The Spirit Lake Sioux tribe voted Tuesday to approve the University of North Dakota’s current nickname – a condition under terms of the settlement of the North Dakota Board of Higher Education’s 2006 lawsuit against the NCAA for North Dakota’s use of the name and related imagery in the Association’s championships.

Another tribal group, the Standing Rock Sioux, has not given its permission to use the name.

The vote, which the Grand Forks Tribune and Devils Lake Journal reported as unofficially confirmed, was conducted during a Spirit Rock primary election for tribal officials and was to be certified Wednesday by the tribal election board.

The Board of Higher Education and the NCAA announced the settlement in 2007. Under its terms, the university has until November 30, 2010, to obtain approval of the Spirit Lake and Standing Rock tribes to continue using its Fighting Sioux nickname and associated marks.

“The settlement confirms that the Sioux people and no one else should decide whether and how their name should be used,” Bernard Franklin, NCAA senior vice president for membership and student-athlete affairs, said at the time in a statement.

If the university is unable to obtain approval from both tribes, the NCAA agreed to give the university until August 15, 2011, to adopt a new name and logo.

Under terms of the settlement, the NCAA also issued a public statement on the campus environment at North Dakota.