sioux tribe should be involved as stakeholders.”

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe were present in Bismarck.

“We need to move on from where we’re at right now,” Cedric Good House, of Ft. Yates, N.D., said. “I agree that there is no name other than Fighting Sioux, so maybe we should just be North Dakota.”

One example of a stakeholder group is marketing experts.

“To look at this as a marketing decision and a merchandise decision is wrong in my mind,” UND graduate Bob Christenson said in Bismarck. “First decide if it’s appropriate to have any other nickname and logo.”

When the conversation wasn’t concerned with stakeholders and nicknames, it focused on the timeline and voting processes. Some thought that a large pool of nicknames should be created, voted on and then reduced to around five names with a final vote to follow.

“The decision needs to be more than just a simple majority,” said Gary Sukut, UND alumnus and member of the North Dakota House of Representatives in Williston. “It needs to be an overwhelming majority. Fifty-one percent still leaves out half the people.”

While many had strong opinions but were open minded toward change, some weren’t ready to move on.

“If we continue to be intimidated by the NCAA, they’re going to leave us in the gutter,” said Kevin Riley, a UND graduate who now resides in Fargo. “I think President Kelley got us into this mess by continually cowering to the NCAA.”

Comments written on notecards were collected by task force members in each site at the end of the meeting and will be used in forming an opinion on the process that the task force will present to President Robert Kelley in December. Comments made online will be used as well.

For people who were unable to attend a meeting, there is still a survey offered on UND’s website asking the same questions presented at the meetings and more. It is open to the public and will close at 5 p.m. on Nov. 30. Some sort of online comment box may appear as well.

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