Insult or honor? More than 2,000 schools have given up Indian mascots in response to protests from Native Americans. But one tribe wants to keep its place on college Jerseys.

• Author: Davey, Monica
• Position: Cover story

A member Annis, a Sioux Indian and a senior at the University of North Dakota, finds the school's "Fighting Sioux" nickname and logo offensive, and she wants to get rid of it.

"That image is everywhere in this town--on T-shirts, hats, trucks, license plates, water bottles--and it's nothing positive for me," says Annis, a member of Cheyenne River Tribe in South Dakota. "It's very upsetting."

While Annis has lots of company in her beliefs on campus, members of one Sioux tribe called Spirit Lake take pride in the name, saying it's an honor and that abandoning it would send the tribe one step closer to obscurity.

"When you hear them announce the name at the start of a hockey game, it gives you goose bumps," says Frank Black Cloud, a member of the tribe. "They are putting us up on a pinnacle."

And so, in a legal standoff that has turned some preconceptions upside down, members of the Spirit Lake Tribe sued to preserve the Fighting Sioux name and logo, an image of an Indian in profile with feathers on his head (see photo).

In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N.C.A.A.), which governs college sports, banned what it called "hostile and abusive" Indian mascots, logos, and nicknames during postseason play. The ban came after years of complaints from Native American groups. The prohibition includes logos, signs in stadiums, cheerleader and band uniforms, and mascots.

DEEP RIFTS ON CAMPUS

"The use of Native references in sports amounts to name-calling," says Suzan Shown Harjo of the Morning Star Foundation, a Native American rights group. "It reduces the entire race to caricatures. It's racisim, and it insults our children and grandchildren."

At the high school level, there is no equivalent to the N.C.A.A., so it's up to local school boards or state legislatures to decide which mascots are appropriate. In recent years, many high schools have replaced Indian mascots and nicknames with less controversial ones.

In 1970, there were more than 3,000 schools in the U.S., both high schools and colleges, using Indian names and symbols for their sports teams; today there are about 900, most of which are high schools, says Harjo.

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At the University of North Dakota, the controversy over the Fighting Sioux name and logo has created deep rifts on the campus of 13,000 students, among its alumni, and especially among American Indians here.

'TEARS AND HEARTBREAK'

"We're talking tears and heartbreak here for our students," says...