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http://news.excite.com:80/news/uw/000121/university-203

Artist speaks out on U. North Dakota logo issue
Updated 12:00 PM ET January 21, 2000

By Howie Padilla
Dakota Student U. North Dakota

(U-WIRE) ROLLA, N.D. -- Bennett Brien remembers the day in early July
when he was approached by UND Alumni Foundation officials about
redesigning the Fighting Sioux logo.

Brien, who is part Chippewa, said he was determined to create a logo
that would help put an  end to any shame people felt the school using
the name brought.

"They just said, 'Can you redesign the logo? Can you do something
better?'," Brien recalled.

"I took one look at the one the school was using and I could see, that's
one ugly logo. I told them, 'I'll do one everyone can be proud of," Brien
said.

After scrapping five other designs, Brien felt like he had a design that
would help to put a rest  to much of the controversy surrounding the
school.

"I thought, 'After they see this one, there's no way they're not going to
like it.'," Brien said.

The original drawing, laminated for protection, laid on the table in front
of him.

His hopes have proved to be wishful thinking.

The logo, for which Brien said he was paid $2,000, was unveiled Nov. 22
and since the ceremony, a fire of controversy has be re-ignited. Protests
-- mostly peaceful to this point -- have taken place in Twamley Hall and
in front of the Memorial Union.

Protesters have stopped traffic on University Avenue and at times have
been met with jeers from supporters of keeping the Fighting Sioux name.

Monday evening, as Brien sat here, more than 180 miles from UND and
the swirling winds of controversy that surrounds his artwork, he said he
can't comprehend why people have targeted the design and the Fighting
Sioux name. He doesn't understand how people can possibly say it
represents racism.

"They don't know what they're talking about," Brien said of the accusers.

While Brien said he knows of the controversy surrounding UND's continued
use of the Fighting Sioux name, he said he fondly remembers a time when,
as a child, he and his friends had never heard of the Fighting Sioux of
UND, but knew of professional teams with monikers related to Native
Americans.

 "When we were growing up, we loved all of the teams with Indian names,"
he said with a  reminiscent smile. "The (Atlanta) Braves (of Major League
Baseball) and the (National Football League's Washington) Redskins,
we loved those teams."

Even when he and his friends learned of UND's moniker, he said, it
instilled pride in his friends of the Sioux Nation. Even to the point where
Brien would receive good-natured ribbing from them -- "(The Chippewa)
couldn't claim the team," he said with a laugh.

"How do you go from being kids loving the names, to thinking they are
something derogatory?" Brien asked rhetorically. The fondness once
present in his voice faded and was replaced with inquisitiveness. "How
does it occur? When does that jump occur? Do you think of that on your
own? Or does someone put that idea in your head?" Brien finally asked
with something of an accusing tone of his own.

"People have been told that these things are derogatory," he continued
as his accusing tones gave way to sarcasm "That's what happens when
people go to the university and 'gain enlightenment.'"

DRAWING FROM HERITAGE

Some people have challenged Brien's ability to accurately depict an
image of a Sioux tribal member. Others have criticized him for insulting
Native Americans everywhere by having his  image associated with the
Fighting Sioux moniker. He said these accusations are nothing
short of ridiculous.

"I'm half Indian," he said. "Why would I insult half of my ancestors? I
can't love one side of my family and not love the others."

Brien, whose wife is a Sioux tribal member, said his image wasn't meant
to be a depiction of a Sioux specifically. In fact, he only says the image is
that of a Native American -- something he said he is more than qualified
to draw.

"I'm part Indian," Brien said. "I've seen hundreds of Indians and if I'm
not qualified to draw one, no one is."

In the eye of the controversy, Brien said he feels no need to visit UND
in order to defend the image of his logo. In fact, if invited to the campus,
he would decline.

"I'll be around (UND), and if someone wants to talk to me about it, I
will," he said.

SYMBOLISM IS KEY

Brien said it was important for him to incorporate symbolism into his
redesign of UND's logo. He said that it was during his college years in
the 1980s that he began to realize that his artwork could actually have
meaning.

"I used to draw just for fun, but then people began asking me, 'What
does it mean? What do  your drawings symbolize?'," he said. "Now
symbolism is a big part of all of the work I do."

It is the symbolism that Brien feels is lost on people who criticize his
logo. He said he sent a letter to Earl Strinden, executive vice president
of the Alumni Association, along with his final image. He feels some
who are reacting negatively to his design haven't had a chance to read
the entire letter, only bits and pieces.

"If they had read (the entire letter), they would know the design was
done with pride," Brien said.

Another shame according to Brien, is the events that transpired at the
unveiling. During a public comment period after the logo had been
unveiled, Wambdi Wastewin, a UND alumnus who now serves as
an assistant director and advisor for Upward Bound, scolded UND
President Charles Kupchella saying, "Shame on you for mocking my
people." Wastewin then  left the conference abruptly and was followed
by several others.

"It was a wasted opportunity," Brien said. "An old-time chief would have
taken the opportunity to make sure more good came from a new logo.
They could have done so much  with it, but they didn't."

Brien suggested that protesters should be asking that royalties from the
design go to the  support of more Native American programs.

It is yet to be determined to what extent the new logo will play a part
in the marketing of the UND Fighting Sioux. But Brien, who also designed
the eagle logo for East Grand Forks Sacred Heart High School, said
nothing would make him more proud than to see his design on
a Fighting Sioux hockey jersey someday.

"I'd be wearing a smile from ear-to-ear," he beamed. "But they'd better
give me one of the  jerseys."

(C) 2000 Dakota Student via U-WIRE
 

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