chuckster
02-22-2007, 02:48 AM
The University of Illinois maskot, Chief Illiniwek, made his last performance during the final men's basketball game.
I checked Google and was surprised to see the number of anti-chief websites. Get a load of this, from one of the sites:
"On the morning of Friday, February 16th, University of Illinois Board chairman Lawrence Eppley announced the end of the racist “Chief Illiniwek” tradition. The “Chief” has served as the symbol and mascot of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for eighty years. In 1989, a grassroots movement began for the complete elimination of the inappropriate tradition and the use of race-based imagery. After a long struggle, both the University’s academic and athletic credentials were challenged for carrying on such a tradition. Most recently, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) put the University of a short list of schools who could not host post-season tournaments due to the NCAA’s restrictions on the use of Native American imagery."
Full post here: http://www.prairienet.org/prc/prcanti.html
According to the University of Illinois website, "One of the most dramatic and dignified traditions in college athletics is the performance of Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois. Since 1926, this symbol has stirred pride and respect in audiences at Memorial Stadium, the Assembly Hall and Huff Hall."
Maybe the pursuit of ultimate Political Correctness is the Holy Grail of the academic world. But if you ask me, the academic world has been consuming too much peyote.
I checked Google and was surprised to see the number of anti-chief websites. Get a load of this, from one of the sites:
"On the morning of Friday, February 16th, University of Illinois Board chairman Lawrence Eppley announced the end of the racist “Chief Illiniwek” tradition. The “Chief” has served as the symbol and mascot of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for eighty years. In 1989, a grassroots movement began for the complete elimination of the inappropriate tradition and the use of race-based imagery. After a long struggle, both the University’s academic and athletic credentials were challenged for carrying on such a tradition. Most recently, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) put the University of a short list of schools who could not host post-season tournaments due to the NCAA’s restrictions on the use of Native American imagery."
Full post here: http://www.prairienet.org/prc/prcanti.html
According to the University of Illinois website, "One of the most dramatic and dignified traditions in college athletics is the performance of Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois. Since 1926, this symbol has stirred pride and respect in audiences at Memorial Stadium, the Assembly Hall and Huff Hall."
Maybe the pursuit of ultimate Political Correctness is the Holy Grail of the academic world. But if you ask me, the academic world has been consuming too much peyote.