UIUC has decided to discontinue Chief Illiniwek….
Absent from the official UIUC response is any mention of the ethical reasons for eliminating the “Chief.” Labeling Chief Illiniwek as a positive tradition, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees has done little to address the racism of this “tradition.” Chief Illiniwek may be finished. However, racism, stereotyping, and oppression seem to unfortunately be going strong amongst the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. The board seems more concerned with losing money from alumni and re-gaining access to lucrative post-season collegiate athletics.
This sends a terrible message to all white students at UIUC. The University and its Board have made it clear that listening to people of color and their allies does not matter. I’ve included the full text of the press release from the University of Illinois. Nowhere in the release is it mentioned that the Chief was a racist caricature that stereotyped Native Americans.
From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Tags: discrimination, diversity, Higher Education, oppression, Race, racism, Social Justice, stereotypes, student affairsChief Illiniwek Will No Longer Perform
NCAA to lift sanctions on Illini athleticsURBANA—The University of Illinois today announced that Chief Illiniwek will no longer perform at athletic events on the Urbana-Champaign campus after this season’s last men’s home basketball game in Assembly Hall on February 21.
As a consequence, the University will immediately become eligible to host post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship events.
In a February 15, 2007, letter to the University, the NCAA stated that “[o]nce this action is taken, the university will be immediately removed from the list of institutions subject to the NCAA Executive Committee’s policy regarding Native American mascots, nicknames and imagery at NCAA championship events. Continued removal from the list is conditioned upon the university’s future non-use of ‘Chief Illiniwek’ and the related Native American imagery in connection with university athletics.
“Assuming the announced changes are affected and assuming such use does not reoccur, the university will be in full compliance with the policy,” the letter stated. “Accordingly, the policy will not preclude the university from hosting or participating in NCAA championship events, should the university be otherwise eligible.”
The NCAA letter was signed by Bernard Franklin, senior vice president for governance, membership, education and research services.
U. of I. Board of Trustees Chair Lawrence C. Eppley said today’s announcement marks a critical step toward finishing the work of the consensus process. “This step is in the best interest of the University and is consistent with the Board’s previously stated goal of concluding this year its consensus process regarding Chief Illiniwek. Among our objectives was recognizing the goal of having high integrity athletic programs and student athletes who have the opportunity to compete at the highest levels,” Eppley said.
“We made and met many friends through the consensus process. And while people differed on their opinions of the Chief, the overwhelming majority of those voices put their love for the University ahead of their opinion on the Chief,” Eppley said. “The Chief Illiniwek tradition inspired and thrilled members of the University of Illinois community for 80 years,” Eppley said. “It was created, carried on, and enjoyed by people with great respect for tradition, and we appreciate their dedication and commitment. It will be important now to ensure the accurate recounting and safekeeping of the tradition as an integral part of the history of the University. We also have the responsibility to work together to capture and put to good use the goodwill created by the tradition and to maintain other great traditions like the Three-In-One for decades to come.”
The Chief Illiniwek tradition began in 1926 in conjunction with the Marching Illini, the nation’s premier marching band. Criticism of the tradition intensified in recent years, although the symbol and iconic halftime performance remained popular among alumni and the public. The Board of Trustees’ consensus process for resolving issues regarding Chief Illiniwek was underway when the NCAA Executive Committee established its policy in August 2005. During two rounds of appeals by the University to the NCAA over its policy, the NCAA rescinded its objection to the names “Illini” and “Fighting Illini” but retained Illinois on its non-compliant list because of the Chief Illiniwek name, logo and the performance. The University exhausted the NCAA appeals process last April and since then has been banned from hosting NCAA championship events on the Urbana campus.
Good point, Eric!
All I see is “respect for tradition” over and over again. Respect for what? A hurtful, racist tradition?
The tone of this press release clearly indicates that the board of trustees feels they were forced to do this against their will and they are losing something really important and awesome. It’s kind of sad that Chief Illiniwek was retired this way, versus the powers that be actually “getting it,” and understanding what the problem was in the first place…
But, I’d say it’s still a victory, however, begrudgingly it has come about…
It makes me hopeful that my alma matter’s nickname the Fighting Sioux is on the way out, soon, too.
[…] Eric, being the bad ass that he is, points out a few of the problems with the official University response. […]
While this is nice and all and can be seen as a good first step in the right direction, it does nothing to solve the real problem, that being all the negative things going on with the Native American population of the U.S. Getting rid of the Chief or any other team name/mascot isn’t going to magically fix the high alcoholism rate among Native Americans, or the high crime and poverty rates on reservations; it’s going to take a lot more than that.
Not only that, but with all the controversy about the Chief, the Seminoles, the Fighting Irish, etc. at the collegiate level, I’m surprised that their hasn’t been any talk about some North American professional sports teams changing their names/logos/etc. If the reason people want to get rid of racial stereotypes in sports is because it’s demeaning, disrespectful, etc., I don’t know why people aren’t making more of a fuss about the Chicago Blackhawks, the Washington Redskins, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians (take a look at their logo, for Vishnu’s sake), etc. I highly doubt that the owners of said teams will bow down to pressure from Native American tribes and/or special interest groups (pressure that I believe hasn’t, at least publically, been applied to them yet) and just go on and change their team names/logos/mascots any time soon. They have money, and unfortunately, the dead Presidents on the bills have tiny green mouths and they talk.
If you think the Chief was racist when he did his dance at halftimes, you probably haven’t seen the traditional Atlanta Braves “cheer” that goes on all the time in their stadium. It’s quite a sight to see tens of thousands of people, in unison, do a native american chant and make chopping motions with their foam tomahawks every single home game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tomahawkchop.jpg
I’m just confused as to why that isn’t higher up on the “racist alert!” radar.
Oh, I should’ve said this earlier, but “HI ERIC!” How are you and Wendy? Heard you got a MBP, how are you liking that nice piece of hardware so far? You should be glad you weren’t in Chicago the last few weeks, snow+ice+sub-zero temps kind of suck a little.
Hi Vic,
I think I have an increased awareness of the situation at UIUC because I’m a professional in higher education. A lot of the newsletters that I read on a daily basis have featured information on the racist mascot at UIUC.
I’ve actually blogged about the use of Native folks as mascots in high school, college, and professional athletics. It’s on my radar
The MBP is an amazing machine that has forever taken me away from being a windows user. I love the rain in Oregon!!!
[…] The University of Illinois Alumni Association is supportive of the Board of Trustees in light of its difficult decision concerning the Chief Illiniwek tradition. We recognize the board’s responsibility to act in what it believes to be the best interests of the University as a whole. At the same time, we respect the emotional impact this announcement is having on the alumni and friends who treasure this longtime University tradition. Illinois loyalty has never been constricted to one issue or dependent on any one activity, and, as a community, I believe we will emerge from this period stronger, closer and more committed to our shared fundamental values. […]
[…] Translation: The Chief was eliminated but since this paper is apparently all about making a pro-Chief stance, the word “retired” will be used so that the rationale for the Chief’s elimination does not make it to print. Many of the town’s residents are white. The citizenry of Gibson City is 98% white and less than 1% Native American. “It’s not about an individual; it’s about what the Chief stands for,” Dickey said. “He’s not a mascot; he’s a symbol of dignity and integrity – how can anyone argue with that?” […]
[…] Chief Illiniwek was eliminated at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Richard Herman, the Chancellor of UIUC, apparently did not get the memo about the end of the Chief’s racist reign. […]