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FORKS, N.D. (AP) – Supporters of the University of North Dakota’s retired nickname made one last push to restore the Fighting Sioux moniker Thursday in front of a three-judge appeals panel in St. Paul, Minn.

Lawyers for the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe’s pro nickname Committee for Understanding and Respect asked the Eighth U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a district court order dismissing their lawsuit against the NCAA.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit last May. Nickname supporters at the Spirit Lake and Standing Rock Sioux reservations claimed they were not included in discussions when the NCAA and the state negotiated a settlement to retire the nickname.

Sixty-eight-percent of North Dakota voters last June voted to drop the nickname deemed “hostile and abusive” by the NCAA.

Information from: Grand Forks Herald, http://www.grandforksherald.com