GRAND FORKS, N.D.
The judge hearing arguments in a lawsuit over the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname belonged to a student group in the 1960s whose members wore a cartoon American Indian mascot on their jackets, The Forum reports in a copyright story.
Judge Lawrence Jahnke was a member in the early 1960s of UND’s Golden Feather pep club, a group limited to 30 male members each year, the newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Forum said it confirmed the information through official UND archives and tried unsuccessfully to contact the judge for comment.
His clerk said he does not comment on an ongoing court case.
UND is challenging an NCAA ban on the use of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo in postseason play. The NCAA considers the nickname and logo hostile and abusive.
Jahnke is a UND graduate as are attorneys in the case: Wick Corwin, who represents the NCAA and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, who represents the state.
