Standing Rock Election

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will elect new officials tomorrow. The election comes a day before the deadline for UND to get tribal approval to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname.

One of the positions up for grabs is the tribal chair. Incumbent Ron His Horse Is Thunder is facing off against Charles Murphy. His Horse Is Thunder is a strong opponent of the Fighting Sioux nickname and has said his tribe will not give UND permission to continue using it. Charles Murphy says he won't talk about whether he supports a reservation wide vote on UND's use of the nickname until the election is over.

The State Board of Higher Education is leaning toward extending the deadline at least a couple of weeks to give a new tribal council on the time to decide if it wants to act on the nickname.

Tags: casey wonnenberg, standing rock, nickname, und, daily updates