How can I say this? Well, there has been a controversy for the past few (unknown amount of) years regarding the UND mascot-- the Fighting Sioux. The school had been asked to change it, but at the time an alumnus, Ralph Engelstad, was funding the building of a new (amazingly awesome) arena, cleverly titled the Ralph Engelstad Arena. According to some online accounts, Ralph Engelstad was the kind of man to host Third Reich parties on Hitler's birthday, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that he vehemently opposed the changing of UND's mascot to something more politically correct. In fact, he threatened to halt construction on the arena at the time this was an burgeoning issue.
But now it's a decade later, the arena is built, and Mr. Engelstad is dead. One would think the school would just go ahead and change the mascot, and they're currently in the process of it. However, Mr. Engelstad was so against changing the mascot that he made sure the Fighting Sioux logo was worked into the decor of the arena so often that it would basically be cost prohibitive to change it.
People in the know just call it "The Ralph"
I find the whole thing very fascinating, and I can think of a dozen or so stories from UO's history that are just as or more racist, but, still, it's pretty racist.
I know that at least one or two of you will think "That's not racist! It's just school pride!" and, yeah, you might be right. You could also call the KKK a social club, but it doesn't change the overall message.
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