Scott Jaschik: U. of Illinois retires chief
Last summer, Vernon Burton gave lectures on history and the use of computing in humanities research at meetings in Britain and France. When he finished each talk, the first question wasn’t about his research, but about Chief Illiniwek, the mascot at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and why the university would keep a symbol that is offensive to American Indians.
“What people knew about the university was the chief, not the research and teaching here,” said Burton, a critic of the mascot and president of the Faculty Senate. On Friday, the university announced that Chief Illiniwek would make a final appearance at a men’s basketball game Wednesday — and then would be retired. “It’s a long nightmare that has ended at last,” Burton said.
For supporters of the chief mascot, of course, Friday was the nightmare, and the two sides dueled in press events, in court, and in the court of public opinion. But Burton and some others said that the issues for Illinois — by any academic measure a top public university — are much broader than the question of whether a student pretending to be an Indian dances for a few minutes at football and basketball games. The debate at Illinois, many say, has consumed time and attention of university leaders, influenced who is a university leader, hurt the institution’s reputation, and led to doubts about the role of shared governance.
“It’s long past time for this issue — and Illiniwek — to go away,” said a Chicago Tribune editorial on Saturday. “Over the years, the debate has occupied the time and energy of students, university administrators and trustees, alumni, the Illinois General Assembly, the U.S. Senate and at least two governors. All of them have more important things to worry about, such as studying for finals or running the country. The squabble over the chief is a distraction and a poor reflection on the state’s flagship academic institution.”
The announcement from the university — rumored for months to be imminent — walked a fine line between blaming the National Collegiate Athletic Association for the shift, and saying it was an independent decision. In 2005, the NCAA stunned Illinois and a group of other colleges by announcing that institutions that continued to use Native American symbols or imagery in ways that were hostile to American Indians would be barred from being the hosts of postseason tournaments or from participating in NCAA championships if such images appeared on uniforms worn by athletes or others involved in athletics when they participated....
Read entire article at Inside Higher Ed
“What people knew about the university was the chief, not the research and teaching here,” said Burton, a critic of the mascot and president of the Faculty Senate. On Friday, the university announced that Chief Illiniwek would make a final appearance at a men’s basketball game Wednesday — and then would be retired. “It’s a long nightmare that has ended at last,” Burton said.
For supporters of the chief mascot, of course, Friday was the nightmare, and the two sides dueled in press events, in court, and in the court of public opinion. But Burton and some others said that the issues for Illinois — by any academic measure a top public university — are much broader than the question of whether a student pretending to be an Indian dances for a few minutes at football and basketball games. The debate at Illinois, many say, has consumed time and attention of university leaders, influenced who is a university leader, hurt the institution’s reputation, and led to doubts about the role of shared governance.
“It’s long past time for this issue — and Illiniwek — to go away,” said a Chicago Tribune editorial on Saturday. “Over the years, the debate has occupied the time and energy of students, university administrators and trustees, alumni, the Illinois General Assembly, the U.S. Senate and at least two governors. All of them have more important things to worry about, such as studying for finals or running the country. The squabble over the chief is a distraction and a poor reflection on the state’s flagship academic institution.”
The announcement from the university — rumored for months to be imminent — walked a fine line between blaming the National Collegiate Athletic Association for the shift, and saying it was an independent decision. In 2005, the NCAA stunned Illinois and a group of other colleges by announcing that institutions that continued to use Native American symbols or imagery in ways that were hostile to American Indians would be barred from being the hosts of postseason tournaments or from participating in NCAA championships if such images appeared on uniforms worn by athletes or others involved in athletics when they participated....