[Peace-discuss] Chief going bye-bye

[Chas. 'Mark' Bee]

  I assumed you have this, but haven't sen it posted here yet.  Congrats.


"To members of the campus community,

A decision has been made regarding the Chief Illiniwek tradition. For more
information, go to: www.uillinois.edu/chief...."

  Which says...

Chief Illiniwek Will No Longer Perform

NCAA to lift sanctions on Illini athletics

URBANA—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.

##

For more information, including a link to the NCAA letter, refer to the 
following website:

www.uillinois.edu/chief

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