Last year we had the news that the University of North Dakota was handed three years by the NCAA to win the approval of the Sioux to use their tribe name as the college’s mascot. If Phil Jackson had his way, they might not have to wait for the three years to elapse. The Zen Master was in Grand Forks on Monday to accept an honorary doctor letters degree and he used his speech as an opportunity to speak out against the Fighting Sioux nickname, as recounted by the Grand Forks Herald:

And it is time, he suggested, for resolution of a nagging issue “in our own backyard,” at UND.

He asked the university and its trustees, “What is to be gained by keeping the Fighting Sioux” name and logo, and what is to be lost by giving it up.

“We have a chance to do the right thing,” Jackson said.

I’m not too surprised that Jackson used the opportunity to speak out against the nickname; Phil has tons of clout as one of the school’s most prominent alumni so his word must carry extra weight with the University. And would you expect anything less than a P.C. approach from an enlightened thinker like Dr. Phil?

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