GRAND FORKS, N.D.

      University of North Dakota President Charles Kupchella says the school's fight to keep its Fighting Sioux nickname has gone too far to quit now.

      Kupchella spoke with faculty leaders last week, responding to a nonbinding University Senate resolution passed last month calling for UND to drop the nickname and logo.

He said leaders of the Spirit Lake tribe, the closest Sioux tribe to UND, told him during a recent visit that they will not change a tribal resolution approved in 2000 that gives conditional support to the nickname and logo as long as it is treated with respect.

      The NCAA has put UND on a list of schools with Indian nicknames and logos that are considered ``hostile or abusive,'' saying those nicknames and logos will be banned from postseason play. UND's second appeal is pending before the NCAA.

Kupchella told faculty members that the state Board of Higher Education in 2000 ordered the school to use the nickname.

      Given that and the pending appeal, Kupchella said, ``It would hardly be cool for me to go back to the board and say 'we're not going to do that.'''

      UND already has met with the leaders of two tribes and plans are under way to meet with others, Kupchella said. Tribal support has been a key factor for the NCAA in allowing other schools to retain their nicknames, he said.

      NCAA President Myles Brand, speaking in Omaha, Neb., said the NCAA will not back down on its ban of ``hostile'' American Indian names and mascots in postseason play.

``One of the values we hold dear is respect for everyone,'' Brand told The Associated Press.

Kupchella said he has been welcomed to a meeting of the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota, which is considering its own resolution on UND's nickname.