Tribal leaders demand expulsion of students who wore ‘Siouxper Drunk’ t-shirts at off-campus party

Tribal leaders have demanded the University of North Dakota (UND) expel students for wearing ‘Siouxper Drunk’ T-shirts at a party, even though that party was not sponsored by the school.

“Expel them. Expel the students. Zero tolerance,” said Standing Rock Tribe Chairman David Archambault during a meeting with school and state officials about the issue, which was held at the state Capitol on Monday.

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The controversial shirts sport a picture of the school’s old mascot, the Fighting Sioux, drinking out of a beer bong. The students wore them earlier this month to Springfest, an event at a public park near campus.

UND spokesman Peter Johnson, who also attended the meeting, told Campus Reform that Archambault was just one of several tribal leaders to make this request.

“I don’t think there’s any question in anyone’s mind that it’s offensive … offensive and racist,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “We see it as a highly unfortunate situation, a terrible situation that connects to our needs to provide better education about sensitivity issues.”

Johnson said there will be more meetings to discuss the issue, but federal law forbids him from saying whether or not the school would expel the students.

Some Native American UND students are considering filing a grievance with the Office of Civil Rights and telling tribes to not send students to the school, according to Leigh Jeanotte of UND’s American Indian Student Services.

North Dakotans voted to ban UND from using the Fighting Sioux mascot in 2012 over concerns it could be offensive. The vote also barred the school from picking another nickname or logo until January of 2015.

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