Wednesday

November 9th, 2005

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Attempting to appeal a National Collegiate Athletic Association's ruling that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's use of Illini, Fighting Illini and the Chief Illiniwek tradition are “hostile and abusive,” U of I Board of Trustees Chair Lawrence C. Eppley filed a 6-page letter Oct. 14 with the NCAA seeking an exemption.

The NCAA ruled in August that 18 public institutions' mascots, or references/acts associated with, are “hostile and abusive.” Schools that do not make changes, or do not cover up all visual references to the mascot by Feb. 1, 2006, will not be able to host future NCAA championships competition unless the site was predetermined, in which case schools have to take reasonable steps to cover up the references, according to the NCAA's Web site. Regular-season or conference competition games are not included in the ruling.

The appeal said the NCAA acted “incorrectly and unfairly” in its ruling, and cites several reasons how this ruling “will significantly affect its (UIUC's) institutional autonomy and impair its ability to participate fully and equally as a member institution in NCAA competition.”

The use of Illini, Fighting Illini and the Chief Illiniwek tradition are under the BOT's jurisdiction, and the board works to reach a “consensus conclusion” on Chief Illiniwek issues or related issues. The appeal said the board should maintain the right to handle these issues without the NCAA's involvement.

University spokesman Tom Hardy said the board has complied with NCAA requests for information and also completed an extensive self-evaluation last spring.

“A series of steps have been taken particularly within the last 18 months so there has been genuine progress by the BOT in addressing issues related to the Chief Illiniwek tradition,” Hardy said. “Our concern with the NCAA's new policy and the basis for the appeal that the university made back in October is that the NCAA policy and its deadline of Feb. 1 interfere with the autonomy of BOT and its right to self determination of issues that are important to U of I.”

The BOT passed several resolutions on how they handle Chief Illiniwek and related issues. In June of 2004, a resolution was passed saying that the “consensus conclusion” must be reached on issues surrounding the Chief Illiniwek tradition. In September of 2004 the board stated, “the State's heritage and its American Indian culture and traditions shall be preserved, confirmed and publicly celebrated,” according to the appeal.

In July of 2005 additional principles focused the process of reaching a “consensus conclusion,” and in September of this year, additional items were added to these guidelines to further comply with NCAA policies but “call(ed) to maintain the names Illini and Fighting Illini as part of any consensus solution to the issue of Chief Illiniwek, based upon the studied conclusion that the overwhelming majority of the debate and opinion center on the Chief Illiniwek tradition, not the names,” according to the appeal.

The appeal also said Illini and Fighting Illini are derived from the state's name, not American Indian imagery. The student newspaper coined the name in 1874 and since, more than 70 campus organizations have Illini in their name, as do businesses in the Urbana-Champaign community.

The NCAA can challenge other uses of Illini, such as Illini-Badger Football Conference, an NCAA Division III conference of eight colleges and universities in Illinois and Wisconsin , but has not, the appeal noted.

The appeal is available at the BOT's Web site, http://www.uillinois.edu/trustees/ . Hardy said the NCAA indicated when the appeal was filed that they would likely respond within 30 days.

Florida State University , the University of Utah and Central Michigan University have appealed and been removed from the NCAA's list. The University of North Dakota , Newberry College and Bradley University 's appeals were denied. Indiana University of Pennsylvania has not received a response to its appeal.

Chief Illiniwek was established in 1926 and performs a 4-minute halftime show at home football, basketball and volleyball games.