Chief Illiniwek - MEDIA WATCH

Illiniwek compromise possible, trustees say

2006-05-20T23:20:00.000-05:00

Illiniwek compromise possible, trustees say
The Associated Press
May 17, 2006

URBANA, Ill. -- University of Illinois trustees said Tuesday they still believe they can reach a "consensus solution" with the NCAA that would resolve the debate over the Chief Illiniwek athletic mascot.
"The Board and the University community have been engaged in an effort to reach a consensus solution to the issue of the Chief," trustees Chairman Lawrence C. Eppley said in a statement. "We believe that this is an achievable goal."
The NCAA placed Chief Illiniwek on its list of "hostile and abusive" mascots in August, making Illinois ineligible to host postseason athletic tournaments. The NCAA executive committee rejected Illinois' final appeal of the decision April 28, although it can keep its Illini and Fighting Illini nicknames.
Supporters of the mascot, a student dressed in buckskins and headdress who dances at halftime, say it honors the state's heritage; opponents say it perpetuates a racial stereotype that demeans American Indians.
Illinois received a six-page written statement from the NCAA on Monday explaining its decision to reject the university's appeal.
"Illinois had multiple opportunities to present evidence in support of its position," the letter stated. "However, Illinois simply failed to present sufficient information to the staff review committee or the Executive Committee on which to conclude that the 'Chief Illiniwek tradition' should not be subject to the policy."
On Tuesday the NCAA said it added William & Mary to its list of schools subject to restrictions. The school can keep its "Tribe" nickname.
Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press

Shelbyville family with Chief Illinwek heritage decries NCAA ruling as uninformed

2006-05-17T06:37:00.000-05:00

Shelbyville family with Chief Illinwek heritage decries NCAA ruling as uninformed
The Herald and Review
By SHARON MOSLEY
SHELBYVILLE - An NCAA ruling against the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek symbol has members of one Shelbyville family sad and angry.
Sixty years ago, the late Robert Bitzer of Shelbyville, a student at the University of Illinois, was the eighth Illiniwek. Bitzer loved his role as the symbol of the Fighting Illini so much that went on his own to the 1947 Rose Bowl in Pasadena so he could be with the team.
"They didn't take as many people back in those days," Bitzer's widow, Marilyn, said. "The band didn't go with the team. Bob just got in a car and went."
The devotion to the University of Illinois and the Chief continued. Bob and Marilyn Bitzer attended the university, as did four of their six children.
One son, John, served as Chief Illiniwek from 1970-74, and another son, Don, was an alternate Chief during his college career. Bob Bitzer in later years shared stories of Chief Illiniwek and the American Indian culture with schoolchildren and Boy Scouts around Shelbyville.
"I think the first time was when our daughter Nancy was in third grade," Marilyn said. "Her teacher asked him to talk to the class. He always felt that the Chief was a symbol, not a mascot, and that's what he wanted people to know."
The Bitzers, like many other fans of the Chief, were upset when the executive committee of the NCAA ruled last month that Illiniwek is an image that is "hostile and abusive."
Former Chief John Bitzer, 53, a Collinsville attorney, said the ruling shows how little the NCAA knows about the legacy of Chief Illiniwek.
"The whole intent of Chief Illiniwek is to honor the past," he said. "The tribes of Illinois were warriors, and they were loyal to their tribes. That's what the Chief exemplifies."
John Bitzer said he received a few letters complaining about the Chief during his term as Illiniwek. He said he answered the letters with background information about the history of American Indians in Illinois and why the Chief was chosen to represent the University of Illinois. A member of the "Save the Chief" organization, he fears the Chief will be eliminated.
"I'm afraid the university won't have the stomach to stand up to this nonsense," he said. "There needs to be a judge rule that the NCAA is stepping out of its sphere of authority."
Bitzer said the NCAA's decision to let the Seminole Indian symbol of Florida State University stand while rejecting the Chief is an example of the organization's lack of understanding.
"They said Florida State could have their symbol because the Seminole tribe agreed," he said. "The Illini were a loose confederation of Illinois tribes. There's no one here now to speak about the Chief."
Douglas Cruitt, son of David and Nancy Bitzer Cruitt, is a December 2005 graduate of the University of Illinois and a member of "Students For Chief Illiniwek." He said students who want to save the Chief recognize the values he represents.
"They have respect for the honor and dignity he portrays," Cruitt said. "The Chief isn't a mascot, he doesn't cheer on the sidelines and he doesn't lead cheers. He represents Illini loyalty."
Cruitt compared the student population at the university to the American Indians of Illinois.
"We come together from all kinds of backgrounds and groups, and we have a loose confederation because we're all loyal to the university at the same time," he said. "Honor and loyalty; that's what the Chief is all about."

Options running out for U of I's Chief Illiniwek (Crain's Chicago Business)

2006-05-12T20:18:00.000-05:00

Options running out for U of I's Chief Illiniwek
By Paul Merrion
May 12, 2006
The highly-ranked University of Illinois men’s tennis team takes to the courts today for the first round of regional championships without the home court advantage it’s enjoyed for the last few years.
That’s the first tangible impact of the latest and possibly final chapter in the long-running Chief Illiniwek controversy, which forced Team Illini, ranked eighth in the nation, to travel to 33rd-ranked University of Kentucky for the playoffs this weekend.
As the top regional seed, Illinois would have hosted the regional championship at its Champaign-Urbana campus, as it has for the last seven years, if not for Chief Illiniwek, confirms a spokesman for the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.
“The NCAA has the authority to insure that its championships are conducted in atmosphere free of racial stereotyping,” adds the spokesman for the NCAA, which issued a final decision April 28 banning schools with Indian mascots from hosting post-season play.
After almost two decades of controversy, the endgame is near for the 80-year tradition of Chief Illiniwek, a student in American Indian regalia who appears at football, basketball and men’s volleyball games.
With the powerful support of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Plano, a bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives would give the university clearer legal standing to sue the NCAA and collect damages for lost revenues and legal costs.
However, a legislative remedy is considered a long shot, and the university isn’t pushing for it. Yet, if signed into law, a university spokesman says, “we would welcome the opportunity to restore our institutional autonomy.”
With time running out before the chief’s next scheduled appearance September 2 at the first home football game, the university is down to three unpalatable options.
It can sue the NCAA, which would be costly and time-consuming, with no guarantee of the outcome. Meanwhile, however, the sanctions against hosting post-season play would remain in effect.
It can refuse to comply, foregoing the status, revenues and competitive advantage associated with hosting playoff games. But that also “sends a bad message,” a university spokesman says, making it harder to recruit athletes and coaches.
Or, the university can do something to change the status quo, “something to be determined,” adds the U of I spokesman. “There could be an honorable retirement of the Chief tradition, or a changing of how the Chief tradition is conducted.”
To some, an Indian mascot is ethnically insensitive at best, or even a racist symbol of oppression. To others, Chief Illiniwek is an honored tradition and a revered symbol of the university.
Despite student-led efforts to retire the Chief and opposition from the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media, university trustees resisted the move and appealed last year’s decision by the NCAA to blacklist schools with Indian mascots, a decision that is now final.
University trustees met this week but the Chief’s fate was not scheduled to be on the agenda. A decision is more likely to be made this summer.
“The NCAA appears to have a gun to our head,” the university spokesman says. Some say “fight ‘em, create a legal defense fund, but I haven’t sensed the kind of intensity there was a few years ago.”

Governor says NCAA "out of line" on Illiniwek

2006-05-11T19:14:00.000-05:00

Governor says NCAA "out of line" on Illiniwek
May 11, 2006

SPRINGFIELD (AP) -- Governor Rod Blagojevich continues to keep his opinion about the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek private, but he said Thursday the NCAA should butt out.
Blagojevich said the decision whether the university's Urbana-Champaign campus should keep the Chief should be left to the school's board of trustees. The NCAA last month upheld its decision that Illiniwek is a "hostile and abusive" symbol and banned Illinois from hosting postseason tournaments if it keeps the mascot.
Blagojevich said the NCAA is, in his words, "out of line."
He said the proper forum for a decision is the university's board of trustees and said for him to express his opinion might, as he put it, "move the argument in an artificial way."
The trustees have not said what they intend to do in the wake of the NCAA's ban. They're meeting in Chicago on Thursday, but Illiniwek was not on their published agenda.

Trustees to deal with Weber's contract and Memorial Stadium, but Illiniwek not on agenda

2006-05-08T21:14:00.000-05:00

Trustees to deal with Weber's contract and Memorial Stadium, but Illiniwek not on agenda
JIM PAUL
Associated Press

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Another contract extension for a basketball coach and approval for the first phase of a huge stadium renovation go before the University of Illinois Board of Trustees this week, but apparently there won't be any talk about Chief Illiniwek.
Discussion of Illiniwek - and the NCAA's ban on Illinois from hosting postseason athletic tournaments until the school does away with the controversial mascot - is not part of the board's posted agenda. And, barring a last-minute change of plans, is unlikely to be discussed at the Thursday meeting on the university's Chicago campus, university spokesman Tom Hardy said Monday. The agenda becomes final at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 48 hours before the meeting, in accordance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
"If there's going to be a board agenda item (on Illiniwek), it would have to be reflected in a revised agenda for the board meeting" before then, Hardy said. "I'm not aware of anything right now."
Instead, trustees will be asked to approve a third extension for Illini coach Bruce Weber that would put him under contract through the 2011-2012 season and to approve the first phase of a three-year $120 million renovation of Memorial Stadium in Champaign. Trustees also will consider a go-ahead for construction of a new student recreation center on the Springfield campus and $42 million in deferred maintenance needs at the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses.
The 80-year-old Illiniwek tradition is once again front-and-center on the Urbana-Champaign campus after the NCAA upheld its decision to bar Illinois from hosting postseason tournaments because the Illiniwek image is "hostile and abusive" to American Indians. The April 28 ruling means the seventh-seeded Illinois men's tennis team was prevented from hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament this weekend, the first evidence of what athletic director Ron Guenther has called "an unbelievably negative effect" on the school's athletic program.
Guenther took some criticism from the public for his statement, but trustees Chairman Lawrence C. Eppley defended him.
"It might be harsh news, but he's right," Eppley wrote in an op-ed article that was published by The (Champaign) News-Gazette Sunday. "Guenther 'gets' winning. He 'gets' tradition. He also 'gets' that sometimes the best interest of the university is different than personal preference."
Weber's contract extension calls for increasing his pay for radio, television and other promotional appearances from $500,000 to $600,000 per year, an increase that will push his pay, including deferred compensation, to $1 million next season, according to documents filed with the board's agenda.
"I don't want to go anywhere. I don't want to move again," Weber said during an appearance on WDWS-AM in Champaign on Monday morning.
Construction on the first phase of the Memorial Stadium renovation - building new seating for 7,000 fans in the north end zone - won't begin until after the upcoming football season, but approval is needed now to secure construction permits and hire the construction company, according to agenda documents.
The pending approval for Springfield's new rec center includes a boost in the project budget from $14 million to $16.3 million. Construction would begin this month if the board signs off on the plans.
The board also will be asked to approve a series of projects made possible by its approval last month of a student fee for deferred maintenance. The first projects include replacement of the fire alarm systems at the university hospital and other buildings in Chicago and repairs to the university library in Urbana.

Bill in U.S. House challenges NCAA rule

2006-05-05T22:08:00.000-05:00

Bill in U.S. House challenges NCAA rule
The News-Gazette
Christine Des Garennes
May 5, 2006

WASHINGTON – A House bill introduced Thursday would allow the University of Illinois to sue the NCAA and seek damages for lost revenue if barred from hosting a championship game.
The legislation proposes to limit the NCAA's ability to apply sanctions on colleges or universities because of team name, symbol, emblem or mascot, according to a news release issued by one of the bill's sponsors, U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana.
Johnson introduced the bill with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville.
The move comes six days after the NCAA Executive Committee announced the UI could not host postseason events unless it gets rid of Chief Illiniwek, an 80-year-old university symbol.
The NCAA last August issued the policy prohibiting postseason competition at colleges or universities with "hostile or abusive" racial, ethnic or national origin mascots or symbols. The UI was one of 18 schools included on the list of institutions with "hostile or abusive" mascots or symbols.
Throughout the appeals process, the UI has stated that it should resolve the issue itself, that the NCAA Executive Committee exceeded its authority when it decided American Indian imagery was a "core issue" and that the NCAA set policy without following its bylaws.
The federal legislation has been in the works for months. Hastert approached Johnson about it in December, said Phil Bloomer, Johnson's spokesperson.
In response to the NCAA announcement last Friday, Johnson's office has been fielding numerous calls from constituents, most of whom have said, "Do something. Please do something," Bloomer said.
Thus the "Protection of University Governance Act of 2006."
"We're not doing this for political mileage but because it's the right thing to do," Bloomer said. Johnson is seeking re-election in November.
In a statement issued Thursday, Johnson said the NCAA was established as a sports management association but has since "assumed the mantle of social arbiters. They need to go back to scheduling ballgames and leave the social engineering to others."
UI administrators have not looked at the legislation yet, but university spokesman Tom Hardy said he expects the UI "will follow it with some interest, but we are not going to make any assumptions about what will happen or what could happen," he said.
"We've been served well by taking a deliberative approach since it (the policy) came up last August. There is no timetable. No decisions have been made on how to proceed at this point," Hardy said.
The pro-Chief camp was elated.
"We'll be reaching out to as many alumni as we practically can. The calls have already started," said Roger Huddleston with the Honor the Chief Society. He expects many UI alumni around the country will be willing to throw their support behind the issue because "it's a 50-state issue, not a Champaign County issue," he said.
"The Chief is not the issue, as much as I love the Chief. This is about right of self-determination," Huddleston added.
"I feel that's a red herring," said Bryan Alkemeyer of the institutional autonomy argument. "The real issue there is a racially offensive mascot/symbol on campus," said Alkemeyer, co-coordinator of the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative.
Alkemeyer expects to begin a campaign to stop the legislation.
David Gill, the Clinton Democrat running against Johnson in November, issued a statement about the legislation through his press secretary Brian Amoah.
"I am unaware of the legislation proposed by Mr. Johnson; however, I do believe the citizens of the 15th District would appreciate it if Tim would put the same effort into drafting legislation to help deal with $3 a gallon gas, uninsured health care, bringing troops home from Iraq and other problems that plague the 15th," he said.
Original cosponsors of HR 5289, besides Hastert and Johnson, are Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill; Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla.; and Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla.
The bill has not been assigned to a committee yet.

Chief Illiniwek's days could be numbered

2006-05-05T03:15:00.000-05:00

Chief Illiniwek's days could be numbered
Bloomington Pantagraph
By Jim Paul
Associated press

URBANA -- After years of debate over whether the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek represents honor or racism, time finally might be running out for the 80-year-old tradition.
Friday's decision from the executive committee of the NCAA that Illiniwek belongs on a list of imagery that is "hostile and abusive" likely means Illinois will have to give up the mascot or risk losing its ability to compete for championships on the athletic field.
The decision bars Illinois from playing host to future postseason tournaments, a factor, officials say, that would hurt the school's ability to recruit top athletes.
"The action that took place last week and what the university does about it has to be done in the context of the impact on the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics," university spokesman Tom Hardy said Monday. "Right now, we are not in compliance" with the NCAA ruling.
The effect will be nearly immediate. Despite its No. 8 national ranking, Illinois likely will be left out when sites are announced Wednesday for the opening rounds of the men's tennis tournament, which the school has hosted for eight straight years.
It is that kind of impact - on sports such as tennis, gymnastics, volleyball and soccer - that very well could mean the end of Chief Illiniwek.
"The department has invested large amounts of resources in facilities, scholarships and coaches in our Olympic sports," athletic director Ron Guenther said last week. "The inability to host NCAA competition would have an unbelievably negative effect on our programs."
The debate about Chief Illiniwek has raged for years on the university's Urbana-Champaign campus. Supporters say the tradition of a student dressed in buckskins dancing at halftime honors the state's heritage, while opponents say it perpetuates a racial stereotype that demeans American Indians.
The school has few options should it decide to challenge the NCAA
-Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Ill., whose district includes the UI campus, has said he has considered introducing legislation to prevent the NCAA from invading institutional autonomy. He also has expressed doubt that he could gain enough support.
-The university could challenge the NCAA in court. While some supporters of the Chief have called for this, it would be difficult. "It would be fairly costly to do. It would be very time consuming. It would create a kind of renewed rancor and divisiveness publicly," Hardy said.
-The university could retain Illiniwek and forgo playing host to postseason competition. Such a move might be viewed as contrary to the university's athletic mission to have the highest quality programs, ones that allow athletes to compete for championships.
On campus Monday, students were more concerned with preparing for final exams than with wading into the Illiniwek debate. Junior nursing student Sarah Nazarian of Champaign called the controversy a "silly situation."
"Maybe if I paid more attention to it and actually cared, it might make a difference to me. But I really don't care," she said.
Senior biology student Katherine Waser said she felt bad for the tennis team but had not known about Friday's decision until informed by a reporter. Civil engineering student David Osorio said the controversy has taken attention away from the university's accomplishments outside of athletics.
"My personal take is lose the Chief the first chance we get," he said.
Officially, the university's board of trustees is weighing its options, Hardy said. While tennis will be affected this spring, a final decision on Illiniwek's fate probably won't have to be made until just before football season late this summer.
But one observer who has followed the debate since it began is convinced the Chief's demise is imminent.
"The Chief is gone," said Loren Tate, a sports columnist for The (Champaign) News-Gazette and a supporter of the tradition. "I don't see any way out."

Copyright © 2006, Pantagraph Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

UI trustees consider remaining options on Chief

2006-05-04T23:19:00.000-05:00

UI trustees consider remaining options on Chief
By Christine Des Garennes
Saturday April 29, 2006
Has Chief Illiniwek danced his last dance at the University of Illinois?
The NCAA on Friday announced the UI cannot host championship events unless it gets rid of its American Indian symbol. But the university has yet to decide the exact fate of the 80-year-old symbol.
The fact is, it's a final ruling, said UI Board of Trustees Chairman Lawrence Eppley. "The ruling is in effect today, so we're subject to the sanctions. Right now we're out of compliance," said Eppley, who said he was disappointed with the NCAA announcement.
After the NCAA last August issued the policy prohibiting postseason competition at schools with "hostile or abusive" racial, ethnic or national origin mascots or symbols, the UI has been involved in a lengthy appeals process. The UI was one of 18 schools included on the list of institutions with "hostile or abusive" mascots or symbols.
During the appeals process, the UI did win the right to use the names "Illini" and "Fighting Illini," but not Chief Illiniwek.
What next?
" The board wants to take the final report from NCAA ... go through it carefully and take it into consideration with the guiding principles of their consensus process and make a determination on how to proceed from there," UI spokesman Tom Hardy said.
This consensus conclusion, which the board decided last July it would work toward, would be a resolution where not one particular interest group would be a winner at the expense of declaring others losers, Hardy said.
The board will meet May 11 in Chicago, and the topic of Chief Illiniwek may or may not be on the agenda, Eppley said.
Throughout the appeals process, the UI has maintained that it should resolve the issue itself. It also has said the NCAA Executive Committee exceeded its authority when it decided American Indian imagery was a "core issue" and set policy without following its bylaws.
On campus Friday, UI law student Josh Rohrscheib, outgoing co-president of the Illinois Student Senate, said student reaction has been mixed, and many are not sure what it will all mean. But most do agree on one point, he said: the issue sure is divisive.
" The whole point of a mascot or symbol, whatever you want to call it, is to unite a campus. The fact is, the Chief is a very divisive force on campus," Rohrscheib said. "The university has a tight budget. We don't have nearly as many academic advisers as we need. Class sizes are huge. There are so many more important things to be addressed. At the end of the day, the Chief is not doing what it's supposed to do."
What the ruling means for UI sports programs is that, in addition to not being allowed to host NCAA championships, the UI will be invited to participate in championships only if it does not have American Indian references on uniforms or associated athletic program activities.
"The inability to host NCAA championship competition would have an unbelievably negative effect on our programs," UI athletic director Ron Guenther said in a written release. "A ban on hosting NCAA championship events would put Illini athletics at a competitive disadvantage and make it hard to recruit top student athletes and coaches."
Part of the mission of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics is for the UI to compete at Big Ten and national championships. And the athletic department has invested a lot of resources in its facilities and scholarships to do this, he noted.
Friday's ruling could cost Illinois the chance to host NCAA men's tennis tournament matches May 12-14.
Ranked sixth in the country, the Illini would be a certain pick as a first- and second-round site for the eighth consecutive year. The NCAA will announce sites Wednesday, and it's unclear if Illinois is eligible.
"We're certainly disappointed in the ruling," men's tennis coach Brad Dancer said from Minneapolis, where his Illini beat Northwestern on Friday in a quarterfinal match at the Big Ten tournament. "I know Ron (Guenther) is working with the board to see what solutions there are. We've got all of our balls in the school's court. We want the opportunity to host."
News-Gazette sports editor Jim Rossow contributed to this report.

Find this article at: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2006/04/29/ui_trustees_consider_remaining_options_on_chief

NCAA keeps UI on 'hostile and abusive' list; trustees looking at future options

2006-05-04T23:09:00.000-05:00

DENIED- NCAA keeps UI on 'hostile and abusive' list; trustees looking at future options
Daily Illini
Courtney Linehan
5/1/06
Nine months after declaring American Indian imagery including Chief Illiniwek "hostile and abusive," the NCAA executive committee stood by its policy that the 80-year-old symbol is grounds for barring the University from hosting postseason sporting events.
The committee announced Friday that Illinois, University of North Dakota and Indiana University of Pennsylvania will not be permitted to host NCAA-sponsored championship events as long as they continue using American Indian mascots, logos or nicknames with their athletic programs. Those schools will also be prevented from displaying any references to American Indian imagery at postseason contests.
An earlier round of appeals resulted in a different NCAA committee declaring that the names "Illini" and "Fighting Illini" are a variation on the word "Illinois," and therefore are not offensive.
On Friday, the executive committee also determined that Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., which retired its American Indian mascot in 1989 but still goes by the nickname "Braves," would be removed from the list of offenders but will be on a watch list for five years to ensure its usage does not become offensive. Bradley is the only school to be placed on the watch list.
"The NCAA has the obligation and responsibility to ensure that its championships are conducted in a way that respects sportsmanship and recognizes the rights and respects the points of view and ethnicities of its fans and its players," NCAA President Myles Brand said in a teleconference Friday.
Controversy has enshrouded the Chief for more than 15 years. The University considers Illiniwek a symbol, not a mascot, in part because he only performs for a few minutes at halftime, and does not pal around with cheerleaders and band members throughout contests. Illiniwek only performs at regular season men's and women's basketball, football and volleyball games which the University hosts.
Illiniwek's supporters say he is a respectful tribute to American Indian culture, citing his authentic Ogallala Sioux regalia and dance steps that, while exaggerated, are rooted in American Indian fancy dancing.
"We think it represents tradition and does it respectfully, especially compared to other representations out there," said Allyn Ricci, sophomore in Education who serves as community service coordinator for Students for Chief Illiniwek, a Registered Student Organization.
But several campus groups disagree, saying the Chief is not authentic or respectful. Illiniwek's opponents say the symbol perpetuates a stereotype of American Indians and should be retired.
"It's the University, not the NCAA, that is hurting the athletics because the Board chooses to maintain a racist mascot, instead of dealing with the issue and giving the athletics the ability to host postseason play," Jen Tayabji, co-coordinator of Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative, an RSO that has declared itself anti-Chief, said in a press release Friday.
The University has adopted a wait-and-see policy to fighting the NCAA policy, and has been deliberate in dealing with nearly two decades of debate surrounding the University's symbol. Tom Livingston, who portrayed Illiniwek in the late 1980s when the controversy took center stage, said that measured approach has kept the tradition alive when hastier changes might have prematurely ended it.
"If the University changed course every time an outside body weighed in on Chief Illiniwek, we wouldn't have had the last seven portrayers of Chief Illiniwek," Livingston said. "The NCAA's characterization of the Chief as abusive and hostile, there's nothing I've seen publicly or privately behind-the-scenes that is abusive or hostile about this. I think they made the decision in a vacuum."
The University sent three appeals to the NCAA, and with the April 28 decision, exhausted its options in fighting the restrictions.
The appeals have centered around institutional autonomy - the NCAA, the University claims, does not have the authority to tell its member institutions what they can and cannot do. The University has repeatedly stated the NCAA is "the only game in town," and Illinois has no choice but to participate in NCAA contests.
"We've asked in our appeals, maybe too indirectly, 'Where is the limit of your jurisdiction? Where else do you want to tell us what to do?'" said Larry Eppley, chairman of the Board of Trustees.
The NCAA disagrees, however, and said Illinois has two options: discontinue the Chief Illiniwek tradition or stop hosting postseason competitions. If the University was banned from hosting postseason competitions, it would most immediately and most strongly affect Illinois' non-revenue sports - football and basketball do not host postseason contests. Ironically, Eppley said, the sports affected are the events where Chief Illiniwek does not perform.
There was little visible reaction from students when the final ruling was announced Friday. But Student Body President Ryan Ruzic, junior in LAS, cautions that this does not mean they are indifferent to Illiniwek's fate.
"I don't think it's the appeal being denied that students will care about," Ruzic said. "Rather, it's the actions the University will have to take that students will react to."
A March 2004 student government poll found that nearly 70 percent of the 13,000 students who voted supported retaining the symbol. Ruzic said the anti-Chief movement may have grown a little since that time, but the pro-Chief side still represents the majority of students.
Eppley said the University will not act hastily and will base its next move on what other schools do and how the NCAA responds to those actions. He would not say whether Illiniwek will perform at the Sept. 2 football opener, the Chief's next scheduled appearance.
"We've found that we've benefited by not reacting too quickly to things we learn from the NCAA," Eppley said. "It's served us well so far, and I suspect it will continue to serve us well."
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© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini

Illinois rejects Chief ruling, sends appeal

2006-05-04T23:08:00.000-05:00

Illinois rejects Chief ruling, sends appeal
University argues they, not NCAA, have authority to handle Illiniwek
Daily Illini
Courtney Linehan
2/1/06
Illinois appealed a recent anti-Chief NCAA decision Tuesday, waiting until the last day before the University symbol would have been banned from postseason competitions and the school would have been barred from hosting championship events.
By sending the petition, Illinois will likely get an extension until at least April 27, two months after Chief Illiniwek's last scheduled appearance of the season. The appeal asks, however, that the University be exempt until the academic year ends May 15.
"We want to be removed from the list and we want to assert the University's principle of self-determination," University spokesman Tom Hardy said. "In order to do those kinds of things, we need to work through the NCAA's administrative process."
Hardy said the NCAA decision has distracted the Board of Trustees' from working to bridge the divide between Chief supporters and opponents. Illinois' latest appeal, signed by Board chairman Larry Eppley, said the board intends to make "hard choices" regarding the Chief tradition, but did not mention retiring Illiniwek.
"Some change in the status quo regarding the Chief Illiniwek tradition is possible," the appeal says. "The options are limited only by the parameters established by the University's board, whose members are deeply familiar and engaged with the issue."
The 28-page document sent to the NCAA Executive Committee uses several examples of case law - including Supreme Court rulings regarding the NCAA - to argue that the NCAA policy and recent rejection of an initial appeal "violate principles of institutional autonomy." The University has argued since the Aug. 5 policy change that Illinois should have the right to come to its own solution about the Chief, rather than be forced to comply with an outside organization's demands.
The NCAA is the governing body of intercollegiate athletics, but the appeal argues that its opposition to Chief Illiniwek steps beyond the athletic realm.
"This appeal … is about a policy that asks a member institution to decide between abandoning an 80-year-old tradition cherished by many or face diminished participation in NCAA championship events," the appeal says.
While the initial NCAA ruling on Aug. 5 prohibited 18 member schools from using their American Indian mascots, logos and nicknames, more than half the schools on that list are no longer affected. Illinois first appealed the policy on Oct. 14, asking that the term "Illini" and the Chief Illiniwek symbol be exempted from the NCAA prohibition so Illinois' Board of Trustees could continue independently pursuing a resolution to the 15-year-old debate. When the NCAA staff review committee ruled only half in Illinois' favor, saying "Illini" was not offensive, the Board decided to send an appeal directly to the NCAA executive committee.
That committee decided earlier this month that it would delay reviewing three other appeals - from North Dakota, Bradley and Indiana University of Pennsylvania - until its April 27 meeting. At that time it decided any school that sent a second appeal before the policy's scheduled start would automatically receive the same exemption.
The University argues that the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights - which determined in 1995 that Chief Illiniwek did not create a hostile environment on campus - has the right to take action regarding the Chief. The NCAA, the University says, does not.
On Nov. 11 an NCAA staff review committee approved the use of the "Illini" and "Fighting Illini" nicknames. The committee ruled, however, that people outside the University could make the Chief Illiniwek symbol "hostile and abusive" despite the University's "good intentions and best efforts."
"By continuing to use Native American nicknames, mascots and imagery, institutions assume responsibility over an environment which they cannot fully control," Bernard Franklin, NCAA senior vice president for governance and membership, said in a prepared statement when the original Illiniwek appeal was denied.
The new appeal argues that the NCAA has yet to factually prove the Chief creates a "hostile and abusive" atmosphere. It further raises the issue that the NCAA never actually defined "hostile and abusive," its catchphrase for American Indian imagery it opposes, and arbitrarily singled-out schools to be subject to the ruling.
Additionally, the University claims the initial NCAA policy violates the First Amendment and antitrust laws.
"They never offered any outline or definition of what constitutes 'hostile and abusive' behavior," Hardy said. "They said in August they'd provide civil rights case law to support their position, but we're the ones who've provided that."
While this means that Illinois will be allowed to use the Chief Illiniwek symbol in the men's basketball postseason and can host other postseason tournaments, it does not mean that Illinois will change its policy of Chief Illiniwek not performing at the men's basketball NCAA tournament. The Chief has not appeared there since the Flyin' Illini competed in the Final Four in 1989.
Most of the 18 schools originally targeted have been removed from the "hostile and abusive" list for various reasons the University sees as arbitrary. Illinois' appeal asks that the decision be reversed, or at least limited to more specific sporting arenas.
"The NCAA policy sees black and white in areas where there's a lot of gray," Hardy said. "What other things could come up and how would those be handled?"
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© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini

University back where it started after yearlong debate

2006-05-04T23:06:00.000-05:00

University back where it started after yearlong debate
Daily Illini
5/1/06

On Friday the NCAA Executive Committee determined that its initial labeling of Chief Illiniwek as "hostile and abusive" was accurate and grounds to prevent the school from hosting postseason sporting events. The decision concluded a yearlong process heavy on paperwork and rhetoric:

April 30, 2005 - The University is one of 32 schools to sends the NCAA self-evaluations on their uses of American Indian imagery. This is the second self-evaluation in as many years.
July 14, 2005 - University Board of Trustees approves guidelines for coming to a consensus resolution to the debate surrounding Chief Illiniwek.
Aug. 5, 2005 - NCAA Executive Committee rules 18 schools will be barred from hosting postseason competitions or from displaying their mascots, logos or nicknames when participating in those contests at other schools because American Indian imagery is deemed "hostile and abusive."
Aug. 23, 2005 - The Florida State Seminoles are removed from the "hostile and abusive" list after proving they have the support of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. This sets a precedent that other schools will later use to get off the list.
Sept. 2, 2005 - The Board of Trustees adds an eighth guideline to its Consensus Resolution policy, saying the Board will keep the best interests of the athletes in mind when deciding what to do about Chief Illiniwek.
Sept. 26, 2005 - The NCAA policy is extended to include BCS Bowl Games.
Oct. 14, 2005 - First appeal sent claiming anti-American Indian imagery policy violates the University's rights as an autonomous institution and that the term "Fighting Illini" is based on the name of the state.
Nov. 11, 2005 - The NCAA rules that Chief Illiniwek is offensive, but "Fighting Illini" gets the OK.
Jan. 9 - The NCAA says it will extend its Feb. 1 deadline for any school that has a pending appeal when that date comes. The University appeals in time for the stay.
March 29 - The University issues its third appeal, which is ultimately denied by the NCAA Executive Committee.
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© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini

Daily Illini Editorial: Save the last fancy dance

2006-05-04T22:36:00.000-05:00

Editorial: Save the last fancy dance
NCAA denies appeal on the Chief, leaving consequences for Unversity
Daily Illini
5/1/06
In the May 1, edition of The Daily Illini, the editorial "Save the last fancy dance," incorrectly stated that the men's tennis team was "slated" to host the NCAA regionals. They were just a likely candidate. In addition, the editorial stated that Chief Osceola and the Utah Utes "were deemed inoffensive on grounds that were never explained clearly." Instead, they were deemed inoffensive because permission had been granted on behalf of their respective tribes to use the symbols.

For the sake of diffusing vociferous public criticism, NCAA has once again denied the University's appeal to be released from the "hostile and abusive" list for the use of Chief Illiniwek as its symbol. The capricious grandstanding by NCAA President Myles Brand and the self-righteous officials is not only unfair for its selective punishment, but seriously infringes upon the University's right for self-determination.

The NCAA ruling should appall even those who support retiring Chief Illiniwek. Unless the NCAA is going to start making decisions for every university, this is an egregious and completely arbitrary abuse of power by NCAA President Myles Brand and his cronies. The University is a body that makes its own decisions, and the decision to retire the Chief should come from its Board of Trustees. NCAA's high-handed tactics to strong-arm this institution into submission is simply unacceptable.

NCAA tries to sidestep the autonomy issue by arguing that it lacks the power to make the University retire the Chief. But the NCAA's ruling will pose problems for our school which will only multiply until we comply with their implicit mandate. There are consequences to retiring the Chief beyond just ending the halftime dance and taking off the Chief's likeness from uniforms. The University will lose a source of income from its licensing agreements. With the University's budget as tight as it is right now, cutting off any revenue is something that simply should not be done without a great deal of discussion and thought.

Moreover, though the Chief performs only at four sporting events (football, volleyball, and men's and women's basketball) every Big Ten sport is affected. The University is prohibited from hosting any postseason sports tournaments until the retirement of the Chief - including men's tennis, which was originally slated to host regionals this year.

In addition, the hypocrisy shown by Brand and Co. is simply a matter of selective enforcement. One would think, if the NCAA's ruling were in good faith, that mocking an entire race and ethnic group would be stopped, but Brand and the NCAA seem to think it's only some of the schools that use American Indian symbols that do this. Florida State's Chief Osceola and the Uta Utes are deemed inoffensive on grounds that were never explained clearly. Further, the icon for Notre Dame harkens back to the days when Irish immigrants were subject to violence and exploitation as the bottom rung of industrial American society and stereotyped as alcoholics.

The truth is that NCAA would not press the big-time programs like Notre Dame or Florida State. Brand & Co. will never try to enforce the rules with schools that bankroll the NCAA. It instead picks on schools like Bradley and Carthage, which pull no weight on the grand scheme of things, and this University, where external pressure just might tip the balance on the heated and unproductive debate over its symbol.

The University and its Board of Trustees must do everything in their power to repulse the NCAA from blackmailing this campus into submission. An open debate at the University among its students, faculty and staff about the future of Chief Illiniwek should continue, although the time for the trustees to make a firm stance is approaching quickly. Such an abrupt and illogical ending to the visceral conflict that has divided this campus for so long will leave this University scarred and impotent.
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© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini

NCAA Leaves University in Tough Spot

2006-05-04T22:21:00.000-05:00

NCAA Leaves University in Tough Spot
By MARK TUPPER
From the Herald & Review

CHAMPAIGN - Friday's decision by the NCAA Executive Committee to reject the University of Illinois' second appeal on behalf of Chief Illiniwek backs the school into a difficult corner.
And it makes fans trying to figure it all out ask two questions: What happens from here? Will we ever again see Chief Illiniwek dance at a home football or basketball game?
Since the NCAA took it upon itself to become the moral conscience for college athletics, it is trying to rid the world of the dangerous and sinister influence of Native American symbols and imagery. Ruling those symbols "hostile and abusive," the NCAA ordered schools to drop those symbols, mascots, nicknames and imagery if they want to retain the right to host NCAA championships in any sport.
At Illinois, sports like tennis, soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball and gymnastics are prime candidates to host early-round NCAA tournament matches, a privilege that goes to teams ranked highest in their regions. Illinois is also a candidate to host future national championships, as men's gymnastics did in 2004.
Even basketball is a potential casualty, since the NCAA now owns the NIT and allows teams with good home attendance records to host early-round games.
We realize there are some fans who will say, "The heck with those sports. Football and basketball are the only sports that matter. Let's thumb our nose at the NCAA and preserve the Chief at all costs."
Director of Athletics Ron Guenther adamantly disagrees with that stance, having said, "One of the components of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics' mission statement is to compete at the highest levels for Big Ten and national championships. The department has invested large amounts of resources in facilities, scholarships and coaches in our Olympic sports.
"The inability to host NCAA championship competition would have an unbelievably negative effect on our programs," Guenther said. Such a ban, he said, would put Illini athletics at a competitive disadvantage and make it hard to recruit top student-athletes and coaches.
Keep that thought in mind.
Right now, it would seem the university has three choices.
One, it can accept - albeit reluctantly - a decision the NCAA called "final" Friday. That means the Chief will never again perform as part a university athletic event. It means the university can no longer market or sell the Chief logo or likeness. It means Decatur's Kyle Cline would become a footnote in history as the last person to portray the Chief full-time.
Two, you can take the position of the imaginary fan I quoted above. That's the position that says, "Screw the NCAA. Only football and basketball matter and we should continue to celebrate Chief Illiniwek at halftime of our games even if it means never again hosting an NCAA championship event."
Or, three, the university could take the NCAA to court, perhaps convincing a judge to rule that the NCAA has overstepped its bounds. That would likely be a long and expensive process and it may have to be funded by private funds, since Sen. Emil Jones, an anti-Chief advocate who is president of the state senate, has said money spent litigating this would be subtracted from the university's budget.
In that case, however, the NCAA would simply say they haven't taken away the right of a school to retain its Native American symbols and imagery. They've simply protected their own right to award championship competitions wherever they choose and they will choose not to award them to schools whose mascots dance around in a feathered headdress.
If there's a fourth option, it's this: The university could elect to temporarily retain the Chief through the end of the upcoming football season. Call it a Farewell Tour, but there might be a feeling that Chief Illiniwek deserves a prolonged going-away tribute rather than simply chopping him out of the picture abruptly and ingloriously.
Then, after the Chief danced a final time at the last home game Nov. 11, the university could announce it would comply with the NCAA's directive, a move that would take its name off the NCAA's bad boy list.
That delay would eliminate the tennis team's chance to host early-round NCAA tournaments next month, although those already may have been lost, and it could impact next season's soccer season. But that might be a reasonable price to pay if we want to celebrate the Chief one more fall.
University big-wigs were meeting on Friday, kicking around all the options. At some point they'll announce a course of action.
Further down the road, there are sure to be efforts to sustain the Chief Illiniwek tradition by organizations not affiliated with the university. It's been suggested the Alumni Association might be that group, but that strikes me as stepping into a gray area that might incur the NCAA's wrath.
Some other outside group, however, could independently choose to preserve the history of Chief Illiniwek and arrange for performances before each home football and basketball game. Those might take place one hour before kickoff at the intersection of First Street and Kirby, which, so far as I know, is not technically university property.
And no matter what happens, there's nothing to say 60,000 Illini fans couldn't show up at the home football opener Sept. 2 wearing a Chief-like headdress.
At this point, the NCAA still can't dictate what individual fans wear to the games, although I wouldn't be surprised to learn they are looking into it.

From Inside Illinois: NCAA edict threatens Chief Illiniwek tradition

2006-05-04T21:20:00.000-05:00

NCAA edict threatens Chief Illiniwek tradition
Inside Illinois
Vol. 25, No. 20, May 4, 2006

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) issued a final ruling April 28 against the UI’s continuing use of Chief Illiniwek. Absent a change in this 80-year-old tradition, the NCAA will prohibit the school from hosting NCAA championship events.Athletic Director Run Guenther recently commented on the potential sanction: “One of the components of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics’ mission statement is to compete at the highest levels for Big Ten and national championships. The department has invested large amounts of resources in facilities, scholarships and coaches in our Olympic sports. The inability to host NCAA championship competition would have an unbelievably negative effect on our programs.” It is believed a ban on hosting NCAA championship events would put Illini athletes at a competitive disadvantage and make it hard to recruit top student athletes and coaches.The NCAA issued its policy banning American Indian imagery last August. The university challenged the policy and the rhetoric attached to it.In the first round of appeals, the university won back the right to use the names “Illini” and “Fighting Illini” for all its athletic teams. Subsequent appeals continued to disagree with the NCAA on the allegation that the Chief tradition creates a “hostile and abusive” environment, matters of institutional autonomy and a flawed policy process. “Our decision is final,” declared NCAA Executive Committee chair Walter Harrison in making the April 28 announcement.“By branding an 80-year tradition ‘hostile and abusive,’ the NCAA inappropriately defames generations of Illinoisans and University of Illinois supporters,” said Lawrence C. Eppley, chair of the UI Board of Trustees.“The University of Illinois is disappointed by the NCAA Executive Committee’s final decision to uphold a policy that is capricious in its design and implementation,” Eppley said. “The NCAA’s insistence on dictating social policy for a few select member institutions intrudes on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees’ autonomy and the board’s process for reaching a consensus conclusion on issues regarding the Chief Illiniwek tradition. In determining a course to follow, we will consider our options in the context of the NCAA’s final pronouncement and the consensus process guidelines adopted by the board.”

UI officials issue rebuttal to NCAA

2006-04-02T21:12:00.000-05:00

Mirror of http://www.news-gazette.com/news/print/2006/03/30/ui_officials_issue_rebuttal_to_ncaa/

UI officials issue rebuttal to NCAA
By Jodi Heckel
Thursday March 30, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS – In a document sent to the NCAA this week, the University of Illinois reiterated its arguments that the NCAA Executive Committee exceeded its authority in establishing a policy on the use of American Indian imagery.

It also said the NCAA has not provided evidence that supports the policy, and it is only now identifying a standard of review for appeals and defining the terms "hostile" and "abusive."

The UI sent a six-page rebuttal signed by Board of Trustees Chairman Larry Eppley to the NCAA on Tuesday. The UI appealed the NCAA's policy regarding its use of Chief Illiniwek on Jan. 30. An NCAA staff committee filed a response to that appeal earlier this month, and the UI's most recent filing rebuts the arguments made by that committee.

The committee stated that American Indian imagery is a "core issue" affecting the NCAA and so the Executive Committee has jurisdiction over the issue. But the UI says the NCAA Executive Committee doesn't have the power to enact legislation, and its bylaws specifically state the establishment and control of NCAA championships are part of the legislative process.

"Moreover, the NCAA's position would give the Executive Committee virtually unlimited power," the rebuttal states. "If the NCAA is correct, the Executive Committee could issue policies on any issue it unilaterally deems to be a 'core issue.'"

The NCAA response stated it relied on "extensive research and analysis" in establishing its policy on American Indian mascots. The UI says the NCAA hasn't specifically identified that evidence or made it available.
The UI also reiterates its claims that the NCAA has ignored a 1995 federal Office of Civil Rights finding that the presence of Chief Illiniwek did not constitute a racially hostile environment, and the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging a violation of the Illinois Civil Rights Act.

Finally, it argues the NCAA staff committee relied too heavily on a single unpublished academic study by a doctoral student on the psychological impact of American Indian mascots.

The NCAA established its policy last August. The policy prohibits schools that it deems use "hostile or abusive" American Indian mascots, nicknames or logos from hosting NCAA championship events, or from displaying such imagery at those events.

The UI first appealed the NCAA policy last fall. The NCAA found the name "Fighting Illini" was acceptable, but Chief Illiniwek was not. The UI then filed its second appeal at the end of January regarding the use of Chief Illiniwek

The NCAA policy was to go into effect Feb. 1, but the organization said any sanctions would be delayed until the end of April, when the Executive Committee next meets. In its January appeal, the UI asked for enforcement of the policy to be stayed until the end of the school year on May 15.

The documents filed by the UI and the NCAA can be found on the UI's Web site at www.uillinois.edu.

Chief Among the Silliness - George Will

2006-01-05T13:36:00.000-06:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010401590.html

Text:

Chief Among the Silliness
The Washington POst
By George F. Will
Thursday, January 5, 2006;

The University of Illinois must soon decide whether, and if so how, to fight an exceedingly silly edict from the NCAA. That organization's primary function is to require college athletics to be no more crassly exploitative and commercial than is absolutely necessary. But now the NCAA is going to police cultural sensitivity, as it understands that. Hence the decision to declare Chief Illiniwek "hostile and abusive" to Native Americans.

Censorship -- e.g., campus speech codes -- often is academic liberalism's preferred instrument of social improvement, and now the NCAA's censors say: The Chief must go, as must the university's logo of a Native American in feathered headdress. Otherwise the NCAA will not allow the university to host any postseason tournaments or events.

This story of progress, as progressives understand that, began during halftime of a football game in 1926, when an undergraduate studying Indian culture performed a dance dressed as a chief. Since then, a student has always served as Chief Illiniwek, who has become the symbol of the university that serves a state named after the Illini confederation of about a half-dozen tribes that were virtually annihilated in the 1760s by rival tribes.

In 1930 the student then portraying Chief Illiniwek traveled to South Dakota to receive authentic raiment from the Oglala Sioux. In 1967 and 1982, representatives of the Sioux, who had not yet discovered that they were supposed to feel abused, came to the Urbana-Champaign campus to augment the outfits Chief Illiniwek wears at football and basketball games.

But grievance groups have multiplied, seeking reparations for historical wrongs and regulations to assuage current injuries inflicted by "insensitivity." One of America's booming businesses is the indignation industry, which manufactures the synthetic outrage needed to fuel identity politics.

The NCAA is allowing Florida State University and the University of Utah to continue calling their teams Seminoles and Utes, respectively, because those two tribes approve of the tradition. The Saginaw Chippewa tribe starchily denounces any "outside entity" -- that would be you, NCAA -- that would disrupt the tribe's "rich relationship" with Central Michigan University and its teams, the Chippewas. The University of North Carolina at Pembroke can continue calling its teams the Braves. Bravery is a virtue, so perhaps the 21 percent of the school's students who are Native Americans consider the name a compliment.

The University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux may have to find another nickname because the various Sioux tribes cannot agree about whether they are insulted. But the only remnant of the Illini confederation, the Peoria tribe, is now in Oklahoma. Under its chief, John Froman, the tribe is too busy running a casino and golf course to care about Chief Illiniwek. The NCAA ethicists probably reason that the Chief must go because no portion of the Illini confederation remains to defend him.

Or to be offended by him, but never mind that, or this: In 1995 the Office of Civil Rights in President Bill Clinton's Education Department, a nest of sensitivity-mongers, rejected the claim that the Chief and the name Fighting Illini created for anyone a "hostile environment" on campus.

In 2002 Sports Illustrated published a poll of 351 Native Americans, 217 living on reservations, 134 living off. Eighty-one percent said high school and college teams should not stop using Indian nicknames.

But in any case, why should anyone's disapproval of a nickname doom it? When, in the multiplication of entitlements, did we produce an entitlement for everyone to go through life without being annoyed by anything, even a team's nickname? If some Irish or Scots were to take offense at Notre Dame's Fighting Irish or the Fighting Scots of Monmouth College, what rule of morality would require the rest of us to care? Civilization depends on, and civility often requires, the willingness to say, "What you are doing is none of my business" and "What I am doing is none of your business."

But this is an age when being an offended busybody is considered evidence of advanced thinking and an exquisite sensibility. So, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has demanded that the University of South Carolina's teams not be called Gamecocks because cockfighting is cruel. It also is illegal in South Carolina.

In 1972 the University of Massachusetts at Amherst replaced the nickname Redmen with Minutemen. White men carrying guns? If some advanced thinkers are made miserable by this, will the NCAA's censors offer relief? Scottsdale Community College in Arizona was wise to adopt the nickname "Fighting Artichokes." There is no grievance group representing the lacerated feelings of artichokes. Yet.

georgewill@washpost.com

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Illiniwek appeal denied

2005-11-22T21:25:00.000-06:00

Illiniwek appeal denied
From: The Daily Illini
11/14/06
By Courtney Linehan

Chief Illiniwek is hostile and abusive despite the University's "good
intentions and best efforts," the NCAA announced Friday as it denied
Illinois' appeal of its inclusion in a policy banning American Indian
imagery from postseason contests.
Four weeks after receiving Illinois' appeal, the NCAA staff review
committee changed its tune of the past few months, stating the names
"Illini" and "Fighting Illini" are not American Indian-based and
therefore do not create a "hostile and abusive" environment on campus.
Chief Illiniwek, the association said, is another case.
"By continuing to use Native American nicknames, mascots and imagery,
institutions assume responsibility over an environment which they
cannot fully control," Bernard Franklin, NCAA senior vice-president
for governance and membership, said in a prepared statement released
Friday. "Fans, opponents and others can and will exhibit behaviors
that indeed are hostile and abusive to Native Americans."
The NCAA refused to comment beyond Franklin's one-page statement. A
request Friday to speak to media relations representatives was denied
and e-mails earlier in the week were not returned.
University spokesman Tom Hardy said the University sees the NCAA
response as a victory on the Illini and Fighting Illini names, but a
setback in regard to Chief Illiniwek and the Board of Trustees' work
toward its own decision.
"The case was basically that the Board has its self-autonomous
institutional process and should be able to carry that out without
interference from the NCAA," Hardy said.
Franklin's statement did not mention anything about the University's
argument that the NCAA policy interfered with the Board of Trustees'
own guiding principles regarding Illiniwek. In 2004 the Board adopted
a "consensus resolution" policy, saying it hoped to bring Illiniwek
supporters and opponents together to find the best solution for the
campus and community. The Board approved a set of guidelines for
coming to this resolution at its July meeting, a few weeks prior to
the NCAA policy's release.
"Obviously, the University and the Board of Trustees felt
institutional autonomy and self-determination are a major reason for
the institution to be exempt from the list," Hardy said. "It is
apparent by its response that the NCAA wasn't persuaded by that
argument yet, as they had minimal response to that in their decision
announced Friday."
Board Chairman Lawrence Eppley said in a press release that he is
grateful the NCAA agreed with the University that "Illini" is a term
derived from the name of the state and is not a reference to the
people who once lived here.
"I am pleased the NCAA recognized what we've maintained all along,"
Eppley said. "'Illini' is taken from the name of our patron state and
'Fighting Illini' refers to our University's winning spirit and drive
to excel."
Hardy said the official response sent to the University addressed the
1995 U.S. Office of Civil Rights finding that Chief Illiniwek did not
create a hostile environment on campus. He said the NCAA cited
anecdotal evidence suggesting there have been instances of hostility
since then, but he added that the University recently began a
faculty-led inquest into whether Chief Illiniwek affects students'
educations.
"It's a bit of a head scratcher when you consider that the Office of
Civil Rights is an entire agency to ensure the enforcement of the
Civil Rights Act," Hardy said. "They came in, spent time on campus,
talked to a lot of people and watched Chief Illiniwek perform."
Franklin's statement said the NCAA's decision was based on the staff
review committee's own research, discussions with relevant American
Indian groups and information provided by the University.
While the NCAA release did not provide further detail, John Froman,
chief of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, said the NCAA did
contact him. The Peoria are the descendents of members of the
"Illiniwek" confederation.
Froman said he told the NCAA that the term "Illini" was not a part of
the Peoria language, and that his tribe was never called the Illini.
He said the NCAA asked if he'd had recent contact with the University
regarding the Chief, and what the tribe's official position regarding
Chief Illiniwek was.
"I told them the Chief was not representative of our tribe and
culture, mainly because the costume is Sioux," Froman said.
Hardy said the Board has not decided how to handle the NCAA's denial
of the Chief Illiniwek portion of the appeal. The next appeal option
is for the University to go directly to the NCAA executive committee.
The NCAA continuously reiterates that its goal is not to force any
school to alter its mascot, logo, or nickname. The requirement, the
association says, is that member institutions comply with the NCAA's
non-discrimination policy and "promote an atmosphere of respect for
and sensitivity to the dignity of every person."
"At an ever-increasing rate of occurrence and volume, Native
Americans have expressed their objections to the use of names, terms,
imagery and mascots associated with athletic teams," Franklin's
statement said.
No immediate change is planned at Illinois; Chief Illiniwek appeared
as scheduled at volleyball and women's basketball games this weekend.
He will perform when men's basketball opens its regular season against
South Dakota State on Friday and when football closes its season
against Northwestern on Saturday.
While the Board is not scheduled to meet again until January, it
could possibly add a meeting to discuss the NCAA decision.
"The Board hasn't determined when it's going to make a decision about
what the next approach is going to be," Hardy said.
The NCAA policy, which goes into effect Feb. 1, 2006, prohibits the
display of American Indian mascots, logos and nicknames in
NCAA-sponsored postseason competitions. It also prohibits NCAA members
using American Indian imagery from hosting postseason events. These
include NCAA-sanctioned Division-I bowl games, men's and women's
basketball NIT tournaments and post-season tournaments for all NCAA
sports.
So far, at least half of the 18 schools originally deemed "hostile
and abusive" have appealed:
-The Florida State Seminoles, Utah Utes and Central Michigan
Chippewas got the OK because namesake tribes supported the uses.
-The Bradley Braves, Newberry College Indians and Illinois Fighting
Illini appealed but lost and remain on the list.
-The North Dakota Fighting Sioux appealed, lost and are currently
awaiting a decision on their second appeal.
-The Indiana University-Pennsylvania Indians and McMurray University
Indians appealed, but have not received word from the NCAA.
-The Catawba College Indians and University of Louisiana-Monroe
Indians are both preparing appeals.
-The Arkansas State Indians are considering an appeal. The
Southeastern Oklahoma State Savages are re-evaluating the use of their
nickname.
-Midwestern State dropped its "Indians" name to avoid application of
the NCAA policy. Carthage College changed its nickname from "Redmen"
to "Red Men," which the NCAA approved.
-Alcorn State, the only school on the list with a representative on
the NCAA Executive Committee, says it has no plans to appeal and is
considering a name change.
-Calls to Chowan College (Braves) and Mississippi College (Choctaws)
were not returned by press time.

Where Illinois' past meets Oklahoma's future

2005-11-22T21:24:00.000-06:00

Where Illinois' past meets Oklahoma's future
The Daily Illini
11/3/05
Courtney Linehan

MIAMI, Okla. - It's 86 degrees of dry heat on an October Sunday. A
thin film of harvest dust hangs in the air, carried through town on a
warm breeze. Rows of cars fill the Wal-Mart parking lot, but the old
downtown is nearly lifeless; fast food joints like Taco Bell and KFC
serve a slow stream of customers while diners down the road stand
empty, closed for a day of rest.
Miami, Okla., is 490 miles from Champaign, but it might as well be a
quick trip down Interstate-57 for the parallels you'll find. Miami has
the same strip of new development you'll see driving down Prospect,
only scaled to fit a town one-thirteenth the size. Ottawa County, of
which Miami is the seat, has virtually identical poverty and
employment rates as Champaign County.
Just one clear difference divides Miami from Champaign. It doesn't
become apparent when ambling through town or driving down Main Street.
It isn't announced on billboards as you drive into town; there are no
indicators of what makes Miami unique. Its only overt image is a
cluster of office buildings on a street running parallel to
Interstate-44.
Miami is headquarters for nine American Indian tribes, each forcibly
relocated to Oklahoma more than a century ago. There are no Indian
reservations here. No boundaries declare where Ottawa land ends and
Modoc begins. In Ottawa County, 22.8 percent of residents claim
American Indian heritage. Governments of Miami's nine sovereign
nations intermingle and work in conjunction with local, state and
national leadership. Their aim is to provide services to their tribe
members and, in doing so, to improve the overall quality of life for
Miami's 13,700 residents.
In Champaign, the University of Illinois is deep in a 15-year debate
about its Chief Illiniwek symbol and Fighting Illini nickname. Whether
the University will retain or retire the Chief is a common topic of
conversation on campus - but in Miami, members of the Peoria Indian
Tribe of Oklahoma, the descendents of the "Illiniwek" tribes that once
inhabited Illinois, focus more on local economics and tribal
government than on the controversy at a college two states away.
Peoria Chief John Froman has other things on his mind besides
Illinois' ongoing debate.
Froman emerges from his white minivan wearing a striped polo shirt
and worn, ripped jeans. Stepping onto the sidewalk in front of his
office, he rubs the grease from his fingers onto his pants before
holding his hand out in greeting.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologizes for the 10-minute delay. "My
daughter's car broke down when she was on her way back from school.
I've been messing with the engine all day."
Froman says he prefers to worry about problems directly affecting his
family. That's why he ran for Chief of the Peoria tribe - his Peoria
heritage has always been an important part of his identity. He spent
his childhood mowing grass at the tribal cemetery for his grandfather,
who was Chief at the time. Froman devotes his time to serving his
2,800 tribal members, who live in Miami, Okla., throughout the country
and around the world.
"Our Chief's a good man," said Peoria tribe member Don Pogue. "He
listens to the people, listens to what they say. He's a good honest
man."
For the Peoria, life in northeast Oklahoma is about economic
development. Froman grins as he tours the competing Ottawa Tribe's
casino and his bigger, newer, more upscale version down the road. He
enjoys playing a round of golf at the Peoria Ridge course with Rascal
Flatts when the country music superstars are in town to perform at the
Peoria-owned Buffalo Run Casino. He takes the company SUV off-roading
across mounds of red Oklahoma dirt as he surveys tribal property
leased as grazing land and construction on the new road to the
traditional tribal cemetery.
"We've been in the Internet business, we do agri-business, but our
primary focus has been trying to operate as a government," Froman
said. "What we're trying to do, economically, is diversify."
More than 300 years ago, the ancestors of today's Miami lived west of
the Ohio River in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and
Wisconsin. They spoke variations of the Algonquin language. They are
best known for building the mounds at Cahokia some 2,000 years ago and
for a defiant, yet unsuccessful, stand during a battle at Starved Rock
in the 1760s. They were closely tied to the Miami tribes - two of the
four tribes now part of the Peoria were Miami sub-groups until 1818.
Now the Miami tribal buildings are a few steps from the Peoria's, and
the two tribes work hand-in-hand on services offered to members of
both tribes.
"We are very fortunate that we work so well together," said Miami
tribe Chief Floyd Leonard. "We have our differences, but they're
mostly political. We are always wiling to help someone in need."
Today's Peoria tribe is a confederation of the Kaskaskia, Peoria,
Piankesaw and Wea tribes. Prior to the Civil War, the U.S. government
moved them to Missouri, then to Kansas. The four groups formally
united in 1854, forming the Confederated Peoria. In1867 they were
moved again, this time to present-day Oklahoma.
"Everybody talks about the Cherokee and their Trail of Tears," Froman
said. "Well, we all had our own version of the Trail of Tears."

The present day Peoria work to maintain their tribal heritage, with
projects to restore the tribal schoolhouse built circa 1870 and
extensive interaction with the Illinois State Museum to identify and
rebury American Indian remains unearthed in Illinois.
While some members of the original tribe remained in Missouri or
Kansas, becoming U.S. citizens, today's Peoria are descendents of
those people who settled in Ottawa County.
"We don't deny them their Indian heritage," Froman said of the
descendents of those who stayed behind. "But we all have to live with
the choices our ancestors made."
Finding a hotel room in Miami on a Saturday night can be a challenge.
The small town has a Microtel and a Best Western, among other options,
but those fill up fast when the Buffalo Run Casino puts on a concert.
In less than one year of operation, Buffalo Run has hosted more than
50 entertainers, ranging from musicians such as ZZ Topp and Blake
Shelton to boxing matches broadcast on Showtime. An expansion opened
in early October, and plans are in the works for more casinos,
restaurants and possibly a hotel.
"We're in negotiations with some developers for a hotel. I actually
want to build a strip of casinos, a boardwalk. Our biggest competition
here is casino hopping, people saying 'Aw, we didn't do well here,
let's go to the Quapaw casino down the road.' We're going to own the
casino down the road."
While the casino's first-year returns were certainly successful,
Froman said the Peoria are lucky to break even on their combined
business ventures. Total tribal revenues on all enterprises -
including the golf course, agri-business, lease holdings and gaming
operations - should be about $4 million, Froman said. But the more
than 300 jobs those projects bring to Miami make the businesses very
profitable.
"We're barely breaking even; we're just here to provide jobs for the
community," Froman said.
When the Peoria received a Bureau of Indian Affairs grant to pave the
road to their golf course, the money paid to pave a two-mile stretch
of Ottawa County highway. When they received another grant to pave the
road to their cemetery, the Peoria looked at which route would most
benefit the community.
Miami's nine tribes make the most of their combined potential. The
town has a clinic where members of any tribe can receive subsidized
healthcare, and the Miami tribe offers free lunch to American Indian
elders in the community. Many tribes have housing authorities, but
they work together to offer services to the maximum number of people.
"We lost a lot of our land, and how we lost it I don't really know it
was just over the course of years, but we're starting to get a lot of
it back in tribal trusts," Pogue said. "There's a lot more that
they're doing for the tribal members now, college funds, grants. Just
a lot of things that aren't a whole lot, but when it's all said and
done, it really is."
As for the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek symbol, the Peoria
have little to say. In 2000 the tribal council issued a 3-2 vote in
opposition of Chief Illiniwek, and they plan to stick with their
position. They say they are two states and two centuries removed from
Illinois.
"As for the position of the tribe, it stands," Froman said. "(Chief
Illiniwek) is not Important.

Resolution critical of NCAA edict (News-Gazette)

2005-11-22T21:22:00.000-06:00

By KATE CLEMENTS
© 2005 THE NEWS-GAZETTE
Published Online November 3, 2005

Excerpt:

    SPRINGFIELD – Without discussion, the Illinois House on Wednesday approved a resolution challenging the NCAA's authority to restrict postseason competition for schools making use of American Indian imagery.
    State Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said he planned to fax a copy to the NCAA president's office immediately.
    "It's none of their business what symbol the University of Illinois or any university has," Rose said. "It's up to the board of trustees, the alumni, the faculty, staff and the students."
    HR 609 states that the NCAA's action fails to recognize the institutional autonomy guaranteed in its own bylaws.
    "Whereas the National Collegiate Athletic Association edict is a giant step backwards in the debate and has caused the loss of common ground to armies of divisiveness; therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the 94th General Assembly of the State of Illinois that the National Collegiate Athletic Association be denied the ability to compromise the sovereignty of the State of Illinois and its institutions," the resolution said.
    The measure passed on a voice vote, and no nays were audible in the chamber. Last week, the House higher education committee unanimously endorsed the resolution.
    "The university and the board of trustees appreciate the Illinois House's support for the principle of university self-determination on this matter," said UI spokesman Tom Hardy.
    The NCAA did not appear likely to change its stance as a result of the resolution.
    "Basically our position is that we have the authority to administer our own NCAA championships to ensure that they are conducted in an atmosphere that's free of racial stereotyping," said NCAA spokesman Bob Williams.
    Area lawmakers emphasized that the resolution deliberately did not contain any mention of Chief Illiniwek.
    "The point here isn't to be for or against the Chief, the point here is that it's none of the NCAA's business," Rose said.
    State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, was among nearly 70 co-sponsors on the resolution.
    "I voted for this because I believe that it is the responsibility of the University of Illinois and the trustees and they have been working on this," she said. "And the resolution just gives the autonomy to the university to continue to do what they've been doing and let them do their job."
    The UI Board of Trustees agreed last year to work toward a "consensus conclusion" on the issue and adopted guidelines in July to help in that endeavor.
    Earlier this month the university filed an appeal with the NCAA, arguing that decisions on the use of Chief Illiniwek and the name "Fighting Illini" fall under the jurisdiction of the board of trustees, not the NCAA.
    The appeal also stated that the NCAA failed to take into account a 1995 Office of Civil Rights finding regarding Chief Illiniwek, and relied heavily on "inaccurate, incomplete and misleading information supplied by one individual," to which the UI was not given an opportunity to respond. Williams said he did not know when a decision would be reached on the UI's appeal.


...continued at http://www.news-gazette.com/localnews/story.cfm?Number=19275

Illinois fans still divided...

2005-09-04T12:31:00.000-05:00

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050904/SPORTS/509040467/1004/SPORTS

September 4, 2005

Illinois fans still divided over use of mascot

Some support NCAA ban while others cheer for Chief Illiniwek.

Controversial symbol: The Chief, portrayed by student Kyle Cline, takes part in the pregame festivities before Illinois plays its home game against Rutgers. -- Darrell Hoemann / Associated Press

By Tracy Dodds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Chief Illiniwek danced at halftime of the University of Illinois' football opener Saturday to the enthusiastic rhythmic clapping of thousands who added their approval with long, deep chants of "CHIEEEEEF," "CHIEEEEEF."

There were cries of protest, too, but they went largely unheeded as Kyle Cline, a student dressed in buckskins and turkey feathers, took the Chief Illiniwek tradition into its 80th season.

He double-stepped the length of the football field, doubled back to stand at midfield through the singing of the "Three-in-One" medley of Illinois songs and finished with his solo dance, a lively performance full of high kicks and jumps.

A mockery of that dance was performed earlier outside Memorial Stadium by William Cook, a man wearing long braids and a Chicago Blackhawks shirt painted to add: Nobody's Mascot. He hopped and jumped in a frenzied manner, finally jumping up to touch both toes.

His dramatic demonstration was meant to show that the time-honored Chief Illiniwek dance mocks true Native American culture, and his fellow protestors, standing beneath a sign proclaiming "NCAA IS RIGHT," agreed.

Most Illini fans trooping past him on the west side of Memorial Stadium just shook their heads.

No one on this campus needed to ask what was meant by the sign, which referred to the Aug. 5 announcement by the NCAA that Illinois was one of 18 universities that would not be allowed to use their Native American nicknames, mascots or symbols at NCAA-sponsored championships.

The NCAA cannot tell its members what it can do on their own campuses, however. The NCAA policy also does not go into effect until Feb. 1, and other schools, most notably Florida State, have successfully appealed. Florida State was able to show that Seminoles in the state supported the use of their name.

Illinois is the biggest university still on the list and has one of the most controversial figures in the person of the Chief.

Officially, the University of Illinois still is considering its next move as newspaper columnists, radio call-in shows and letters to the editor debate the question.

In the meantime the Chief dances, fans wear CHIEF T-shirts and Chief shirts, hats and souvenirs are on sale just yards from the small group of protesters.

The four who turned out to back the NCAA's decision blamed the early hour (the game began at 11 a.m.) and the holiday weekend for the small turnout. Besides, not everyone who agrees with them wants to stand around holding a poster.

"There was a time when people would spit on us or throw beer on us," said Sherry Naanes, who said she has been taking this stand for about 10 years.

Roger L. Fontana, an anthropology student at Champaign's Parkland College who said he is one-quarter Cherokee, takes special exception to the Chief Illiniwek dance.

"Real Indians were not allowed to do their own dances when the Illiniwek tradition began in 1927," Fontana said. "Native American dancing was made illegal in 1890, right after the massacre at Wounded Knee, and when it was allowed again, there were a lot of restrictions on it.

"The dance he does is not accurate. He's dressed as a war chief in a bonnet that would be worn only by someone who had been to war."

Fontana was happy to explain his objections to anyone who would stop. Few did.

Most fans glanced at the group and passed without comment. Some said, "Go, Illini!" And a few paused long enough to shake hands and offer a word of encouragement.

Erin Murphy, an Illinois graduate student, said, simply, "Thanks for being here."

Emily Lewis, 66, a graduate of Illinois and a lifetime resident of Champaign, stopped to ask if the protest group had any buttons or pins she could wear to show her support of the effort to eliminate Chief Illiniwek.

"I think it's a disgrace," she said. "I believe it's a racist symbol."

It's hard to find a consensus anywhere on the subject of Native American nicknames and mascots. Naanes said she knew of Seminoles who didn't support Florida State's choice of mascot.

Courtney Linehan, who writes for the Daily Illini student newspaper, said she saw the protesters outside the stadium and recognized them as regulars. "The controversy isn't new," she said. "It's been going on here for about 15 years.

"I think most people on campus are hoping for a resolution."

One woman in the stands wore a T-shirt with the Illiniwek logo and the message: "It's an Illini thing. You just wouldn't understand."

News Hour with Jim Lehrer Transcript (PBS)

2005-08-26T18:04:00.000-05:00

News Hour with Jim Lehrer Transcript (PBS)
NCAA BANS INDIAN MASCOTS
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/sports/july-dec05/mascots_8-25.html

August 25 , 2005

The NCAA banned the "hostile and abusive" Native American mascots of 18 colleges and universities from postseason tournament play. Some schools are fighting to keep their imagery intact. A report looks at reactions from both sides of the debate.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: The moment the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek bursts onto the football field is a thrilling one for many Illinois students and alumni. It's also a heart-stopping moment for the performer. Tom Livingston remembers the feeling from his two seasons as Chief Illiniwek in the late 1980s.

TOM LIVINGSTON: When you would burst forth from a hidden position into fifty or sixty thousand people, it was like soaring over a cliff and up into a thundercloud. I mean, the energy, the electricity you felt not only as the person portraying Chief Illiniwek, but also the person observing it, either in an arena or in the stadium, and I think that makes people feel very strongly about it, very attached to it.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: But the chief's performance does not evoke the same feelings in everyone who watches. In 1989 Charlene Teeters, a Native American graduate student, launched a solitary protest against Chief Illiniwek. In the documentary, "In Whose Honor," she says her protest began after taking her two young children to an Illinois game.

CHARLENE TEETERS: My kids, my kids just sank in their seats. My daughter tried to become invisible. My son tried to laugh. With me is the sadness that still won't leave me. But the sadness turns to anger just like that.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: The protests against using Native American imagery in athletics have grown over the last thirty years. In August, the NCAA stepped in and banned colleges and universities that use what it termed hostile and abusive mascots, nicknames or imagery from hosting post-season play. Eighteen schools were affected. Florida State University immediately appealed, saying there was nothing hostile or abusive about their Chief Osceola or Seminole nickname. This week the NCAA relented, citing the Seminole Tribe's approval of the use of their name. The University of Illinois is also considering an appeal. Larry Eppley chairs the university's board of trustees. He was very disturbed by the words used by the NCAA.

LARRY EPPLEY: And they characterized the traditions of 18 institutions as hostile and abusive.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: Why did you object to that so strongly?

LARRY EPPLEY: Well, we've been living with it for quite a long time. Almost since the inception of the debate over Chief Illiniwek rhetoric played a large part in it, and what we found was rhetoric did more to divide people than to ever steer anybody towards an outcome that they found acceptable. It created sort of a knife edge: Either the chief is up or it's down.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: The passions and the rhetoric surrounding the chief and the team's nickname, the Fighting Illini, do run high. Unlike the Seminole Tribe in Florida, the Peoria Tribe, the direct descendants of a group of tribes known as the Illiniwek or the Illini, do object to Chief Illiniwek and have asked the University of Illinois to stop using what they consider to be a degrading racial stereotype. So far the university continues to support the chief.

LARRY EPPLEY: It's tradition; it's university tradition. These things take root. They pass on from generation to generation. I can't tell you how many cards and letters we get from a grandparent saying I'm so happy my granddaughter or grandson is down there; I'm so happy the chief is still there.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: The chief's ceremony has been a part of the university's athletic events since 1926. Former chief Tom Livingston says the authentic costume and the ceremonial dance he performed in 1998 and as still performed today are designed to honor the Native Americans' history and their contributions to Illinois' culture.

TOM LIVINGSTON: I've looked tribal leaders in the eyes, I've looked other people that this is special to, and it ranges from "we're okay with it" to "it's beautiful; it's inspirational." There are some hard-nosed alumni who come back years later, and those tears begin to shed when they are inspired from an earlier day when they were younger at the university. And the chief attaches that to them, I think, often.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: Chief Illiniwek's performance is closely tied in with the 300-strong Illinois marching band. At the first practice of the year the band is working hard on the classics, like the school's alma mater. Band director Tom Caneva says the chief is a critical part of the halftime atmosphere.

TOM CANEVA: You know, at a lot of the universities at halftime, the people in the stands leave and go get hot dogs and drinks and things. At Illinois they stay and, you know, we hope they are there to see the Marching Illini perform, but, you know, they're there to see Chief Illiniwek perform.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: Less than 1 percent of the 38,000 students at the university are Native American. Many of the Illinois students we spoke to strongly support the chief.

DANA MAZZUCA: I'm pro-chief ever since I've been here. I don't think it's disrespectful in any way.

STEPHANIE LULAY: I think it's a great tradition for our school, and I think if it did change, a lot of alumni would be upset.

JESSICA WYNNS: I think that he should stay. I don't understand why there's such a dispute about it.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: The gulf between those who support the chief and those who are offended by him is deep. Native American Shannon Kobe watched a performance by the chief last season.

SHANNON KOBE: I, frankly, was personally just shocked and appalled.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: Why is it racist?

SHANNON KOBE: It's reducing Indians to feathers, buckskin, beads. That's not what our culture is about. It's just narrowing in on one very small aspect of our culture, and in the Indian culture dancing has never been used solely for entertainment value. It's always had religious, other connotations.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: Kobe, an attorney, has sued the University of Illinois, charging that continuing to allow the chief to be the university's symbol violates the Illinois Civil Rights Act. Professor Stephen Kaufman has objected to Chief Illiniwek and the nickname Fighting Illini for years. He thinks the university should have jumped at the chance the NCAA ruling gave it to end the controversy.

STEPHEN KAUFMAN: For so many years the leadership of the campus and the board of trustees have not been able to find a way out, and here the NCAA is stepping forth presenting an extraordinary opportunity, and instead of taking that opportunity, Mr. Eppley appears to be squabbling over language used by the NCAA.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: Do you think the trustees were on their way to reaching some sort of consensus?

STEPHEN KAUFMAN: The trustees have been on their way for 15 years. It's a good thing they don't have to pay tuition.

ELIZABETH BRACKET: Illinois' football team is not worried. There is no post-season play in football, and Illinois does not have a large-enough facility to host NCAA post-season play for basketball. But all Illinois sports would be affected if schools follow the NCAA's strong suggestion that schools not schedule games with any school that uses native-American imagery. The new NCAA policy doesn't take effect until next February. The University of Illinois and the 16 remaining affected schools have until then to appeal.

Chief items still available on NCAA site

2005-08-26T18:02:00.000-05:00

Chief items still available on NCAA site

By JODI HECKEL
© 2005 THE NEWS-GAZETTE
Published Online August 26, 2005

   URBANA – NCAA officials may find the Chief Illiniwek logo and the name "Fighting Illini" to be "hostile and abusive" to American Indians. But they will sell you merchandise featuring the logo and nickname at their online store at www.shopncaasports.com.
   Among the items for sale are a pillow featuring the Chief Illiniwek logo and name "Fighting Illini" for $14.99, a ball cap with a Chief head logo for $17.99, and a 14-karat gold bracelet of linking Chief heads for $546.68.
   The merchandise on the Web site is arranged by school and includes several other items with the Chief head logo, including a street sign that says "Fighting Illini Ave.," blankets and jewelry.
   Fans can also buy a University of North Dakota hockey jersey with an Indian head logo, a University of Utah pillow with the name "Utes" and feather logo, a Central Michigan University wall clock with the name "Chippewas," and an Arkansas State University bean bag chair with the name "Indians."
   The NCAA recently banned such mascots, logos and nicknames – which it called "hostile and abusive" – from being displayed at any NCAA postseason events and prohibited schools using such American Indian imagery from hosting postseason events.
   "It is ironic that the NCAA's merchandising Web site is an online market for traditions and imagery they condemned three weeks ago," said UI spokesman Tom Hardy. "Maybe those traditions aren't hostile and abusive after all.
   "I think this underscores the fact that many of these traditions and images are honorably ingrained in the fabric of intercollegiate athletics in America and eliminating them is neither easy nor necessarily rational," he continued, "and that's a pretty good indication of why our board has a deliberate, measured approach toward a solution that makes sense for our institution and that the vast majority of people can live with."
   Bob Williams, a spokesman for the NCAA, said the organization decided to keep the merchandise on the Web site until the effective date of the restrictions on the use of American Indian imagery, which is Feb. 1, 2006. He said schools have until that date to ask for a review of the restrictions.
   "I believe it's consistent with the policy," Williams said of continuing to sell merchandise with American Indian imagery until then.
   "After Feb. 1, that imagery won't be part of any NCAA championship."
   He said the NCAA is paid a flat fee by CBS through a rights agreement to televise NCAA events and sell merchandise through the Web site, which states it is "in association with CBSSportsline.com".
   He said the NCAA does not receive money from the individual purchases made through the Web site.

NCAA policy change unclear

2005-08-25T00:10:00.000-05:00

The Daily Illini - News
Issue: 8/24/05

NCAA policy change unclear
By Courtney Linehan

With aims of sending a clear message about its stance on what it considers "hostile and abusive" use of American Indian imagery, the NCAA executive committee ruled earlier this month to eliminate those images from postseason play.

While the Aug. 5 ruling sent a clear message about the NCAA's views of symbols like Chief Illiniwek, the immediate implications of its statements are still being clarified. For the University, no immediate change is planned at Assembly Hall, Huff Gym or Memorial Stadium. Chief Illiniwek will perform at the football season opener Sept. 3 at Memorial Stadium, and will continue to be present at home football, basketball and volleyball games throughout this fall.

But the NCAA's ruling may have far-reaching affects on Illinois' sports program.

"There will be no immediate change in the traditions and practices of the University at this time," University spokesman Tom Hardy said. "The plan now will be for Chief Illiniwek to continue doing what he's been doing.

"There are aspects of the decision that we feel need clarification. We're reviewing that and looking for answers from the NCAA before determining how we're going to proceed."

The NCAA executive committee ruled at its August meeting to prohibit member institutions from displaying in postseason competition what it deemed "hostile and abusive" racial, ethnic, or national origin-based mascots, nicknames and imagery. The measure came three months after 32 schools sent the NCAA self evaluations on their uses of words or images with American Indian connotations. Eighteen schools - including Illinois - were deemed to be in violation of the new policy.

In a press conference in which the NCAA announced its policy, indications were made that the policy was not established based on the content of those self evaluations. Ron Stratten, NCAA vice president for educational policy, said the NCAA hoped its member institutions would use the self evaluations as an opportunity to see where they should make changes on their own.

"The goal of self evaluation was to give the institution the opportunity to review its own policies and to look at the policies as they relate to the three goals of (the NCAA)," Stratten said. "And to really encourage the institutions to engage in a dialogue with American Indian cultures and tribes that are in their area and see how their actions are affecting those groups."

The University's response included a 13-page report and 27 related documents. Those included the 2000 Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek report, various Board of Trustees motions related to the school's nickname and symbol, and documentation of two Chief-related lawsuits. The NCAA looked at all 32 self evaluations and included every school that still uses any reference to American Indians on the list of "hostile and abusive" uses, said Gail Dent, NCAA associate director of public and media relations.

The list was established without a definition of "hostile and abusive." Dent said the idea was that any reference to American Indians was hostile and abusive, but added that individual institutions could appeal their inclusion on the list.

The policy only applies to schools using American Indian mascots. San Diego State University, which was asked to self-evaluate, was deemed to not be in violation because its "Aztecs" nickname and "Montezuma" mascot do not refer to American Indians.

"The issue focuses on Native Americans because Native Americans were the group that brought the issue to the NCAA's attention as imagery on campuses were offensive to them," Dent said.

The NCAA also offered generally applicable "recommended best practices" for the 18 violating schools to consider following. These include review and removal of "hostile and abusive references" from printed material and educating their school communities on the implications of hostile or abusive symbols.

The University's Board of Trustees is working towards a "consensus resolution," in which both pro- and anti-Chief opinions would be heard and considered in coming to a final conclusion about the symbol. Through this consensus resolution, the University already is working towards the NCAA's third recommendation of creating "a greater level of knowledge of Native American culture through outreach efforts and other means of communication."

The ruling emphasized that the NCAA could not tell member institutions which images or nicknames they could or could not adopt as symbols of their schools. But it stressed that the executive committee, which is composed of presidents from 19 schools, found these references unwelcome at postseason competition.

"What we're trying to say is that we find these abusive or hostile references to American Indian mascots to be unacceptable for NCAA championship competition," said Walter Harrison, chairman of the NCAA executive committee. "What an institution wishes to do is really its own business outside of NCAA championship competition."

Harrison said the Feb. 1, 2006, deadline is intended to give schools an opportunity to respond and possibly appeal.

This policy only affects NCAA postseason competitions. It does not apply to Big Ten tournaments. The Bowl Championship Series, another governing body, which overseas collegiate bowl games, has yet to rule on whether they will apply the same policy to the football postseason. The ruling will likely apply to the NIT basketball tournaments, but only because the NCAA recently purchased those programs.

For now, nothing will change at the University of Illinois.

The University will continue to work towards a consensus resolution. Chief Illiniwek will continue to perform. And the "Illini" name and Chief Illiniwek logo will still be used.

Hardy said that while the University was surprised by how harshly and vaguely the NCAA generalized the traditions of 18 different institutions, Illinois is paying close attention to what comes next and determining its own steps.

"We do know that any time the NCAA takes action like this it is a serious matter and we are treating it as a serious matter," Hardy said.

The new NCAA policy has four points:

1. UNIVERSITIES WITH 'HOSTILE AND ABUSIVE' USES CANNOT HOST POSTSEASON EVENTS

After Feb. 1, 2006, the NCAA will no longer award NCAA championship sites to schools that continue to use American Indian imagery. Dent said this includes all rounds of postseason competition. This means that fall sports like volleyball and soccer could potentially host competitions this fall, but that winter and spring contests, and all those in future years, will not be played at any school using American Indian imagery.

2. PRE-DETERMINED SITES MUST COVER REFERENCES TO AMERICAN INDIANS

If a school using American Indian imagery or nicknames in its athletic programs has already been awarded the chance to host an NCAA championship event, that school must take "reasonable steps" to cover those references. The University is not currently scheduled to host any postseason competitions, but again, could possibly host a fall contest.

Additionally, the individual schools must assume the cost of covering these references.

3. SCHOOLS MUST REMOVE REFERENCES FROM BAND, CHEERLEADER AND MASCOT UNIFORMS

NCAA member institutions have until Aug. 1, 2008, to remove references to American Indians from band, cheerleader, dance team and mascot uniforms when performing at NCAA championship events. However, this does not mean that Chief Illiniwek will be allowed to perform at postseason competitions until then. The Chief, which is officially a symbol of the University and not a mascot, is banned from performing at any postseason competitions, effective when the decision was released Aug. 5.

4. REFERENCES TO AMERICAN INDIANS MUST BE REMOVED FROM TEAM UNIFORMS IMMEDIATELY

Athletic teams of member institutions cannot display American Indian names or symbols on their uniforms in NCAA championship competition, effective immediately. The schools may continue to use these names and images during the regular seasons and conference tournaments, but not in postseason contests that the NCAA regulates.

Illini chief, you've got next appeal

2005-08-25T00:06:00.000-05:00

From The Northwest Herald http://www.nwherald.com/print/317515154566016.php

Illini chief, you've got next appeal

In its haste for political correctness, the NCAA put the cart ahead of the horse, which, in this case, was Florida State's Appaloosa, Renegade.

Earlier this month, the NCAA tried to crack down on schools with "hostile" or "abusive" nicknames.

No longer would any school on the list be able to use nicknames or logos in postseason tournaments.

Florida State was on the list. So is Illinois, Bradley, Utah, Central Michigan and Alcorn State, to mention a few.

But that list is shrinking. Florida State won its appeal Tuesday when the NCAA recognized the relationship the university has with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

In a statement, NCAA senior vice president Bernard Franklin said, "The decision of a namesake sovereign tribe, regarding when and how its name and imagery can be used, must be respected even when others may not agree."

It seems the NCAA could have discovered this before rendering such a decision earlier this month, thus saving itself a ton of work on appeals.

Watch now as Illinois, North Dakota and others, all schools that try to honor specific tribes or customs, line up for their shots at preserving their mascots.

Certainly, there are Native American nicknames that are not as respectful.

But Illinois, Central Michigan and Utah are representing tribes indigenous to their areas.

Chief Illiniwek's dance was derived from one done by the Ogala Lakota tribe.

The school purchased an outfit for Chief Illiniwek in 1982 from a 93-year-old Sioux chief, Frank Fools Crow.

That seems more honorable than hostile.

The NCAA likely will get a bigger dose of history on matters like this in the next few days than it ever dreamt.

The Utes, Chippewas and Fighting Sioux will come calling, appealing to be removed from the list like Florida State, with Chief Osecola riding Renegade.

Football does not enter the equation because there is no NCAA Division I-A football tournament (and really, as we all know, no need for one with the glorious BCS figuring out which undefeated teams will play for the national title and which will be left out).

But in the 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Illinois, as it stands now, will not be able to use the Chief or that logo.

The NCAA may have overstepped its boundaries in trying to legislate out ethnic nicknames.

It only has itself to blame for the mess and the long line of appeals. When it could be conducting real business, it will be fielding one appeal after another.

Next ...

* Joe Stevenson is a sportswriter for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached at (815) 526-4513 or via e-mail at jstevenson@nwherald.com.

Illini case isn't similar to Seminoles

2005-08-25T00:05:00.000-05:00

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/cs-050823illini,1,1514324.story?coll=cs-college-headlines

Illini case isn't similar to Seminoles
By Neil Milbert
Tribune staff reporter

August 23, 2005, 10:28 PM CDT

CHAMPAIGN -- The chairman of the Illinois Board of Trustees applauded Tuesday's decision by the NCAA to allow Florida State to continue using its Seminoles nickname and imagery in postseason play.

But Lawrence Eppley said the Florida State situation was not analogous to Illinois' Fighting Illini nickname or Chief Illiniwek mascot.

"They based it on the maturity of the relationship with the Seminole tribe," Eppley said of the NCAA staff review committee's decision. "That's one of the things that makes their situation different from our situation. The NCAA pronouncement was too black and white for what is in the end a gray social issue."

Florida State and Illinois were among 18 schools the NCAA cited Aug. 5 as having Native American nicknames and mascots it deemed "hostile" or "abusive."

"The staff review committee noted the unique relationship between the university and the Seminole tribe of Florida as a significant factor [in exempting Florida State]," NCAA Senior Vice President Bernard Franklin said. "The decision of a namesake sovereign tribe regarding how its name and image can be used must be respected, even if others may not agree."

Postseason mascot and imagery bans on schools with Native American nicknames and mascots will take effect Feb. 1 and apply to all competition conducted by the NCAA. Schools have until then to appeal.

Florida State appealed immediately. School President T.J. Wetherell had threatened to sue the NCAA if the committee had upheld the postseason ban on identifying with the Seminoles.

Illinois President B. Joseph White and the board of trustees "don't have any timetable for making a decision" on whether to appeal, said Thomas Hardy, executive director of university relations.

Last week Eppley reacted to a letter from NCAA President Myles Brand in USA Today that lauded the Aug. 5 edict by strongly objecting to the "harsh rhetoric" it contained, namely use of the words "hostile" and "abusive" in characterizing Illinois' nickname and mascot.

Eppley pointed out that the nickname Illini had been coined by the student newspaper 52 years before the Chief Illiniwek tradition was introduced in 1926 by the Marching Illini band performing at athletic contests.

His research further revealed that the phrase "Fighting Illini" traced to a pregame promotional flier lauding the spirit of the 1919 football team and that the university's use of the nickname dates "to 1921 and the fund-raising campaign to build Memorial Stadium in honor of ... students and alumni who fought and died in World War I."

A distinction between the Florida State Seminoles and the Illinois Fighting Illini also exists because there never was an Illini tribe. Illini is derived from Illinois, the French spelling for the Native American word "Iliniwok," a confederation of the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michiganmea, Moinwena, Peoria and Tamaroa tribes.

nmilbert@tribune.com

Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune

Letters to the Editor (LA TIMES)

2005-08-23T23:31:00.000-05:00

From LA Times (August 13, 2005)
VIEWPOINT/LETTERS

Fans Deem NCAA Mascot Rule Offensive
Why don't we all jump on the sensitivity bandwagon?

In case people forgot or never knew in the first place, mascots were always chosen to honor the school that chose them for their nobility and bravery. The PC police will never stop.

BLAINE OAKES
Lomita

It would be so refreshing if Bill Plaschke were required to do some research before writing a column.

Lumping Illinois' Chief Illiniwek and Florida State's Chief Osceola together with the nickname "Redskins" and the Cleveland Indians' caricatured mascot shows a deplorable level of ignorance.

First, Illinois' Chief Illiniwek does not "whoop" — ever; second, he is not dressed like a caricature, but dresses in the same deerskin clothing that was used by the Illiniwek Indians; third, what Plaschke calls "dancing like a fool" is a dance common to many Plains Indians. The Illinois student who portrays the chief studies and learns the dance from local Indian groups.

In other words, he educates himself about their culture so he can be as accurate a symbol of that lost culture as possible. Plaschke, on the other hand, far from educating himself, has quite obviously not even taken this issue seriously.

MICHAEL KENNEY
Woodland Hills

Bill Plaschke might find it interesting that the headdress used by Chief Illiniwek is made by a Sioux chief, Frank Fools Crow, for the university. One would think that if this were terribly racist, no Indian would commit such a sin.

STEVE ORTON
Los Angeles

It must be a slow news day when a writer of Bill Plaschke's stature feels compelled to attack a school mascot such as Chief Illiniwek.

The team name, Fighting Illini, should also not be included with the so-called abusive Indian names. "Illini" comes from the state's name, Illinois, which used to be an Indian tribe.

If the University of Illinois is banned from calling its team the Fighting Illini, maybe the state of Illinois should be forced to change its name too. Maybe Indiana, North and South Dakota and Minnesota and all the states with Indian names should follow suit.

MICHAEL BASKIN

Covina

The names or mascots are a minor issue when looking at the plight of American Indians today.

While we're at it, since my father is Swedish and my mother of Mexican descent, let's remove Vikings and Aztecs too, as it traumatizes me every time I see either team's mascot.

MATT PETERSON
Winnetka

Where does a group of academics get off deeming mascots to be offensive? Not even the tribal councils of the Seminoles or Utes were offended by Florida State's or Utah's use of their tribal names as mascots.

But the elite NCAA committee has now judged that they should have been. Perhaps the academics would make better use of their time teaching the rather obvious lesson on how easy it is to not take offense at something that was never meant to be offensive.

MEL WOLF
Burbank

Red Scare (Wall Street Journal)

2005-08-23T23:28:00.000-05:00

LEISURE &ARTS
Red Scare

Today's Puritans attack Indian mascots.

BY KENNETH L. WOODWARD

European intellectuals have long complained of excessive moralism in American foreign policy, politics and attitudes toward sex--the lingering effect, as they see it, of our Puritan heritage. But if they want to spot the real Puritans among us, they should read our sports pages.

Last week, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced that it would ban the use of Native American team names and mascots in all NCAA-sponsored postseason tournaments. If a team turns up wearing uniforms with words like "Indians," "Braves" or similar nicknames the association deems "hostile and abusive," that team will be shown the locker-room door. Surely I was not the only reader who noticed that this edict came out of the NCAA's headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Already, one university president, T.K. Weatherall of Florida State, one of 18 colleges and universities on the Association's blacklist, is threatening to take legal action--and I hope he does. Florida State's athletic teams are called the Seminoles, and the university says it has permission from that tribe in Florida to use that name. Not good enough, counters Charlotte Westerhaus, the NCAA's new vice president for "diversity and inclusion." "Other Seminole tribes," she claims, "are not supportive."

One might suppose that any organization with an Office of Diversity and Inclusion would welcome mascots and team names reflecting the Native Americans among us. But no, the NCAA is on a moral mission--the less sensitive might call it a warpath--to pressure colleges and universities to adopt its standards for iconic correctness. Cheered on by moralizing sportswriters like George Vecsey of the New York Times, Jon Saraceno of the USA Today and the entire sports department of the Portland Oregonian, which will not print "hostile" nicknames of teams ( e.g., it calls the Washington Redskins "the football team from Washington"), several member schools have already caved in.

Stanford was the first major university to drop Indians as its athletic moniker; that was 30 years ago, when group identities and sensitivities were the most inflamed. Stanford's teams are now the Cardinal, presumably for the color of their jerseys. But who can tell?--it may have hidden ecclesiastical connotations. Marquette changed from Warriors to Golden Eagles, despite continuing complaints from alumni who find it as difficult as I do to imagine why the Warrior image would offend any Native American. After all, their forefathers weren't wimps.

Perhaps the most craven decision was that of St. John's University, which changed from the Red Men to the Red Storm. In both its former and current names, "Red" referred to the color of the St. John's uniforms--not to Native Americans, of which there are very few in Queens, N.Y. The change is reminiscent of a decision by Cincinnati's pro baseball team, which changed its name from Reds to Redlegs during the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s.

Interestingly, the NCAA has made an exception for the Braves of the University of North Carolina-Pembroke because the school has a tradition of enrolling Native American students. Maybe this will clear the way for Dartmouth's Big Green to restore its Indian mascot and team name, Indians, which the school dropped in 1969. After all, Dartmouth was founded by Eleazar Wheelock, a Puritan minister, for the purpose of providing "Christianization, instruction and education" for "Youth of the Indian Tribes of this Land. . .and also of English Youth and any others." The college still offers a major in Native American Studies and since 1970 has graduated some 500 American Indians.

The NCAA, thank God, has no control over pro sports teams and their chosen totems. But among sportswriters there are voices that echo the same faux moralizing by demanding name changes from the Atlanta Braves, Golden State Warriors, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Blackhawks and Cleveland Indians. In a typical column, Mr. Saraceno recently lamented the abject failure of "activists" to get Cleveland's baseball team to drop its logo, Chief Wahoo, which, he opined, "is probably the most outrageous, blatant symbol of racism in sports today."

I don't know where Mr. Saraceno was in the early '60s, when racism wore a human face. I was a civil-rights reporter in Nebraska then and remember visiting American Indian reservations where I saw kids wearing caps festooned with the Milwaukee Braves' logo and--yes--with Chief Wahoo. In 2002, Sports Illustrated published a survey of American Indians living on and off reservations. More than eight in 10 approved the use of Indian names and mascots for college and pro teams; a slight majority even approved of the clearly questionable "Redskins."

Moralistic sportswriters need to distinguish between Native American activists and paternalistic surrogates. In Cleveland, for example Mr. Saraceno's unnamed activists are primarily officials of the United Church of Christ, an ultra-liberal Protestant denomination that moved its national headquarters there from New York in 1990 and immediately began a campaign against the Indians and Chief Wahoo. As it happens, the church is the denominational descendent of the old New England Puritans, now committed to diversity and inclusion. I was raised in Cleveland, and these interlopers don't seem to know or care that the baseball team took its current name in 1915 to honor popular outfielder Louis Sockalexis, a Penobscot Indian from Maine who batted .313 lifetime. His teammates called him "Chief."

As a matter of policy, the NCAA now encourages schools to imitate the University of Iowa, which won't allow its Hawkeyes to compete against nonconference schools that "use Native American nicknames, imagery or mascots," although "Iowa," itself, is a tribal name. Where does that leave the University of Illinois--a school in the same athletic conference, the Big 10--whose teams are called the Fighting Illini and whose gridiron mascot is Chief Illiniwek? Illiniwek--the word signifies "man"--was the name of an Indian confederation that the French called Illinois. If "the Fighting Illini" is "hostile and antagonistic" in the eyes of the NCAA, must the university, too, change its name? And the state as well? What about North and South Dakota? Or community colleges in Miami, Cheyenne, Pueblo and Peoria--Indian names all--not to mention a city named Sioux? Where do embedded history and folkloric iconography end and negative stereotyping begin?

Here's a suggestion: If the NCAA and other latter-day Puritans are concerned about social prejudice, they ought to investigate Notre Dame. Surely the name for its athletic teams, the Fighting Irish, is a slur on all Irish-Americans. The label derives from anti-Catholic nativists who reviled the poor and mostly uneducated Irish immigrants who came to these shores in the mid-19th century--a drunken, brawling breed, it was said, who espoused the wrong religion. When the fabled Four Horsemen played football for Notre Dame, the team was called the Ramblers. In 1927, the university officially adopted the Fighting Irish, thereby transforming a pejorative nickname into something to cheer about.

If there are Native Americans who feel that Indians or Warriors or Braves is somehow demeaning, they might reflect on the Notre Dame experience. And if the NCAA really cares about diversity and inclusion, it ought to establish an office of Indian Affairs to help Native American athletes with collegiate aspirations. Meanwhile, all paleface Puritan surrogates, beginning with the NCAA, should butt out.

Mr. Woodward, a contributing editor at Newsweek, is writing a history of American religion and culture since 1950.

Mocking tradition and autonomy

2005-08-23T23:23:00.000-05:00

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=58826

The PCAA:
Mocking tradition and autonomy

THE NCAA'S executive committee voted last week to ban from its postseason tournaments the mascots of all schools with Indian nicknames that the committee classifies as "hostile or abusive." Nor can schools with such mascots and nicknames host NCAA postseason tournaments. Among the affected schools is Illinois, whose teams are called the Illini after the local confederation of Indian tribes. When a school's "hostile or abusive" nickname is the root word for the state's own name, the absurdity of the NCAA's decision should be obvious.

The committee pronounced its verdict from NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. "Indiana" means "Land of Indians." The NCAA presumably will announce its move to a politically correct state soon.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida officially endorses Florida State University's use of the Seminole name. The Tribal Council unanimously voted in April to reaffirm this support. In an astounding act of racist paternalism, the NCAA executive committee defined FSU's use of the Seminoles name as "hostile or abusive."

In the name of sensitivity the NCAA is engaging in the very sort of racism it claims to be fighting. The all-knowing white people (three of the committee's 19 members are black) will decide for everyone what shall be done.

Such arrogance is the province of kings, sultans and committees with too much power and too little accountability.

Letter from Chairman BOT (USA TODAY)

2005-08-23T23:14:00.000-05:00

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-08-17-letters-ncaa_x.htm

NCAA's 'incendiary rhetoric' damages debate on mascots

NCAA President Myles Brand describes the NCAA Executive Committee's incendiary rhetoric on the issue of Native American imagery as a "teachable moment." Surely, there are better ways of "initiating discussion" than to decree that the traditions of 18 member institutions are "hostile and abusive" ("NCAA takes high road with ban of offensive mascots," The Forum, Aug. 11).

The committee's inflammatory rhetoric doesn't create a teachable moment. Instead, it retards meaningful discussion.

At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, we are engaged in a dialogue regarding our 80-year-old Chief Illiniwek tradition. For years, the debate was hamstrung by the kind of harsh rhetoric the NCAA espoused. It only entrenched opinions and left us with a Hobson's choice. Eighteen months ago, we decided to tack away from the extremists on both sides and set a goal of reaching a consensus solution. What we found since then is the opportunity for real, substantive and constructive dialogue.

Our goal is a solution that embraces heritage and culture through the resources and reach of a major university, not one that pretends American Indians never thrived and created a rich history in our state. It's noteworthy that the NCAA's edict directly contradicts a 1995 finding by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, which concluded that Chief Illiniwek's existence didn't constitute a "racially hostile environment."

Our focus also has been on the Chief Illiniwek tradition, not on "Illini" or "Fighting Illini." Coined by our student newspaper 52 years before the Chief Illiniwek tradition was established, "Illini" is merely a moniker derived from our state's name. "Fighting Illini" dates to 1921 and the campaign to build Memorial Stadium in honor of students and alumni who fought and died in World War I.

Mr. Brand's commentary missed the point. The likely and ironic consequence of the NCAA's provocative rhetoric will be a giant step backward in the debate, re-engagement of harsh and disingenuous rhetoric, and the loss of common ground to the armies of divisiveness.

Lawrence C. Eppley, Chair of the Board of Trustees, University of Illinois, Palatine, Ill.

National Review (Commentary Piece)

2005-08-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/wood200508230805.asp

The Diversity Bowl
No admittance to the abusively named.

By Peter Wood

The National Collegiate Athletic Association's recent decision to ban tournament play for 18 colleges until they agree to change their American Indian-themed nicknames and mascots comes not a moment too soon. I was just about to take a fateful step. As the new provost of a small college in New York City, I had been searching for a way to honor local traditions and pay respect to city's rich heritage.

But now that NCAA has determined that commercializing on Native American identity outside the decorous context of slot machines and craps tables is in bad taste, it's finito for the King's College's Manhattan-Algonquin Wampum-Waving Ticket Scalpers. Likewise our mascot, Chief Bradembucks, must go the way of the buffalo and the passenger pigeon. No more will crowds roar in antic approval as the chief, red-faced and clad only in Oxford pants, makes his signature gesture, the double cross.

Incidentally, the role of mascot often takes considerable acrobatic as well as theatrical skill. At one point in his routine, Chief Bradembucks had to bound backwards on to an ass and ride in concentric circles. Our mathematics faculty said this was impossible until the chief demonstrated the feat. Bradembucks premature retirement will be a loss for all of higher education.

To be clear, Chief Bradembucks looks nothing at all like John Brademus, the scrupulous former Democratic congressman, friend to the Clintons, and New York State Regent who tried and failed to torpedo the college by holding up its accreditation.

But I don't want to make too much of our loss. Clearly the folks at Florida State University have a bigger problem if they are forced to forfeit the Seminoles as their team name. FSU has appealed. The Chronicle of Higher Education likewise noted the challenges that face the University of North Dakota that has its "Fighting Sioux" logo carved in rock at its $100 million Ralph Engelstad Arena. Loyalty to team names and mascots may have been the last redoubt of emotional resistance to the tyranny of multicultural sensitivity on college campuses.

You can find a handful of intellectual resistors to the incoherent claims of diversiphiles on almost any campus, but they have little clout. The Left has won this battle over multiculturalism in the curriculum, faculty hiring, race-themed dorms, and all the rest not because it won the arguments, but largely because it sold a more compelling emotional story. Repackaging racial quotas in colleges admissions as a kind of "inclusion" appeals to a vague sense of generosity. In fact, metaphoric "inclusion" for some means genuine exclusion for others, as we saw when Jennifer Gratz appealed her rejection by the University of Michigan all the way to the Supreme Court.

The slippery word play is important. After all, Justice O'Connor was able to wink at grievous constitutional faults to uphold the University of Michigan's feel-good version of racism by indulging such mischievous words in the Left's lexicon. But those words work because they evoke a free-floating spirit of open-heartedness. Diversiphile-speak has a rich vocabulary of trapdoor words that trigger this response while, less obtrusively, announcing a much less open-hearted policy. Words such as "welcoming" (which means unconditional respect for behavior that doesn't deserve it) and "tolerance" (which frequently means no dissenting opinions will be permitted) comprise a vocabulary fine-tuned to the longing by most Americans to feel a kind of grudgeless amity for people at large.

That basic sense of decency is among the most attractive qualities of our national character. And it is annoying to see it played so adroitly by the Left for an agenda that is not at all decent: the perpetuation of a racial spoils system in higher education and almost every other institutional context.

College-sports nicknames and mascots were a natural target for the purveyors of a politics of racial resentment, and indeed many colleges gave up the fight long ago. Some of the holdouts, like the University of Illinois with its Chief Illiniwek, held out mostly because of the bluff indifference of alumni to the accusations that rained down on them. Few college presidents have that much spine.

So when the NCAA formed a commission four years ago to "study" the matter, the conclusion was pretty much foreordained. The NCAA commission was not about to question the good faith or the motives of Native Americans who claimed to be offended by such symbols or many others who regard Indian logos as inherently demeaning. Sure enough when NCAA's "Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion," Charlotte Westerhaus, described the policy, she said the organization was acting against names that are "hostile and abusive." NPR quickly chimed in with commentary by TV producer John Ridley, who mocked Florida Governor Jeb Bush for supporting the FSU's use of the Seminole name. The university has the permission and support of the Florida Seminole tribe, but other Seminoles in Oklahoma dislike it. Ridley sarcastically praised the rights of non-minorities to caricature the names and symbols of minority groups: a rather deft bit of hocus-pocus from a man who earns his living purveying comic racial stereotypes.

In the broader culture wars, the fight over Indian nicknames is a loser for conservatives. The Alcorn State University Braves, the Central Michigan University Chippewas, the Mississippi College Choctaws, and the University of Utah Utes will have to go it alone. I don't believe for a second that these names were adopted with malice; that they are hostile; or that anyone is "abused" by them. They do, however, have the capacity to irritate people, and it is hard to be on the side of chaffing when no really compelling principle favors it. A spontaneous show of affection for the team names and mascots by a large number of fans just might deflate people like Charlotte Westerhaus and John Ridley, and just maybe FSU alumni will pull it off. But even if they do, a stale conformity will still settle over this aspect of college sports — and America will be just a little bit poorer for the loss of historical reference and cultural exuberance.

For what it is worth, however, the use of Indian tribal names and imagery to evoke a sense of intrepid courage in the face of a foe and fierceness in battle is not all Hollywood hokum and American mythologizing. A great many tribes, including the Seminoles, cast themselves in this light and lived up to it in their battles with each other and with Europeans. Adopting the names of such groups may be pretty low rent as a form of tribute by outsiders, but it is also pretty low rent as a form of exploitation.

Chief Bradembucks, by contrast, was a caricature that stood on high principle. Chaffing some of the bullies that swagger around New York State politics is good clean fun and just what a small college like King's should do. Is it too much to hope that some of the victims of NCAA's forced march through sensitivity training will respond with some memorable half-time shows that pay tribute to the deep thinkers who set this policy in motion?

— Peter Wood, provost of The King's College in New York City, is author of Diversity: The Invention of A Concept.

Illinois decries NCAA 'rhetoric'

2005-08-23T22:45:00.001-05:00

Illinois decries NCAA 'rhetoric'

Trustee says Chief, school's nickname are different issues

By Neil Milbert

Tribune staff reporter

August 16, 2005,

CHAMPAIGN -- The chairman of the Illinois Board of Trustees said Tuesday the NCAA's characterization of the words Illini and Fighting Illini and the mascot Chief Illiniwek as "hostile" and "abusive" to Native Americans injected "incendiary rhetoric" and has created an impediment to a solution.

"My point was not pro-Chief or con-Chief," Chairman Lawrence Eppley told the Tribune. "It was Chief-neutral. My point is: What's the point of the rhetoric?"

Eppley's remarks came in the wake of a commentary by NCAA President Myles Brand published in USA Today concerning the NCAA Executive Committee's decision to bar Illinois and 17 other schools from hosting postseason events and using Native American imagery on uniforms or logos and banning performances by their mascots in tournaments.

In his commentary, Brand called the decision "a teachable moment" in initiating a national discussion about the portrayal of Native Americans.

"The Executive Committee's uninformed use of inflammatory rhetoric does not create a teachable moment," Eppley said in a rebuttal letter sent to USA Today and the Champaign News-Gazette but not published as of Tuesday. "Instead, it retards meaningful discussion ... on an important issue, especially in the communities of 18 institutions 'branded' by the NCAA as politically incorrect.

"Surely there are better ways of initiating discussion on a national basis than to decree that the traditions of 18 member institutions, many of which are rooted in reverence and decorum, are 'hostile' and 'abusive.'

"At the University of Illinois we are engaged in a dialogue regarding our 80-year-old Chief Illiniwek tradition. Our goal is a solution that embraces heritage and culture through the resources and reach of a major university, not one that pretends American Indians never thrived and created a rich history in our state."

Eppley emphasized that "the Chief issue" and "the name issue" are different.

"We feel they shouldn't be connected," he said. "They meet up in athletics, but historically there is a significant disconnection between the two.

"Our research showed the nicknames Illini and Fighting Illini to be outside the American Indian derivation. Here comes the NCAA and throws them together [with Chief Illiniwek]. It's a giant step backward."

University research shows the state of Illinois was named after the Illinois River. The river was named by a French explorer in 1679, and the name came from the Native Americans who lived along its banks. Illinois was the French spelling of the Native American word Iliniwok. The Iliniwok were a confederation of the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michiganmea, Moinwena, Peoria and Tamaroa tribes.

An abbreviated version was adopted by students at the university in 1874 when the school newspaper changed its named from the Student to the Illini.

The evolution from Illini to Fighting Illini stemmed from the vernacular use of "fighting" that conveyed the sense of trying to succeed and dates back to coach Bob Zuppke's championship football team of 1919. "Coined by our student newspaper 52 years before the Chief Illiniwek tradition was established, 'Illini' is merely a moniker derived from our state's name, which like the names of 27 other states and countless villages and cities is derived from a Native American term," Eppley said in his letter.

"'Fighting Illini' can be traced to the campaign to build Memorial Stadium in honor of University of Illinois students and alumni who fought and died in World War I."

Eppley also cited a 1995 finding by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights that seems to contradict the NCAA's designation of the nickname and mascot as "hostile" and "abusive." Said Eppley:

"After exhaustively investigating a formal complaint that the Chief [and] the name Fighting Illini violated provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1994, the OCR concluded that the existence of the Chief did not constitute a racially hostile environment at the university.

"I know what we've been trying to accomplish-without the clutter and noise. We've [made] progress. I'm still optimistic."

UI blasts NCAA for 'inflammatory rhetoric'

2005-08-23T22:45:00.000-05:00

UI blasts NCAA for 'inflammatory rhetoric'

August 16, 2005

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHAMPAIGN -- The University of Illinois is criticizing the NCAA for "inflammatory rhetoric" in its recent decision to sanction universities that use American Indian nicknames and mascots for their sports teams.

The NCAA's use of the words "hostile" and "abusive" to characterize some of those, including Illinois' Illini and Chief Illiniwek, was particularly disappointing, UI board chairman Lawrence C. Eppley wrote in a letter Monday to USA Today.

Eppley's letter, which the university has not been told will be published, is a response to an essay by NCAA President Myles Brand published in the newspaper last week.

In the essay, Brand called the NCAA's decision a "teachable moment" aimed at initiating a national discussion about how American Indians have been characterized.

"The Executive Committee's uninformed use of inflammatory rhetoric does not create a 'teachable moment,"' Eppley wrote. "Instead, it retards meaningful debate on an important issue, especially in the communities of the 18 institutions 'branded' by the NCAA as politically incorrect."

The NCAA's executive committee decided Aug. 5 to ban the use of American Indian mascots or nicknames by sports teams during its postseason tournaments. It also plans to bar teams that use them from hosting postseason events.

"Everyone has the opportunity to express their opinion and Mr. Eppley certainly has a right to do so," said Wally Renfro, Brand's senior adviser. "But this is an effort that took place over an extended period of time. This is a debate that has gone on in the NCAA for four years and the policy adopted by the executive committee was a result of that discussion."

In announcing its decision, the NCAA said at least 18 schools, including Illinois and Peoria's Bradley University, where teams are nicknamed the Braves, have mascots it deems "hostile or abusive." The NCAA did not immediately define what it would consider hostile or abusive.

The Chief, a student dressed in buckskins who dances at halftime of regular-season home football and basketball games and other athletic contests, has been a flashpoint for years on the campus.

The board of trustees has approved a resolution to seek "consensus conclusion" to the issue, but Eppley said the NCAA's action threatens to derail that process.

"The likely and ironic consequence of the NCAA's provocative rhetoric will be a giant step backward in the debate, re-engagement of harsh and disingenuous rhetoric and the loss of common ground to the armies of divisiveness," Eppley wrote.

Champaign-Urbana News Gazette

2005-08-23T22:43:00.000-05:00

Champaign-Urbana News Gazette

Board chair blasts NCAA stance

By JODI HECKEL

Published Online August 16, 2005

CHICAGO - The NCAA's actions earlier this month against schools with "hostile or abusive" American Indian imagery is "a giant step backward" in the debate over use of such imagery, said University of Illinois Board of Trustees Chairman Lawrence Eppley.

Eppley said he was disappointed by the organization's use of the terms "hostile" and "abusive."

"A lot of us locally have seen how unhelpful that has been," he said. "We've spent a lot of time getting that out of our (discussions)."

Eppley on Monday sent a letter regarding the NCAA decision to USA Today, in response to a commentary by NCAA President Myles Brand that was published Aug. 11.

The NCAA's recommendations included prohibiting schools using what it deemed "hostile or abusive" American Indian imagery from hosting national championship tournaments, and from using such imagery, nicknames or mascots at NCAA postseason events.

Brand called the NCAA's decision a "teachable moment" aimed at initiating a national discussion about how American Indians have been characterized.

"This is not about an effort to be politically correct. It is about doing the right thing," Brand wrote. "It is time to bring such practices to an end."

Rather than a "teachable moment," Eppley said in his response that the "uninformed use of inflammatory rhetoric ... instead retards meaningful discussion and debate on an important issue, especially in the communities of the 18 institutions 'branded' by the NCAA as politically incorrect."

The board of trustees has been trying to reach a consensus solution to the Chief Illiniwek issue, which Eppley said has moved the discussions from "harsh rhetoric" to "constructive dialogue." But he said the NCAA's use of the terms "hostile" and "abusive" could mean a loss of common ground.

Chief opponent and UI cell and structural biology Professor Stephen Kaufman said Eppley is attacking the NCAA's choice of words while he and the other trustees have failed to resolve the issue. This gives them "no quarter to complain" when the NCAA reviews the issue and takes a stand, he said.

"If the Illinois trustees do not have the courage to retire Fighting Illini and their fake chief, they should at least welcome the NCAA's initiative and willingness to take the heat on this," Kaufman said.

The NCAA's objections to uses of American Indian imagery include "Fighting Illini." In July, the board of trustees approved guidelines on the issue that called for keeping the name "Fighting Illini."

"We've been focused on the Chief. There are viewpoints that wrap them together (but) at least historically, there is a significant disconnection between the two," Eppley said, noting the name "Illini" predates the Chief, and "Fighting Illini" referred to UI students and alumni who fought in World War I and was used to help raise money for Memorial Stadium.

"The evidence we're seeing and weighing is the names ought to be taken out of the discussion," Eppley said.

He has discussed the recommendations with UI President B. Joseph White, Chancellor Richard Herman and Athletic Director Ron Guenther. He said they are going over the information they have received from the NCAA, and they have not yet decided whether to appeal the ruling.

Editorial: Chief Illiniwek decision needs to get out of limbo

2005-08-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

Pantagraph Editorial

Monday, August 1, 2005

Chief Illiniwek decision needs to get out of limbo

The longer the decision on the future of the Chief Illiniwek remains in limbo, the more this issue will generate ill will among those on both sides, and toward the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. The decision should be made soon.

On June 17, 2004, U of I trustees approved a resolution concerning Chief Illiniwek by a vote of 9-1.

It was resolved that "the board shall seek a consensus conclusion to the matter of Chief Illiniwek, and that the board should next consider and approve guidelines pursuant to which a consensus conclusion will be based."

Over a year later, little has been reported about progress, and the issue continues to percolate, if not boil.

Those alumni and fans who support keeping the Chief, some who saw his first performance in 1926, love him even more. They have transferred to their team the alleged Illini tribe meaning of "Illiniwek," as "the complete human being -- the strong, agile human body; the unfettered human intellect; the indomitable human spirit."

The performance by Chief Illiniwek has become a revered tradition and any threat of discontinuing it evokes very strong emotions. In fact, a report to the board by its legal counsel indicated that a recent Sun-Times Poll concluded that 86 percent of Illinois residents favor keeping the Chief.

...continues

Natives support culturally accurate Chief

2005-05-29T18:28:00.000-05:00

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg29.html

Excerpt:

May 29, 2005
BY GREG COUCH SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Every time I hear the argument over Chief Illiniwek, I get the feeling
that someone is missing from the debate. It's like a 100-year-old
great-grandpa is sitting in the corner of the room, and half the family
insists he'd like a glass of milk, while the other half screams he'd
rather have coffee.

Everyone thinks he knows better. No one asks the old guy.

In Illinois' case, that's a bit of a stretch, as this has nothing to
do with family. Instead, it's roughly a bunch of white people at a
university claiming that their American Indian symbol honors American
Indians, while a bunch of Phd.'s and people from organizations with a
lot of capital letters say he's offensive.

Yet probably 150 people were at Aurora University on Saturday in
authentic American Indian regalia, doing authentic American Indian
dances to authentic American Indian beats.

That's because they were authentic American Indians, from roughly two
dozen tribes across the United States and Canada. It was the school's
15th annual Powwow, and it starts up again today at 1:30.

Thorpe Sine's 6-year-old, Kyle, was totally out of control with his
Hacky Sack and kept knocking over the director's chairs his family was
sitting in before their turn to dance. Sine, a Ho-Chunk Indian from
Glenpool, Okla., was sitting on a University of Illinois chair.

Are you familiar with Chief Illiniwek?

''Yeah, I've seen it,'' he said, in full regalia, including beautiful
feather arm bands. ''I don't see it as authentic. But I have no problem
with it. I've got a lot of family down there in Illinois, where my
grandfather was living. Very few Indians are offended by that.''

Sine goes to 40 or 50 powwows across the country each year to pass on
the culture to Kyle.

I went around the powwow asking Grandpa what he wanted to drink,
listening to the experts about Illiniwek. Stuff like, "Are you honored
by him or offended?'' Has anyone asked them? Because we've had this
debate for 15 years now.

They did not give the final answer. But this was an effort to get the
right people into the discussion.

The Chief should stay

My sense now is that the Chief should stay, but not the way he is. How
about a little actual research. The only credible person we've heard
from so far was Charlene Teters, an American Indian and former U of I
grad student. She is offended by the Chief, and said so throughout the
documentary, ''In Whose Honor.'' Since then, members of the Illinois
Board of Trustees have walked around campus with Groucho Marx nose and
glasses, hiding from the issue.

How about going to one of these powwows, or a bunch of them, talking
with, maybe polling, these American Indians who are there for their
6-year-olds, trying to pass on accuracy, history and family. They
aren't in it for the politics, or because they love a team name.

Meanwhile, I now have serious doubt about the authenticity of the
Chief. We've been told about how one of the first Chiefs hitchhiked
across the country in the 1920s to some tribe to learn how to honor our
state's history.

For sure, the drumbeat sound all day in Aurora was not what we hear at
Illini games. That ''THUMP, thump, thump, thump. THUMP, thump, thump,
thump.''

''John Wayne,'' Charlie Belisle and Rich Figueroa, Oneida Indians who
live in Green Bay, said at the same time.

Belisle said the beat is supposed to represent a heartbeat. And if
anyone's heart is beating like that, he had better call 911.

And Figueroa said that ''Native American men do not high-kick.''

Chief Illiniwek does. I heard that theme again and again, about the
Hollywood beat and the high-kicking. It was three hours of research.

Let's hear again about the great lengths they went to at Illinois to
make this thing accurate.

If you can get to the powwow today, do it. They have booths selling
all sorts of authentic stuff, from handcarved flutes to rabbit fur.
It's outdoors, in the campus quad, by the Schingoethe Center for Native
American Studies. They have bleachers around a huge dance circle, and
guys sit in the middle thumping the beat, the legit beat, while
different groups or tribes do their dance.

Both sides have support

What do you think of Indian sports symbols and mascots?

''As long as it's done in a respectful way, that's fine,'' said Walker
Stonefish, a Delaware Potawatomi from Walpole Island, Ontario. One
dancer, who declined to give his name, said Illiniwek is an insult,
that it's an honor to earn the rank of chief, not something you can
just slap on a sports team. Another said it was too much of a
caricature.

Belisle and Figueroa think Indian mascots and symbols honor them, as
long as they don't go overboard like the chant at Atlanta Braves games.

''At Marquette,'' Belisle said, ''I don't know why they went away from
Warriors. And there's a high school just outside the reservation, and
they were called the Seymour Indians. Now, they're dropping Indians. It
doesn't make sense.''

Now the NCAA is considering forcing schools to drop American Indian
mascots. I hope they're talking to the right people.

Meanwhile, I got an e-mail last month that said, ''those American
Indians who are not offended are so numbed by the way American Indians
have historically been treated and depicted, that they are pleased that
there is some recognition at all.''

It came from someone at the Illinois Native American Bar Association.

Maybe there's some truth to that, but I still think Grandpa is a
credible source for what he wants.

UI sends Chief report to NCAA

2005-05-03T17:15:00.000-05:00

5/3/05
By Courtney Linehan

Excerpt:

The University sent a report Friday in response to a request from the NCAA that it and 30 other member institutions self evaluate their uses of logos, nicknames and mascots deriving from American-Indian terms.

The report came after the NCAA's Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee requested a six-month investigation. The deadline to respond was Sunday.

Illinois sent the NCAA a 13-page report and 27 related documents, including the 2000 Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek report, documentation of two Chief-related lawsuits and copies of various Board of Trustees motions regarding the issue.

"We took it very seriously, and I think basically it afforded us an opportunity to review so much that's already been done by this institution," said Tom Hardy, executive director for University Relations.

In asking the 31 schools to complete self evaluations, the NCAA hoped to develop a better understanding of why schools use American-Indian imagery, said Gail Dent, NCAA associate director of public and media relations.

"The NCAA requested that select schools in its membership complete the self evaluations as an additional resource to examine ongoing use of American-Indian imagery, which includes mascots, logos, behavior and nicknames," Dent said.

Illinois' report emphasized that the Chief Illiniwek symbol continues to be a topic of controversy on campus and that the Board of Trustees is working toward a consensus resolution to the issue.

The document detailed the main arguments in support and opposition of the use of the Chief Illiniwek symbol. It briefly summarized the history of the Illini name and how it is used around campus.

While the report emphasized that the University does not have a mascot, significant space was dedicated to discussing Chief Illiniwek, his role in the University environment and the debate surrounding him.

Hardy said the length to which the campus community has debated the Chief made it easy to assemble the information requested without doing additional research.

"So much input has come from every direction of those involved in the issue, and every point of view is represented, every action that has been taken is represented," Hardy said. "I think it's going to be a valuable resource for the NCAA, a valuable resource for our Board of Trustees as they move forward, and certainly for anybody else who wants to learn more about the issue."

Illinois is not the only campus on which the school's use of American-Indian imagery has been a hot topic. Schools such as University of North Dakota, UNC-Pembroke and Florida State have spent considerable time determining whether to continue the use of their mascots, logos and nicknames.

...
Click on link for full story

U of I reports to NCAA on use of Chief Illiniwek

2005-04-30T10:15:00.000-05:00

By Todd C. Frankel
Apr. 29 2005

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign submitted a report to the NCAA on
Friday explaining why the school continues to use Chief Illiniwek as a school
symbol.

The NCAA requested similar reports from 31 schools nationwide that use American
Indian mascots or names - schools such as the Southeast Oklahoma State Savages
and the Central Michigan Chippewas.

The NCAA asked about the nickname's origin, its history, how decisions are made
about its future and whether issues of diversity, discrimination and
sportsmanship were considered. It is not clear if the NCAA plans to take any
action.

The Illinois report featured a lengthy compilation of past actions and debate,
said university spokesman Tom Hardy.

The school's stance toward the Chief is unchanged, Hardy said: "The basic
position is that the board of trustees has ownership of the Chief Illiniwek
tradition."

... Visit Link for full story

UI sends lengthy report to NCAA

2005-04-30T10:10:00.000-05:00

By JODI HECKEL April 30, 2005

Excerpt:
URBANA – The NCAA will spend the next few months reviewing information about how American Indian symbols are used by the University of Illinois and other schools.

The UI this week sent a self-evaluation of its use of Chief Illiniwek to the NCAA. Any response by the NCAA likely won't be made before August, when its executive committee meets to review recommendations on the issue.

The NCAA has been looking at the use of American Indian imagery by athletic teams for the past few years. It asked 31 schools with American Indian mascots, logos or nicknames to conduct a self-analysis to determine if they can be seen as offensive. Information from the schools is due Sunday.

The UI provided materials from the last 15 years of debate on the issue, including resolutions passed by the board of trustees; the report of former Cook County Circuit Judge Louis B. Garippo, who presided over two days of dialogue in 2000; and the report by former trustee Roger Plummer, who was asked to explore options for resolving the controversy.

UI spokesman Tom Hardy, who worked with the Urbana campus on the response, called it an "encyclopedic review" of the history of the Chief Illiniwek debate.

Visit Link for full story

New trustee: Illiniwek 'a distraction'

2005-04-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

Excerpted from:

Friday, April 22, 2005
By Phil Davidson

Dorris wants to focus on issues

SPRINGFIELD -- The newest member of the University of Illinois board of trustees says the controversy surrounding Chief Illiniwek is "a distraction and a waste of time."

"I like to focus on what I consider the real problems," said David Dorris of LeRoy, who was unanimously confirmed for the trustee position by the state Senate on Thursday.

Dorris, a 1973 U of I law school graduate, joined the board of trustees in March after being named to the post by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. His appointment generated criticism because Dorris, a 57-year-old trial lawyer, has contributed more than $80,000 to the governor's campaign fund.

Since assuming the duties of a trustee, Dorris has been bombarded with advocacy and lawsuits regarding the school's symbol.

Last month, the Illinois Native American Bar Association and two individuals, a U of I-Chicago student and a Champaign resident, filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against the board of trustees. They claim use of the Indian symbol violates state constitutional rights of American Indians as well as board policies against racial discrimination.

Supporters of the chief, a group as fervent as their counterparts, say the symbol honors the people who lived in this area before it became a state.

Dorris said he simply cannot understand the passion of either side.

If the chief is causing any harm to minorities, it should be eliminated, he said. That same reasoning goes if it's causing any harm to the university.

"I hate to see us talk about something that's not really going to change the world one way or another," Dorris said.

Though Dorris said he wouldn't feel one bit different if Chief Illiniwek were eliminated tomorrow, he does not want to see any other mascot as a replacement.

"I don't want to offend my good friends at Illinois State University, but I don't want to see a bird or a gopher or something else running up and down the sidelines," he said. "I guess symbolism is important to some people; not to me."

Blagojevich has declined to take a position on the debate over the mascot, saying the issue is for the trustees to decide.

Dorris' term runs through January 2011. He replaces trustee Jeff Gindorf, who did not seek reappointment when his term expired in January.

New trustee calls Chief Illiniwek debate a 'distraction'

2005-04-22T15:04:00.000-05:00

Excerpt:

...University of Illinois' newest trustee says the debate over Chief Illiniwek is a "distraction and a waste of time."

David Dorris says the debate is diverting attention from more important issues.

The Bloomington attorney says he can't understand the passions on either side of the debate...Dorris said the Chief should be retired if it's harming minorities or the university.The Illinois Senate confirmed Dorris' appointment yesterday.

Click on link above for full story

Speaking for the Symbol (Part 3/3)

2005-04-22T14:45:00.000-05:00

The Daily Illini
4/22/05

This is the third in a three-part series that profiles those who portray Chief Illiniwek and the deep significance they attach to the symbol amidst the controversy.

See "comments" or web-link for full story

Speaking for the symbol (Part 2/3)

2005-04-21T09:56:00.000-05:00

The Daily Illini
4/21/05

This is the second in a three-part series that profiles those who portray Chief Illiniwek and the deep significance they attach to the symbol amidst the controversy.

See "comments" or web-link for full story

Portraying Illiniwek (Part 1/3)

2005-04-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

The Daily Illini
4/20/05

This is the first in a three-part series that profiles those who portray Chief Illiniwek and the deep significance they attach to the symbol amidst the controversy.

See "comments" or web-link for full story

Campus calm one year after protest

2005-04-18T09:48:00.000-05:00

The Daily Illini
4/18/05
By Teresa A. Sewell

Outside the Swanlund Administration Building on Friday and Saturday, the atmosphere was calm. There were no signs of the anti-Chief sit-in that took place one year ago this weekend, where dozens of protesters - including faculty, alumni, students and community members - demanded the removal of Chief Illiniwek as the University's symbol.

Yet Chief Illiniwek has remained a symbol of the University. Many have been waiting for the school to take action in the final decision to either keep or remove the Chief, but in the past year, the Chief has not been as big an issue on campus as it has been in previous years.

Jen Tayabji, director of the Illinois Disciples Foundation and member of the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative, said the PRC decided to "symbolically" take over the Swanlund Administration Building on April 15 after the April 2004 Board of Trustees meeting there was cancelled. Then-student trustee Nate Allen had planned to introduce a resolution at that meeting to eliminate Chief Illiniwek, but when the meeting was canceled by board chair Larry Eppley, the PRC decided to protest outside the building the same day and time the meeting was supposed to be held.

Initially, the protesters demanded that the Chief be eliminated before the sit-in would end. But after 33 hours, the protesters left the building after the University agreed not to take disciplinary action against the sit-in participants, scheduled meetings for anti-Chief representatives to meet with state legislators and allowed protesters to meet with the University's accreditation agency.

Although the Chief was not eliminated because of the sit-in, Tayabji said the sit-in helped expand awareness of the Chief debate.

"We wanted to show them that it was that serious of an issue," Tayabji said.

In the past year, the atmosphere on campus has hardly changed, and if anything has become more pro-Chief.

John McKinn, assistant director of the Native American House, said the campus climate towards the anti-Chief movement has gotten worse since the sit-in.

More students may have become pro-Chief this year due to an increase in school pride and honor following the basketball team's successful season, he said.

McKinn said many students this year might look to the Chief for a way to represent their school pride.

The sit-in came amid other developments in the debate over Chief Illiniwek that favored the pro-Chief side, including the resignation of vocally anti-Chief Chancellor Nancy Cantor in March 2004.

Also in March 2004, Matthew Diller, a pro-Chief candidate, was elected student trustee. Before Diller's election, the past three student trustees had favored retiring Chief Illiniwek. However, with Nick Klitzing's election as student trustee last month, both trustees after the Swanlund sit-in have been past presidents of Students for Chief Illiniwek.

Klitzing declined to comment because of his new role with the BOT.

Gregory Meves, a senior in political science and internal vice president of Students for Chief Illiniwek, said the uproar over the Chief has died down this semester. Many members of Students for Chief Illiniwek have graduated, he said; right now, his group is trying to build membership and educate people on the Chief tradition, he said.

He said many students are pro-Chief, but do not realize the symbol can be something bigger. He said the group believes the Chief is a respectful symbol that helps promote awareness of American Indian culture and heritage. Students for Chief Illiniwek is working to use the support it has to increase the Chief's educational value.

"It's good that students support us, but that's not enough," Meves said.

Michael Bordieri, senior in LAS and PRC co-coordinator, said he is pleased that the sit-in elevated the attention of the issue and got the state legislature involved. However, Bordieri said he is disappointed that there have been no concrete results in the removal of the Chief or settling the issue.

In June 2004, the Board of Trustees passed a resolution calling for a "consensus conclusion" before the Chief issue could be resolved - although the board has not said what that term means, nor stated a plan about how such a conclusion would be reached. In September 2004, the board passed a second resolution saying that any solution to the Chief debate should honor Illinois' American Indian heritage.

Thomas Hardy, University spokesman, said unfortunately this is one issue that many people strongly disagree about and the BOT is working towards a consensus.

Tom Livingston, who portrayed Chief Illiniwek in the late 1980s, described the Chief as a work of art.

"The Chief expresses majesty, grace and the good qualities inside of a world-class University, just like a painting," Livingston said.

Livingston said although he respects everyone's opinion, he has interacted with tribal communities and they have no problem with the Chief symbol.

McKinn said he is puzzled as to why there are no administrative leaders taking control of the Chief debate.

"I wonder what it is going to take for them to hear our voices," McKinn said.

Initial report is untrue

2005-04-11T20:11:00.000-05:00

From the Peoria Star Journal

Exceprt:

Democratic Senate President Emil Jones last week said the reason Illinois lost the NCAA basketball tournament was the lack of a mascot. Jones said Illinois was the only team in the Final Four that didn't have a mascot, and he told Blagojevich "if they lose, that's the reason why they lost." Sure, whatever you say.

This is probably another part of Jones' campaign to get rid of Chief Illiniwek, the non-mascot mascot of the University of Illinois. Illiniwek wasn't at the tournament because he wasn't going to be able to do his halftime dance. If he wasn't going to do the dance, a university spokesman sniffed, there was no reason for Illiniwek to attend the game because he's no mere mascot. Sure, whatever you say.

Safe stance

Blagojevich has steered clear of the Illiniwek controversy. With just over a year and a half to the next election, he can't afford to alienate yet another large constituency, and there are a lot of Illiniwek backers out there.

One excuse he's used in the past is that he's never seen Illiniwek in action and didn't want to comment on something he hadn't seen. That changed last week when Illiniwek performed at a rally honoring the Illinois men's basketball team. Blagojevich was in attendance. He was also roundly booed, but that's another issue.

So, governor, now that you've seen Illiniwek in person, do you think he's a beloved school icon or a racist caricature? Your opinion counts, since you appoint the U of I trustees.

"Nothing has changed in my view," Blagojevich said. "I have my own personal opinion on it. It would be inappropriate meddling on my part to express my own personal viewpoint."

Opinion: Illiniwek no stereotype, should stay

2005-04-07T11:03:00.000-05:00

Illiniwek no stereotype, should stay

By Bryan Tolles
April 07, 2005
The Daily Northwestern>br>

Last week I was blessed with tickets to the NCAA men's Basketball finals in St. Louis. Although drunk, I noticed something was missing in the halftime show -- Chief Illiniwek. In fact, he was missing from the entire NCAA tournament. The Chief's absence spoiled the most important game in the 100-year basketball history of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. That and North Carolina's brilliant three-point performance.

Overzealous liberals deem the University of Illinois mascot offensive and argue that he must be eliminated. They contend that Chief Illiniwek stereotypes Native Americans. I would understand this if he were to sit mid-court drinking a beer and managing a slot machine. But the history of the Chief and his performance offers a different perspective.

According to a report published by the university's board of trustees, Chief Illiniwek is an almost 80-year-old tradition at Illinois. The Chief's 5-minute halftime show is based on a dance called "fancy dancing," a Native American celebratory dance. The dance has no religious context and is similar to dances performed at Native American dance competitions.

Illiniwek's outfit is handcrafted by the Sioux. It was purchased from Sioux Chief Frank Fools Crow of the Oglala Lakota Sioux from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1983. So let's not pretend that Chief Illiniwek looks like a cartoon character.

Many universities have changed their Native American mascots, and it is argued that Illinois should do the same. However, this was because these schools treated their mascots as Native American caricatures. Unlike other mascots, the Chief does not take part in any antics on the sideline.

Chief Illiniwek is on the same level as Chief Osceola of the Florida State University Seminoles. Both wear authentic tribal regalia and both perform a short show deriving from a Native American tradition, yet there is little controversy over Osceola. What is it about Chief Illiniwek that is more disturbing than his counterpart Osceola?

I have heard people criticize the Illiniwek name. They find it offensive to name a mascot after a Native American tribe. Illiniwek is a name for the Illinois nation, a group of American Indian tribes. If it is so offensive, then I urge the removal of Peoria and the state of Illinois from all maps.

Illinois officials should consult and cooperate with those knowledgeable of Native American tradition to change any aspects of Illiniwek that are legitimately offensive.

For those insulted by Chief Illiniwek, a goal should be to educate and promote Native American history. How will banning the Chief enlighten others regarding the historical importance of Native Americans?

I challenge the opposition of Chief Illiniwek to use him as an educational tool. Eradication of all Native American symbols in collegiate and professional sports will not change society's perception of them, rather it will eliminate them from our memory. Bryan Tolles is a Weinberg senior. He can be reached at b-tolles@northwestern.edu.

Last month's Rally Against the "Chief" on the U of I campus brought together forty protesters. According to the rally's organizers, there were speakers supporting the removal of Chief Illiniwek. Sounds like someone is preaching to the choir.

Rush Limbaugh Talks about Chief Illiniwek (Audio)

2005-03-31T16:34:00.000-06:00

Rush Limbaugh reacts to the USA Today story below

Chief Illiniwek to Miss Final Four Trip

2005-03-31T16:30:00.000-06:00

From: FOXSports.com

Top-seeded Illinois is preparing to take on Louisville in the Final Four, but the Illini will take the court in St. Louis Saturday without their mascot.

"Chief Illiniwek," a student in buckskins, feathery headdress and makeup has been less visible at the school's athletic events during the past five years.

Why?

Well, trouble seems to find the Chief, as Illinois has been the target of protests, demonstrations and lawsuits, which claim the figure perpetuates a racial stereotype and demeans Native Americans.

The other three finalists' mascots are expected to attend, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Illinois has come under more fire recently when, in a lawsuit earlier this month, the Illinois Native American Bar Association and two individuals filed suit seeking to force the school to stop using the Chief as its sports mascot.

Yet Chief Illiniwek, who doesn't usually attend road games during the regular season, remains Illinois' official school symbol, and the university wishes that he not be referred to as a mascot.

In January, the NCAA minority issues committee asked schools that use the American Indian as a nickname to conduct a six-month self-evaluation of its use. The findings are due May 1.

The school's board of trustees, meanwhile, has grappled with the controversy for years. In 1990, it supported the Chief. But that endorsement could be fading.

In the fall, the board unanimously adopted a resolution that whatever consensus conclusion it reached would include recognition of American Indian cultures and traditions.

In a vote nearly a year ago, almost 70 percent of Illinois students who participated supported the Chief.

During games, Chief Illiniwek usually doesn't do much except present a four-to-six-minute halftime dance designed to bring fans to their feet.

And even if he did make the Final Four trip, the NCAA has a carefully-planned halftime show, and it probably would not make time for the Chief's routine.

"All aspects of the Chief and its dance should be eliminated," said Jen Tayabji, a former Illinois student who is a member of the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative, a group involved in trying to do away with the Chief and the "Fighting Illini" moniker.

And so the debate rages on, but as the Chief (who is Illinois student Kyle Cline) sits home this weekend, there will be plenty of T-shirts and signs bearing his likeness in the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis

USA Today Article

2005-03-31T10:01:00.000-06:00

Indian mascot remains benched for Final Four

By Jared Hopkins, USA TODAY

Chief Illiniwek, a student in Native American garb who performs a five-minute halftime show at Illinois home games, has not been at the NCAA tournament and will be absent from the Final Four.

Illinois has come under pressure from Native Americans to eliminate Illiniwek, and in 2002 Illinois professor Brian Jewett launched www.retirethechief.org.

In January, the NCAA minority issues committee asked schools that use the American Indian as a nickname to conduct a six-month self-evaluation of their relationship with the American Indian. They are due May 1.

"There are an infinite number of choices for the sports culture, but the Native Americans only have one culture," Illinois professor Carol Spindel, author of the book Dancing at Halftime: Sports and the Controversy over American Indian Mascots, said Wednesday.

This month the Illinois Native American Bar Association sued the school, saying the chief violates the 2003 Illinois Civil Rights Act, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The Illini, who face Louisville in the semifinals Saturday, do not bring the chief on the road except for an annual contest against Missouri in St. Louis or selected other neutral-site games.

School officials say Illiniwek is not a mascot in a traditional sense because he is not comical and does not run down sidelines.

"He's considered a symbol at the university," Illinois spokesman Kent Brown said Wednesday.

The chief did perform at the NCAA tournament more than a decade ago, according to Illinois spokesman Tom Hardy.

The other three finalists' mascots are expected to attend, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Kyle Cline, who has served as Chief Illiniwek since 2004, declined comment Wednesday via e-mail.

Column on Chief Illiniwek made light of cultural icon...

2005-03-27T09:15:00.000-06:00

from:

Excerpt: Column on Chief Illiniwek made light of cultural icon
University's symbol glorifies tribal heritage

Morris R. Beschloss
Special to The Desert Sun
March 27, 2005

I deeply resent both the insinuations and implications against the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek emphasized in George Benge's column in the March 23 editorial page ("The Illini should put away their 'chief'.")

As chief spokesman for the university's interests in the Coachella Valley, it's incumbent on me to set the record straight on the distortions that one could glean from Benge's "tongue in cheek" ridicule of the Illini symbol.

Sine Benge already invoked the curse of his self-styled leadership position in the Indian Nation, and an Illinois loss in the NCAA basketball tournament may already have occurred - this would be no thanks to him, but an off-night by the Illini.

As one who was understudy to the "Dancing Indian" while an undergraduate at Illinois, I can tell Mr. Benge that love of Native American culture and appreciating the disproportionate contributions made by these original Americans was paramount in preparation for the Chief Illiniwek competition.

To be eligible, one had to be an Eagle Scout and a member of the "Order of the Arrow," both predicated on appreciation of Native American lore.

What is particularly galling is Mr. Benge lumping the "chief" with such demeaning symbols as the Washington Redskins, Chief Wahoo, the Cleveland Indians' totem, and the Atlanta Braves' tomahawk chop.

The Chief Illiniwek controversy has been roiling the University of Illinois campus for years. It has emanated from outside sources totally unconnected with the distinguished Native American leadership, but representing agendas expounding special political philosophies.

Although a majority of the Illinois faculty has backed the elimination of the "chief," the student body supports his retention overwhelmingly.

As a Distinguished Eagle Scout who reveres the Native American's role in the progress of our nation today, I have yet to meet any member of the Native American leadership who rejects "Chief Illiniwek" out of hand.

Anyone who understands that the chief glorifies, not humiliates the Native Americans, would not write so disparagingly as George Benge did.

Suits over Chief Illiniwek wasting time, resources

2005-03-25T10:01:00.000-06:00

From:

Pantagraph Editorial
Friday, March 25, 2005

Suits over Chief Illiniwek wasting time, resources

While the Fighting Illini are battling on the basketball court, Chief Illiniwek is battling in other courts -- the Cook County Circuit Court and U.S. District Court.

The former is where the Illinois Native American Bar Association and two individuals, a U of I-Chicago student and a Champaign resident filed a lawsuit against the University of Illinois Board of Trustees claiming use of the Indian symbol violates state constitutional rights of American Indians as well as the board policies against racial discrimination.

The latter is where five American Indians filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against the Honor the Chief Society, claiming their rights were violated when they were barred from a party for the outgoing Chief Illiniwek at a Champaign restaurant.

This issue has been debated over and over. It never goes away, although it flares up from time to time. With the university in the spotlight as it battles for the NCAA championship, this is one of those "flare up" times.

Supporters of Chief Illiniwek say the symbol honors the people who lived in this area before it became a state, the people who gave the state its name.

Opponents say, regardless of intentions, the use of the Indian symbol perpetuates damaging racial stereotypes and makes Native American students and staff feel uncomfortable -- a "hostile environment," in the legalese of anti-discrimination law.

The university has turned aside previous attempts to end the use of Chief Illiniwek. In 1990, the U of I Board of Trustees voted to keep the Chief. That position hasn't been reversed, but it has been muddied by vague pronouncements, such as one last fall, that confuse the situation.

In September, trustees approved a resolution stating, "The state's heritage and its American Indian culture and traditions shall be preserved, affirmed and publicly celebrated." The board says it is still trying to reach a consensus in the university community, but that could be impossible.

Lawsuits such as the ones filed this month in state and federal courts do nothing to resolve the issue. They merely waste time and money and cause each side to dig their heels in deeper.

Chief opponents file lawsuit

2005-03-17T14:12:00.000-06:00

From: The Daily Illini Issue 3/17/05

Chief opponents file lawsuit
By Jeremy Pelzer

Opponents of Chief Illiniwek have filed a lawsuit against the Board of Trustees in an attempt to force the University to abolish the controversial mascot.

The lawsuit, filed by the Illinois Native American Bar Association (INABA) and two American Indian individuals, alleges that keeping the Chief as the University's mascot violates the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003, the Illinois Constitution and the Board of Trustees' own non-discrimination policy. The suit asks for a judicial declaration as to whether Chief Illiniwek is demeaning and discriminatory to American Indians.

According to the suit, filed in Chicago Circuit Court on March 15, the board "promotes, perpetuates and teaches the dehumanizing stereotype and view of Native Americans that developed among colonizers and as such is harmful to both American Indians and non-Native Americans" by supporting the Chief.

Richard Hutchison, member of the INABA and University alum, said the suit was a last resort because the Board of Trustees has failed to take action on the issue.

"The Native American community has waited long enough for the board to act on its own," Hutchison said. "We came to the conclusion that (the Chief) would never be abolished - not in the near future, anyhow."

The last action taken by the Board of Trustees on the Chief issue was a resolution passed last September stating that any solution to the Chief Illiniwek controversy should preserve and celebrate American Indian and Illinois heritage. In June 2004, the board approved a resolution calling for a "consensus conclusion" before any final action is taken on the future of the Chief.

The plaintiffs will wait to see the Board of Trustees' response before deciding whether to go to trial, he said.

University spokesman Tom Hardy disputed the lawsuit's claims.

"The University of Illinois complies with state and federal laws concerning discrimination, due process and equal protection, as well as the University's own non-discrimination policy," Hardy said. "In addition, the University has grievance procedures if students or staff allege those policies have been violated."

Hardy said University counsel is reviewing the suit and "will respond appropriately."

Because of the Chief, the two individuals in the suit - Champaign resident Roger Fontana and University of Illinois-Chicago student Stephen Naranjo - have been aggrieved, Hutchison said.

"They really can't attend a University of Illinois sporting event without being embarrassed," Hutchison said.

Hutchison said the Chief has also lowered the value of a University degree and the quality of a University education - especially for American Indian students.

More American Indians could have joined in the suit, Hutchison said, but he didn't want to "muddy the waters by getting unwieldy."

Joe Podlasek, executive director of the American Indian Center in Chicago, agreed that the board's support of the Chief led to discrimination against American Indian students at the University and prevents them from getting an equal opportunity for education.

While at the University, American Indian students are constantly confronted with questions and comments about the Chief, Podlasek said.

"Our students are getting involved (with the issue), whether they want to or not," he said. "They (American Indian students) didn't go there (to the University) to argue a mascot - they went there to get an education."

The Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative (PRC), an anti-Chief group, hailed the lawsuit as a much-needed action against the Chief.

"Going through the courts to solve the divisive issue on our campus is a promising avenue in eliminating the Chief," said Anar Ladhani, PRC member and a senior in LAS.

But Greg Meves, internal vice president of Students for Chief Illiniwek, said the lawsuit is a "hindrance to a consensus that the Board is trying to build now."

Roger Huddleston, president of the Honor the Chief Society, said he "would love to see that (case) in court." He said if the suit goes to trial, the courts would rule on whether the Chief is a racist symbol - a ruling in which the pro-Chief side would prevail because of the high esteem in which the mascot is held, Huddleston said.

Hutchison, an American Indian, said when he was an undergraduate at the University in the 1960s, he, too, supported the Chief.

"I loved the Chief," Hutchison said. "I thought the Chief honored us."

However, after he graduated, he met other American Indians who showed him a different view of the Chief.

"My thoughts were transformed," he said.

THE ILLINIWEK WARS – A PEACE PROPOSAL

2005-03-16T12:37:00.000-06:00

From Erin Zorn's Notebook (link above)
March 16, 2005

THE ILLINIWEK WARS – A PEACE PROPOSAL

I’ve long been on record opposing the use of stereotypical American Indian imagery in mascots, school symbols and team nicknames.

To me, it trivializes and demeans indigenous peoples in a way we would never dare trivialize, say, African Americans, Jews or other groups that have historically felt the hard heel of discrimination. The white people may mean well when they name a team the Redskins or dress up in ersatz ceremonial Indian garb and dance around the basketball floor, but meaning well is not enough.

Chief Illiniwek, the hotly disputed symbol of the University of Illinois, is in the news again now that the Illinois Native American Bar Association has sued the University of Illinois Board of Trustees in Cook County Circuit Court seeking a court order barring "the use of Chief Illiniwek as a sports mascot" because it violates the Illinois Civil Rights Act.

I doubt the suit will resolve the fight, but I have an idea that might. And it's based on the only argument in favor of the Chief that carries any weight:

That argument says if it’s wrong for some white people to presume heedlessly to honor Indians, isn’t it also wrong for other white people to presume heedlessly to speak up for Indians?

Just so.

My opposition to Illiniwek is based on the presumption that the view of the activist opponents reflects the views of the majority American Indians, who ought to have the only vote in this matter.

If Chief Illiniwek is OK with that majority, my objection is little more than paternalism and the activists are just touchy rabble rousers. Let the chief stay.

But if Chief Illiniwek offends that majority, support for that symbol is little more than racism and its backers are churls. The chief must go.

A passage in a 2002 Indian Country Today article about legislative debate in California several years over such school imagery reveals that the opinion of American Indians isn’t necessary clear:

Paula Starr, the executive director of the Southern California Indian Center, cited a Sports Illustrated poll that showed 81 percent of Native Americans did not care about the mascot issue. "We have a newspaper called Indian Country Today, which goes to Indian people all across the country, and that poll showed that over 80 percent of Native American people oppose mascots." The poll was actual an "unscientific email survey of "Opinion Leaders."

An Associated Press story last fall reported:

A poll of American Indians found an overwhelming majority of them are not bothered by the name of the Washington Redskins pro football team. Only 9 percent of those polled said the name is "offensive," while 90 percent said it's acceptable, according to the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey, released Friday. Annenberg polled 768 Indians in every state except Hawaii and Alaska from Oct. 7, 2003, to Sept. 20, 2004.

It seems to me that American Indians living in Illinois – not coast to coast – should have the final and only say about the specific issue of what to do about Chief Illiniwek.

The various factions ought to get together with a skilled, objective polling organization and devise a way to get a reliable measure of relevant opinion on the point, and agree to abide by that opinion for, say the next 25 years.

I, for one, will agree to shut my yap on this topic once I’ve heard what the Indian people have to say.

Group sues university...

2005-03-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

March 16, 2005

EXCERPT: CHICAGO -- Opponents of University of Illinois mascot Chief Illiniwek filed a lawsuit against the school's trustees Tuesday, claiming the figure perpetuates a racial stereotype...In its suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, the Illinois Native American Bar Association and two individuals seek to force the school to stop using the Chief as its sports mascot.

"University counsel will thoroughly review the plaintiffs' suit and respond appropriately," the statement said. "Meantime, the Board of Trustees continues to move forward with its process aimed at reaching a consensus conclusion to the Chief Illiniwek issue." ... Last year, the board approved a resolution celebrating American Indian culture at its flagship Champaign-Urbana campus in hopes of breaking the contentious stalemate.Stephen Naranjo, a University of Illinois at Chicago student, and Roger Fontana, a Champaign resident, also are listed as plaintiffs in the suit.

Illini mascot 'exploiting' minorities, law group says

2005-03-16T08:52:00.000-06:00

March 15, 2005

EXCERPT: — The long-running dispute over the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek as a symbol will move into a courtroom...t a news conference Tuesday, the Illinois Native American Bar Association announced it filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court.

Native American lawyers sue U. of I....

2005-03-16T08:51:00.000-06:00

March 16, 2005

EXCERPT: In the first legal challenge to Chief Illiniwek, a Native American group is claiming the University of Illinois' refusal to get rid of the mascot violates the Illinois Civil Rights Act....The Illinois Native American Bar Association, in a suit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court...The suit seeks an injunction to stop the chief. Attorney Richard Hutchinson said the 30-member law group -- of which he is a member -- is an "aggrieved party'' under the Civil Rights Act because members "suffer personally and professionally from the racist policy.'' Also aggrieved are two other plaintiffs on the suit, Hutchinson said: Stephen Naranjo, a Native American student at the U. of I.'s Chicago campus, and Roger Fontana, a Cherokee and a Champaign resident.

...Tom Hardy, a U. of I. spokesman, said the university complies with all laws banning discrimination. He said the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education ruled in 1995 that Chief Illiniwek did not violate the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Illiniwek Battle Lands In Court

2005-03-16T08:44:00.000-06:00

Chief Illiniwek
Tuesday, March 15, 2005, 4:00 p.m.

EXCERPT: he long-running battle over the University of Illinois Indian mascot, Chief Illiniwek, is heading for court....The suit is being filed under the Illinois Civil Rights act rather than under a federal statute because the state law does not require that the alleged discrimination be shown to be deliberate and intentional.

Honor the Chief Society

2005-03-12T12:18:00.000-06:00

University of Illinois Board of Trustees

2005-03-12T12:14:00.000-06:00

If you are interested in either reading proceedings of University of Illinois' Board of Trustees meetings or finding contact information for the trustees, then visit the link above.

UI trustees draft guidelines on Chief

2005-03-12T12:12:00.000-06:00

Excerpt: Members of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees have a set of draft guidelines to use to resolve the Chief Illiniwek issue. Board Chairman Larry Eppley drew up the guidelines, with help from Trustee Frances Carroll. Eppley has distributed them to other board members and asked for input, but the board has not formally adopted the guidelines.

Proposed Chief guidelines:
Draft Guidelines/Framework – Focus on why we have the Chief, not the Chief itself.
1. Seek consensus.
2. Preserve tradition and heritage in concert with the board's heritage resolution.
3. Retain the names "Illini" and "Fighting Illini."
4. Recognize the diversity of Illinois' American Indian culture, past and present.
5. Engage American Indian involvement in our efforts.
6. Reflect the University's core values of excellence, integrity and respect.

Five sue Chief supporters

2005-03-12T12:10:00.000-06:00

Excerpt:

Five people are claiming civil rights violations in a federal lawsuit against supporters of Chief Illiniwek. The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Urbana by Charleston attorney Rodney Smith, says that Robert Leonard, William Cook, Diana Waters, David Wegeng and Roger Fontana are of American Indian heritage....The suit claims that the Honor the Chief Society advertised plans for an "Evening to Honor the Chief" reception and rally at the Round Barn Restaurant for that night. Leonard purchased five tickets at the restaurant, the suit says.

Chief topic of discord

2005-03-11T08:09:00.000-06:00

Chief topic of discord
Excerpt: Even though Chief Illiniwek will not be seen, his name might be heard often during a month when national exposure for a university and every aspect of its basketball program figures to heighten...as this season's No. 1-ranked Illini begin a postseason journey Friday in the Big Ten tournament at the United Center that many believe will continue on to the Final Four next month in St. Louis, the Chief will accompany the team only in spirit...

Trustee offers plan to end `Chief' fight

2005-03-11T07:46:00.000-06:00

Trustee offers plan to end `Chief' fight
Chicago Tribune
March 11, 2005

Excerpt:
The chairman of the University of Illinois' Board of Trustees proposed Thursday retaining the names "Illini" and "Fighting Illini" ... guidelines include "recognizing the diversity of Illinois' American Indian culture, past and present" and engaging "American Indian involvement in our efforts."

Exploring the soul of Syracuse University

2005-03-10T19:16:00.000-06:00

Dr. Cantor, Former UIUC Chancellor

Editors note: Only a short while after her exodus from Champaign-Urbana, former Chancellor Nancy Cantor is possibly causing turmoil in Syracuse.

Editorial from Rockford Register

2005-02-25T13:53:00.000-06:00

Editor's note: Chief Illiniwek is the official symbol of the University of Illinois - not a mascot.

Excerpt below:

THE NEW PRESIDENT is keeping his distance from the controversy over Chief Illiniwek, the university's American Indian mascot.

But you can't "brand" over an open wound -- or even a sore spot.

We've said it many times. Retiring the Chief is the only way to put the issue to rest and get on with the important work of a world-class university.

Most of all, White says, he wants the school to be "hard-wired to the real needs of the state" in health care, education, new industries and job creation. It's a great plan, although first he must clear the air of the static associated with the Chief controversy.

"I'm a person with a lot of sense of urgency," White says. Glad to hear it. On many different fronts -- from image to finances to, OK, maybe not the basketball team -- the University of Illinois needs you.

Sniping from Illinois Senate Pres.

2005-02-03T07:48:00.000-06:00

Excerpt from an article on gun ownership:

In other action, Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), who has been a vocal advocate for civil rights and racial sensitivity, said he planned to increase pressure on the University of Illinois to eliminate Chief Illiniwek, the longtime school mascot who dances in Native American dress at university sporting events.

But pressed on how he planned to accomplish something other critics of the chief have tried to do for years, Jones resorted to a joke that seemed to reinforce the kind of stereotype he was complaining about.

"I'm going to scalp him," Jones said.

Editor's note: How professional of Mr. Jones to insert the total non-sequitor of Chief Illiniwek into an interview about gun owner's rights.

Stukel bemoans funding hardships

2005-01-26T20:38:00.000-06:00

Excerpt:

One thing that has not changed since Stukel took office is the divisive debate over the Urbana-Champaign campus' athletic mascot, Chief Illiniwek. Stukel hasn't taken a public position on whether the portrayal of the Chief should remain part of campus life or be retired, leaving it to the Board of Trustees to decide, and he won't now.

"There would be no positive outcome or good reason for me to jump into that issue as I leave the presidency," he said. "I think it's a tough enough issue."

Blog editors note: University of Illinois does not have a mascot. Chief Illiniwek is the official symbol of the University of Illinois.

The Board of Trustees' longest serving member steps down

2005-01-26T08:38:00.000-06:00

One of the most contentious issues Gindorf's replacement will face is the debate over Chief Illiniwek.

Leslie Van Buren, a co-coordinator with the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative, a group that opposes the Chief, said she hoped that "the person who takes (Gindorf's) place is committed and attentive to issues like the Chief and other issues of racial justice."

Phone calls to Nick Klitzing, president of Students for Chief Illiniwek, seeking comment were not returned. Roger Huddleston, president of the Honor the Chief society, was not available for comment Sunday.

Note - CH.I.E.F. was not contacted for comment!

New president's done his homework

2004-11-15T11:40:00.000-06:00

By JODI HECKEL
THE NEWS-GAZETTE
Published Online November 14, 2004

Excerpt:

Q: What do you think of the Chief Illiniwek issue?

Feelings run strong, and I need to learn a lot more about it and understand the
process the trustees have under way.

Q: How did it come up in the president search interview, and did the trustees indicate anything about your role in the issue?

It came up as one of many issues facing the university and one that would
involve the president but is led by the trustees.

New UI president committed to lead

2004-11-04T12:42:00.000-06:00

New UI president committed to lead
Published Online November 3, 2004

THE NEWS-GAZETTE
By JODI HECKEL

New U of I president visits local campus

2004-11-04T12:39:00.000-06:00

New U of I president visits local campus

The State Journal-Register
By PETE SHERMANSTAFF WRITER

The Court of Justice

2004-10-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

Article summarizing case Crue v. Aiken, 370 F.3d 668 (7th Cir. 2004).

103rd forum focuses on school funding

2004-10-22T15:58:00.000-05:00

"an issue for the university, not the Legislature"

North Central Association ‘focused visit’ report received

2004-10-19T15:23:00.000-05:00

North Central Association ‘focused visit’ report received

Trustees discuss parking, Chief Illiniwek, approve appointments

2004-10-19T15:21:00.000-05:00

Trustees discuss parking, Chief Illiniwek, approve appointments

Craig Chamberlain, News
Bureau Staff Writer

Herman asks senate, SEC to study impact of Chief Illiniwek

2004-10-19T15:04:00.000-05:00

Herman asks senate, SEC to study impact of Chief Illiniwek

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor

Fighting over the 'Chief' splits campus community

2004-10-19T15:01:00.000-05:00

The NCAA News -- April 23, 2001
Fighting over the 'Chief' splits campus community
BY KAY HAWESTHE NCAA NEWS

Chief choice must reflect Il. heritage

2004-10-19T13:59:00.000-05:00

Chief choice must reflect Il. heritage
By Jeremy Pelzer
Published: Friday, September 10, 2004

A Crusade Against Chief Illiniwek

2004-10-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

A Crusade Against Chief Illiniwek
Commentary by Chad AllenMarch 26, 2004

Chief Illiniwek avoids Blago trustee ambush

2004-10-19T13:48:00.000-05:00

Chief Illiniwek avoids Blago trustee ambush
Thursday, November 13, 2003
By The Leader-Champaign/Urbana Bureau

Chief Illiniwek: Understanding the Issues

2004-10-17T16:48:00.000-05:00

Chief Illiniwek: Understanding the Issues - piece by WILL in Urbana. Not exactly objective reporting, blog contributor Ned Swanson recalls being "ambushed in a sense" by the Focus 580 show in 1998.

Trustees OK heritage resolution

2004-10-17T16:47:00.000-05:00

Trustees OK heritage resolution
   Published Online Sep 10, 2004
   By JODI HECKEL
   News-Gazette Staff Writer

UI: Anti-Chief sit-in cost about $6,000

2004-10-17T16:46:00.000-05:00

UI: Anti-Chief sit-in cost about $6,000
   Published Online Apr 23, 2004
   By PAUL WOOD
   News-Gazette Staff Writer

Student vote favors keeping Chief Illiniwek

2004-10-17T16:44:00.000-05:00

Student vote favors keeping Chief Illiniwek
   Published Online Mar 19, 2004
   By ERNST LAMOTHE JR.
   News-Gazette Staff Writer

UI locks Chief foes in building

2004-10-17T16:43:00.000-05:00

UI locks Chief foes in building
   Published Online Apr 16, 2004
   By PAUL WOOD
   News-Gazette Staff Writer

Voices of authority know it all

2004-10-17T16:20:00.000-05:00

Voices of authority know it all
Posted Sunday, October 17, 2004

By Mike Imrem

The Chief Illiniwek Dialogue Report

2004-10-13T17:51:00.001-05:00

The Chief Illiniwek Dialogue Report

Pro & Con Chief weblinks

2004-10-13T17:51:00.000-05:00

Some guy's list of Chief related weblinks

Chief Illiniwek dominates board meeting - Chicago Flame - News

2004-10-13T17:48:00.000-05:00

Chief Illiniwek dominates board meeting - Chicago Flame - News

, The News-Gazette - A New Century

2004-10-13T17:47:00.001-05:00

The News-Gazette - A New Century, Will Chief Illiniwek exist on Jan. 1, 2100?
By SUSAN LOVING GRAVENHORST

Daily Illini | Students vote in favor of Chief Illiniwek

2004-10-13T17:47:00.000-05:00

Daily Illini | Students vote in favor of Chief Illiniwek

ABC7Chicago.com: Agreement reached in Chief Illiniwek sit-in

2004-10-13T17:46:00.000-05:00

ABC7Chicago.com: Agreement reached in Chief Illiniwek sit-in

Chief Illiniwek Educational Foundation

2004-10-13T17:39:00.000-05:00