PAGE 1
1
2
3
4 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
5 AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
6
7 SPECIAL INTAKE SESSION
8 DIALOGUE ON CHIEF ILLINIWEK
9
10 APRIL 14, 2000
11
12 FOELLINGER AUDITORIUM
13
14 Mediator:
15
Mr. Louis Garippo, Esquire
16 Cahill, Christian & Kunkle, Ltd.
224 South Michigan Avenue, 13th Floor
17 Chicago, Illinois 60604
18 Board of Trustees:
19 William Engelbrecht, Chair
Martha O'Malley
20 Roger Plummer
David Cocagne
21 Kenneth Schmidt
Melissa Neely
22 Judith Reese
Arun Reddy
23
24
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1 I N D E X
2 NUMBER SPEAKER PAGE
1 Howard Wakeland 8
3 2 Debbie Reese 14
3 Charlene Teters 22
4 4 Rick Legue 27
5 Dawn Neisen 33
5 6 Mike Drish 37
7 Michael Haney 41
6 8 Hank Hanneken 50
9 William J. Roberts 55
7 10 Jean Edwards 56
11 Brooke Anderson 62
8 12 John Mamminga 70
13 Christine Redcloud 77
9 14 Anthony Enright 82
15 Faith Smith 89
10 16 Roger Huddleston 96
17 Rosalyn LaPier 102
11 18 Brian Silverman 108
19 R.J. Smith 112
12 20 Vanessa Casillas 113
21 Jayne Blacker 116
13 22 Julian B. 118
23 Beverly Moser 118
14 24 Imani Bazzell 122
25 Stephen Kaufman 128
15 26 John Madigan 137
27 Paula Ostrovsky 141
16 28 John Menees 145
29 Belden Fields 148
17 30 Ralph Trimble 152
31 Roger Simms 155
18 32 Linda Duke 158
33 Brenda Farnell 161
19 34 J. Michael O'Byrne 165
35 Jay Rosenstein 168
20 36 Neena Hemmady 171
37 Michael Mondelli 174
21 38 Wayne Crue 176
39 Cyd Crue 179
22 40 Leanne Reetz 183
41 Frederick Hoxie 187
23 42 David Fried 191
43 Alma Gottlieb 195
24 44 Robert Morgan 198
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1
NUMBER SPEAKER PAGE
2
45 Rebecca Crummey 201
3 46 Adam Chaddock 205
47 Paul Hixson 209
4 48 Dennis Payne 213
49 Laura Schmitt 215
5 50 Lynda Long-Fainter 217
51 Elaine Gehrmann 221
6 52 Janna McGregor 224
53 Henry Emerle 228
7 54 Lisa Johnson 231
55 Andy Erickson 233
8 56 Joe Peralez 236
57 Roxie Grignon 239
9 58 Todd Isler 240
59 Jake Cramer-Heuerman 245
10 60 Bruce Two Eagles 248
61 Monica Garreton 251
11 62 Norman Denzin 255
63 Fred Cash 258
12 64 Dino Pollock 261
65 Agnes Simms 264
13 66 Carol Spindel 267
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21
22
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1 CHAIRMAN ENGELBRECHT: Good morning. My
2 name is Bill Engelbrecht, I currently serve as the
3 chair of the Board of Trustees. I would like to
4 welcome you to this special intake session this
5 morning on the dialogue on Chief Illiniwek. For
6 the record, I need to say that this is not, that
7 this is a special intake session, moderated by
8 Judge Louis Garippo and it is not a regular
9 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
10 I would like to introduce the members of
11 the Board of Trustees, on by left, Martha
12 O'Malley, Roger Plummer, to my far right, Trustee
13 David Cocagne, Doctor Kenneth Schmidt, Melissa
14 Neely and Judith Reese.
15 As you know, the first phase of the
16 dialogue is given over to listening to as broad a
17 spectrum of opinion as we could possibly muster.
18 We have received more than 10,000 letters and
19 e-mail messages since we began the dialogue
20 process on January 13. In the fall, we will hold
21 a response session and offer you our views on the
22 issues that all of you have raised.
23 We will be listening today intently to
24 the various presentations and I hope all of you
PAGE 5
1 will as well. This session presents all of us
2 with a unique opportunity to hear the many diverse
3 points of view.
4 I hope that you will all leave today's
5 session with an enhanced sense of each other's
6 view on this very challenging issues. Judge Louis
7 Garippo has agreed to moderate this session and to
8 present the Board of Trustees with a report late
9 this summer. It will summarize the various
10 communications in ways that permit us to respond.
11 We are grateful to him for this undertaking on
12 this very challenging assignment. Judge Garippo
13 is an attorney in private practice with Cahill,
14 Christian and Kunkle, Ltd. He is a former Circuit
15 Court judge in Cook County. He earned his law
16 degree at DePaul University and a bachelor's
17 degree from the University of Notre Dame. I would
18 like to turn the proceedings over to Judge
19 Garippo.
20 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Thank you, Chairman.
21 I knew I could draw a real crowd here today. I am
22 glad that there is enough support staff here to
23 constitute somebody to listen to us. But I am
24 sure as the day goes on, that people will come in
PAGE 6
1 and hopefully somewhat fill this auditorium to
2 listen to the dialogue on this issue which has
3 generated so much interest on campus and off of
4 campus.
5 My function is to present a report later
6 this summer which will clearly and fairly
7 articulate the arguments on both sides of this
8 issue. And I will not have fulfilled my mission
9 if when I prepare my report if that, if any
10 position is not fully and fairly stated.
11 It is my hope to begin today in this
12 dialogue session to try to pull together all the
13 sources available to me in order to generate this
14 report.
15 Now, this intake session is just a
16 fraction, although a significant fraction, of what
17 will go into formulating the various opinions on
18 this subject. We will have the, the sources will
19 be the e-mail, the e-mails to the dialogue, the
20 dialogue web site, and the letters, past
21 correspondence, the internet just contains a vast
22 amount of information. And I welcome anyone
23 sending either directly to me or through the
24 University, any suggestions that you might have to
PAGE 7
1 completely air this, air this problem.
2 Now, in selecting the speakers today,
3 there were more speakers than we had time, than we
4 had time to a lot to them. So I enlisted the aid
5 of people on both sides of this issue in order to
6 pare down the list.
7 On the pro-Chief side, Howard Wakeland
8 of the Save the Chief organization was helpful to
9 me in identifying those people who could identify
10 and articulate their, the point of view that his
11 group was coming from.
12 On the other side, I enlisted the aid of
13 Paula Ostrovsky and Michael Haney who actually
14 happen to be in Chicago and they came to my
15 office. And we went over the list and there were
16 far more organizations than we had time for. If
17 we gave all the time to the organizations, there
18 wouldn't be time for individuals.
19 So the organizations were limited,
20 however, many, most of the organizations are still
21 represented as individuals on the list. So we, we
22 are trying to allocate the time fairly and we are
23 going to have a procedure today whereby we will
24 use two microphones. They will be alternating,
PAGE 8
1 not necessarily always back and forth, but I will
2 announce who will be at each microphone and we
3 will have a speaker for a microphone and we will
4 have someone in the on deck position ready to go
5 so that when we switch back and forth so the
6 microphones, we will be able to not lose any time
7 so that most of the time can be spent with the
8 actual dialogue.
9 Actually, none of us is experienced in
10 conducting a hearing like this, so perhaps the
11 first few speakers, there may be a few hitches in
12 our procedure, bear with us. I am sure by the end
13 of the day we will be experts. So we will begin.
14 And I would like Howard Wakeland to be at
15 microphone No. 2, Debbie Reese to be at microphone
16 No. 1. And the person following Debbie Reese at
17 microphone 1 will be Rick Legue and the person
18 following Howard Wakeland at microphone will be
19 Charlene Teters.
20 Mr. Wakeland, if you represent an
21 organization, as you speak, if you will identify
22 the organization that you are representing.
23 MR. WAKELAND: Thank you, I represent
24 the save the Chief organization and copies of my
PAGE 9
1 statement are here on the edge of the platform
2 should somebody want one.
3 A little over a year ago I had the
4 privilege to address the Board of Trustees on this
5 issue. A copy of my presentation is attached to
6 this handout. At that time, we presented over
7 1500 petitions from more than 200 Illinois cities
8 and more than 30 states supporting the retention
9 of the Chief. I do not desire to use my time to
10 repeat that information.
11 The heat of battle tends to bring out
12 the worst in us. In this confrontation, the
13 anti-Chiefs have not hesitated to pervert
14 University functions to their advantage,
15 regardless of the consequences to the University.
16 Except for an accreditation visit last fall by the
17 North Central Association, which was totally
18 perverted by the anti-Chiefs, we would not be here
19 today. We would not be here today.
20 I feel compelled to share with you the
21 facts about that incredulous North Central
22 Association process. Had their report limited
23 itself to the quality of education at this
24 University, which was their charge, this hearing
PAGE 10
1 would not be held. Facts about the NCA visit
2 illustrates how we can be sidetracked in our quest
3 for high quality education by divisive actions of
4 special interest minority groups. There is strong
5 evidence that the NCA visit was focussed and
6 lobbied before and during their visit by the
7 anti-Chief group. They clearly placed their
8 agenda above educational quality at this
9 University.
10 The NCA accreditation group of 12
11 members visited the University for three days in
12 the fall of 1999, with a goal of assessing the
13 quality of our educational programs. Accrediting
14 agencies must follow nationally established
15 criteria, a copy is attached. The criteria
16 requires evaluation of specific educational
17 sectors, curricula, faculty, facilities, support
18 services, et cetera.
19 The anti-Chief group used a criteria
20 clause referred to as third party concerns to
21 flood the visiting team with more than 100 letters
22 of concern. This was obviously a well planned,
23 well directed, focussed effort. The NCA report,
24 in the report it is stated, "No letters in support
PAGE 11
1 of the Chief were received. And no letters on any
2 other topic were received."
3 Hundreds of pro-Chief documents existed,
4 but were not asked for by NCA prior to the visit.
5 Further in the report, they state, "The team
6 agrees that a school mascot per se is not an
7 accreditation issue, but it does feel that
8 educational consequences of the policy, tied to
9 NCA criteria, are within the purview of the
10 accreditation review." This visitation team was
11 so unprofessional as to not recognize they were
12 being lobbied and used by a special interest
13 group. In my opinion, NCA also went beyond the
14 professional and ethical bounds of the criteria.
15 During the visit, the NCA team became so
16 focussed on the Chief issue, that they canceled
17 scheduled meetings designed to review the quality
18 of the UIUC education so that they could spend
19 time instead reviewing the Chief issue.
20 Specifically, they canceled a session
21 with Director Thurston, College of Education,
22 which related to "Information Technology and
23 Instructional Computing." And in another session,
24 with the "Weston Hall Exploration Living/Learning
PAGE 12
1 Community Project" to attend their own impromptu
2 Chief sessions.
3 Further, they also requested
4 cancellation of a meeting with Robert Rich, Chair
5 of our Senate Council. The meeting topic was to
6 be about "Invest in the People, Our Faculty."
7 That was the topic to be discussed with Robert
8 Rich.
9 Professor Rich is our academic faculty
10 leader, selected by his peers, but NCA visitors
11 wanted to spend more time on the Chief issue
12 instead of meeting with him. Only through the
13 insistence of Robert Rich was a meeting held and a
14 single NCA team member attended that session.
15 I view this as an insult and blatant
16 disregard for our Senate and the faculty of this
17 institution. The Chief was more important to the
18 NCA than Information Technology, Instructional
19 Computing, the faculty, or the Senate. That is
20 fact. The NC Accreditation team became so
21 focussed, so intent on investigating a bogus
22 educational quality issue that it in fact
23 endangered the public perception of the quality of
24 education at this University.
PAGE 13
1 I believe the NCA action to be overtly
2 unprofessional, misdirected and that there should
3 be a State of Illinois investigation to insure the
4 other institutions of higher learning in Illinois
5 are not subjected to such unprofessional
6 evaluations, which might involve student dances,
7 cheerleaders, student newspapers. Further, I
8 believe they acted in conflict with the national
9 criteria guidelines.
10 This outrage is caused by the lobbying
11 tactics of the anti-Chief group. Put simply, NCA
12 was used by the anti-Chiefs. The anti-Chiefs
13 previously have called for carte blanche
14 administrative resignations and in this case have
15 not hesitated to interfere with the University
16 accreditation process to advance their personal
17 agendas. That does not illustrate concern for the
18 University.
19 Whether for or against the Chief, the
20 Board of Trustees needs to take a firm stand and
21 not vacillate on this issue. Once that stand is
22 taken, it should not vary, short of state or
23 federal legislation or duly executed court
24 decisions.
PAGE 14
1 I firmly believe the Chief is an
2 honorable symbol that brings respect and honor to
3 the University and to the heritage of the Illinois
4 tribe, which otherwise will soon be forgotten.
5 I and hundreds of others are disturbed
6 by the McCarthy type actions of a small group that
7 infers we are racists and uses tactics that place
8 their personal goals above those of the
9 University. The majority of students and faculty
10 and public interested in this University are in
11 favor of the present stance taken by the Board to
12 maintain the Chief. I urge them to listen to the
13 masses and to continue their present support for
14 the Chief. Thank you.
15 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Debbie Reese.
16 MS. DEBBIE REESE: Good morning, my name
17 is Debbie Reese. I am Pueblo Indian. I would
18 like to introduce you to the fellow native
19 students that are on the campus at this time.
20 This is John McKinn behind me. He is Pima. Also
21 standing with me is Diana Stimpel, she Ojibway. A
22 fourth student, Doug Singleton couldn't be here
23 with us today.
24 I address you today in my role as
PAGE 15
1 president of Red Roots, a registered UIUC student
2 organization whose members are Native American
3 students with strong ties to our tribal nations.
4 Throughout the day, I expect you will hear from
5 individuals who claim they have Native blood from
6 a grandmother or a grandfather. But their lives
7 are such that this Native heritage is not a part
8 of their daily lives. Some will speak in support
9 of the Chief telling you how they feel honored by
10 this symbol.
11 It is important, we believe, that you
12 understand we are simply not another section of
13 the anti-Chief voices that you will hear today.
14 We are Native students who have chosen to attend
15 this University. At present there are four of us
16 who have direct experience with our Native
17 heritage. I, for example, was born at an Indian
18 hospital. I grew up on a reservation in northern
19 New Mexico. The students I represent do not seek
20 our Native identity, it is who we are, based on
21 our daily lives, our lived experiences as members
22 of a tribal nation.
23 As students, we pursue our degrees, we
24 take classes and in the case of the graduate
PAGE 16
1 students, we conduct research and we teach for the
2 University. Since 1988, Native students at the
3 University have formed a student organization that
4 has, without fail, issued position statements
5 opposed to the use of the symbol or mascot known
6 as Chief Illiniwek.
7 At its peak, the student organization
8 has numbered no more than 12 to 15 students with
9 this direct connection to their Native roots.
10 Again, I refer to students with a meaningful tie
11 to their Native heritage. We can tell stories
12 that no one else can. We enrich the conversations
13 on the campus in ways that no one else can,
14 because of a lived experience of contact, daily
15 contact with our roots.
16 Because we can tell these stories, we
17 are often invited to speak to various
18 organizations on campus, invited to speak to
19 various classes on campus and in the community.
20 There's a tremendous need for that kind of
21 information. The community is looking for
22 information they can't get at present at the
23 University because there are no formal programs in
24 existence.
PAGE 17
1 Today, I want to ask that you listen to
2 the Indian voice, the Indian voices in the
3 community of Champaign-Urbana, to the Indian
4 voices that are part of this University. We
5 aren't part of an alliance. We are students. We
6 are educators. We are parents. We are not
7 activists, and we not been agitating solely for
8 the removal of the Chief. As a group of Native
9 students, we have proposed and worked in good
10 faith in the last 12 years, indeed in times in
11 partnership with the University administrators for
12 these three items.
13 One, a Native American studies program
14 that would provide the opportunity for all UIUC
15 students to take course work about American Indian
16 culture.
17 Two, the hiring of an assistant dean in
18 students services whose primary responsibilities
19 would include overseeing the needs of Native
20 American students and the recruitment of
21 additional Native American students.
22 Three, establishment of an Native
23 American cultural house that would serve as a
24 meeting place for Native students, but would also
PAGE 18
1 serve the community through cultural programs and
2 activities that would enhance the educational
3 experience of all students on the UIUC campus.
4 None of our efforts have borne fruit.
5 In 1997, we responded to an invitation from
6 student services administrators to work with them
7 in the drafting of a job description for an
8 assistant dean to serve Native American students.
9 After months of work that culminated in the
10 interviewing of six candidates for that position,
11 we selected a candidate and expected her to be on
12 campus within one month's time. Instead, the
13 position was canceled due to lack of funds.
14 Just prior to that, we were told that we
15 would be given a meeting place on campus. We
16 expected it would be a private office area or a
17 physical location similar to those enjoyed by the
18 other ethnic minorities on campus. However, when
19 we went to the place, it turned out to be two
20 desks pushed together in the lobby of the Student
21 Services Building.
22 As graduate students, we have networks
23 and universities across the country through which
24 we have learned that Native American professors at
PAGE 19
1 major universities would not come here if a
2 position were available, nor do they counsel their
3 students to come here. Each person we have spoken
4 to cites the Chief as the major reason for his or
5 her actions.
6 Clearly, all our efforts have been for
7 naught. We believe this is directly related to
8 the Chief. We believe the, quote, honorable image
9 of the Chief has led to the derogatory treatment
10 of Native students on campus. The attitude that
11 embraces the Chief simultaneously denigrates and
12 marginalizes our very existence on campus.
13 If there were a Native studies program
14 and an assistant dean and a Native house, there
15 would be more Native students here. However, a
16 greater Native presence would also be a greater
17 voice that would, in effect, become a threat to
18 the romanticized notions of what it means to be a
19 Native American, thereby it would be a threat to
20 keeping the Chief.
21 Again, none of our efforts have been
22 successful. We believe a true dialogue on this
23 issue would mean talking to the people who are
24 most directly affected, that means inviting we the
PAGE 20
1 Native students on campus to meet with the Board
2 of Trustees for a conversation, a conversation
3 about the many issues that we confront and deal
4 with as students here.
5 In numerous venues, you have stated your
6 commitment to Native students and your commitment
7 to diversity on campus. Please hear our voice.
8 Hear our request as Native students on campus, we
9 live here, we work here, we study here. Invite us
10 to your table for this conversation. Once again,
11 we are offering our assistance, our help to you,
12 the University. Invite us to talk with you,
13 therein, we believe is the true honoring of the
14 Native students on campus.
15 We urge you to retire the Chief and
16 begin the healing process that needs to be begun,
17 begin it here at home with your students. Thank
18 you.
19 MODERATOR GARIPPO: May I ask you a
20 question, do you regard the, is your argument like
21 two issues, in other words, is the Chief part of
22 only the problem, or is the Chief one issue and
23 all these other --
24 MS. REESE: We believe the Chief is the
PAGE 21
1 major obstacle to achieving the other things that
2 need to be in place.
3 MODERATOR GARIPPO: If everything that
4 you requested were granted, I have no authority to
5 do any of those, but if everything that you
6 requested were to be granted, and the Chief would
7 stay, would that still be a, represent a problem
8 with your organization?
9 MS. REESE: I believe that if the Chief
10 stayed and efforts were made to actually have a
11 Native students program, a Native house, recruit
12 additional students, increase the Native presence
13 on campus, then there would be a greater
14 educational opportunity for everyone on campus to
15 learn what it is to be a Native American. And
16 through that process, people would come to
17 understand why the Chief is a negative,
18 problematic stereotype.
19 And I can point to an example from
20 yesterday. A former, a graduate of the University
21 wrote to me, he was a 1963 graduate, his name is
22 Dan Airand, he is currently in Connecticut. He
23 wrote to ask what was our position on our
24 experience here. I described it to him. He was
PAGE 22
1 outraged, he said if he had known any of the
2 information that I shared about what it is to be a
3 Native student, what it is to be here, he would
4 ask for the removal of the Chief also.
5 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Thank you. Charlene
6 Teters.
7 MS. CHARLENE TETERS: I am Spokane, I am
8 from Washington State. I am also an alum of the
9 University of Illinois. I cannot be semantically
10 divided, a symbol here, a mascot there. I am
11 neither. I am Indian because that is the racial
12 classification adopted by the United States of
13 America. It is what you will call me. But we are
14 not here to pleasure anyone. We are not
15 stereotypes. I am Spokane.
16 At the turn of the century, my
17 grandmother was born February 2, 1900, and given
18 the reservation name Nancy Moses. The end of the
19 19th century saw continued great change to the
20 environment and to the original people of the
21 northwest, where I am from.
22 Treaties were written and broken and
23 within one generation entire villages disappeared.
24 My people were confined to reservations by not
PAGE 23
1 just the United States Army, but also vigilante
2 groups. Starvation was the reality of my
3 grandmother's and grandfather's generation, less
4 than a hundred years ago.
5 Boarding schools that followed in the
6 early 20th century were designed to destroy the
7 family unit and thereby the nations. Our children
8 were gathered up, sometimes by force and taken to
9 boarding schools where many suffered and many of
10 them died. My grandmother had 12 children and
11 only four lived to be adults. And that was not
12 unusual during that time period.
13 The trauma of this time that I am
14 talking about broke our traditional support
15 systems apart. And the religion of my
16 grandparents was made illegal. The regalia, the
17 bundles, the feathers that were part of the way
18 they spoke to the Creator, were gathered up in
19 some cases and burned or sold into collections.
20 This is the same kind of regalia that
21 you have in your mascot. So this is my
22 grandmother's generation. This is also Fools
23 Crow's generation. He was born only days after
24 the massacre at Wounded Knee.
PAGE 24
1 I share this slice of history because
2 the pro-Chief people often will use this name of
3 our spiritual leader in connection to support of
4 the mascot. And Fools Crow himself was a survivor
5 of this very traumatic time period.
6 After generations of violent
7 subordination, policies of genocide, forced
8 removals, starvation, forced assimilation, why
9 does it surprise anyone that some of our people
10 will participate in their own oppression or who
11 will do what they need to do to survive or to buy
12 some peace for future generations, our future
13 generations, as Fools Crow was a peacemaker.
14 So it really disturbs me that you
15 continue to use his name in support of the mascot,
16 because you shame his family, his name, his people
17 when you connect it with a cheerleader, Illiniwek.
18 It's taken generations for Native people
19 to come back from this trauma that they described.
20 My mother with an 8th grade education had six
21 children. And at age 73, she still gets up
22 everyday and goes to a job that many would call
23 basically menial labor. She's a maid. Her hands
24 are among the many brown hands that invisibly
PAGE 25
1 clean the floors and empty the trash across
2 America. At 73 years of age, I consider her job,
3 her work has always been honorable.
4 She had six children and I am the only
5 one that has a college degree. Coming from this
6 background to the University of Illinois was a
7 dream come true for me and for my family and for
8 my people. And it was a dream that very quickly
9 turned into a nightmare after I got here because
10 of the images that permeated this community. I
11 bought this at campustown when I was here. So
12 these are the kinds of things that I faced when I
13 came here.
14 Our universities, our schools owe all of
15 our students, no matter what background they come
16 from, a safe environment without the distractions,
17 without the additional burden of bigotry.
18 University presidents, board of trustee members,
19 must set the tone for that environment of respect.
20 And if not, the message is clear, it need not
21 exist for all people. That safe environment will
22 never exist here as long as you have a race-based
23 mascot. There should be no doubt that race,
24 ethnicity, religion, cultural markings and
PAGE 26
1 national origin are at the core of our objections.
2 Does anyone not recognize this image as
3 supposedly representing Indian people. We are not
4 confused that this is Asian or Jew, even the
5 support the Chief people will say look at our
6 honorable symbol representing Indian people. My
7 family is honorable. This is not.
8 When a stereotype is being put forward
9 by an educational institution, it interferes with
10 the true mission to educate. And it's
11 irreconcilable to use lies to educate. So
12 powerful is this publicly supported stereotype
13 that Natives who come here are not allowed to
14 define themselves. They are predefined by Chief
15 Illiniwek.
16 You have basically a litmus test here,
17 because when they find out we are Indian people,
18 they ask us, what is your position on the Chief?
19 Do you support it or not.
20 The Irish freedom leader Gerry Adams
21 recently wrote, "Colonial culturalism seeks to
22 substitute men and women for mere objects.
23 Objects have no allegiance, they are for sale,"
24 end of quote. This University is engaging in
PAGE 27
1 cultural colonialism.
2 I want to tell you that it's important
3 to remove these things because they are in our way
4 from people seeing us for who we really are. Let
5 us show you and share with you who we are.
6 Over and over again we have been in this
7 place, we have spoken to the Board of Trustees a
8 number of times, and again and again we say the
9 same thing. The same thing that was said to
10 Columbus, the same thing that we said to Andrew
11 Jackson and we are saying it again to you, we are
12 human. We are human beings. We are not mascots
13 or fetishes to be worn by the dominant society.
14 We are human beings.
15 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Thank you. I
16 skipped a speaker, Rick Legue, microphone No. 1.
17 Those who represent groups, if you will identify
18 your group in your speech.
19 MR. RICK LEGUE: Members of the Board of
20 Directors, Board of Trustees, excuse me, fellow
21 alumni, future alumni, ladies and gentlemen, good
22 morning, I am proud to say I saw the sunrise this
23 morning. My name is Rick League, from Barrington,
24 Illinois, class of 1968, I am a proud former Chief
PAGE 28
1 Illiniwek and represent the former Chiefs.
2 First let me state that although I am 54
3 years young and might mistakenly be perceived as
4 an old timer, my days here on campus seem not so
5 long ago. It's just the years that seem to speed
6 by. This is not only my alma mater, it is my
7 birth place, I grew up in Urbana. I have a son I
8 am proud to say who graduated from this
9 University. When I come home to U of I, I truly
10 come home.
11 I am delighted to have this opportunity
12 to speak to you, the Board of Trustees, and do so
13 this morning on behalf of the former Chief
14 Illiniweks who proudly served as Chief while
15 students at the University. Those opposed to the
16 Chief Illiniwek have made their objections heard
17 for some time now and will do so again today in
18 this dialogue.
19 I am here on behalf of the former Chief
20 Illiniweks that have proudly portrayed the Chief
21 to testify that it is not what they claim, it's
22 never been, it has never been intended to be, if
23 it were, I and we would not be voicing our
24 concerns or making this supportive statement.
PAGE 29
1 I am not here to wag or to wave the flag
2 of tradition or of the past. From his first
3 appearance in 1926, by careful design, the Chief
4 was to symbolize the University and its namesake,
5 a proud tribe of Native Americans Indians, from
6 Illinois. The Chief is an artistic, positive,
7 artful symbol whose portrayal has been carefully
8 decided and managed with integrity and with the
9 highest regard and honor for the group of
10 Americans it portrays.
11 The Chief has, with the University of
12 Illinois Alma Mater in which it has been
13 portrayed, has in fact been embraced and supported
14 by, among others, the Illiniwek tribe itself in
15 1995. Also, several Chiefs over the years have
16 been invited to Native American communities to
17 learn more about the culture, to be in touch, to
18 learn their history, and have done so.
19 Great care has been taken to assure that
20 the Chief and its symbol and its symbolic
21 portrayal is dignified, sacred and an honored one.
22 The Chief is truly a symbol.
23 We used to always point out there are
24 nine, now ten, mascots in the Big 10. There is
PAGE 30
1 only one chief. And there is nothing like the
2 Chief Illiniwek in this country. And that's
3 because we have done it right and continue to do
4 so with good guidance and careful leadership.
5 The Chief is not a mascot. Not a
6 Buckeye, not a Badger, running the sidelines,
7 leading cheers, arms waving, not an Irish
8 leprechaun doing the same, no. The Chief in his
9 performance is an honored event, a personification
10 of the spirit of the Illini.
11 When the Three-In-One music began, when
12 I was Chief, I left my personna, I wasn't Legue
13 anymore, I could have been Henry Kissinger or Eddy
14 Murphy himself. That's what it's all about.
15 Portraying a spirit. And a symbol with dignity
16 and honor. My goal was to somehow sneak into the
17 marching band, unseen, so that when I burst onto
18 the field and performed the celebratory dance down
19 the field, I was the spirit of the Illini. A
20 spirit that could be seen and felt.
21 And when I raised my arms, I could
22 believe it, I believed that everyone could feel
23 the presence of that spirit. That bond we all
24 share at this great University, the dance at mid-
PAGE 31
1 field and the Chief, arms folded, proudly marched
2 off, disappearing. I feel that spirit in the room
3 today. A symbol and a spirit present and visible
4 for just those fleeting moments and then gone
5 again, a reminder.
6 And there's the linkage four capsulized
7 years of memories, life long friendships, loyalty,
8 pride in Illinois in its excellence, in its Noble
9 prize winners, distinguished graduates portrayed
10 and relayed through proud Chief, a proud symbol,
11 an honored symbol of the University and its
12 traditions. And when I was Chief, I was also an
13 ambassador of the University, I communicated the
14 history of the Chief, the honored position it
15 held.
16 I spoke at Alumni Association functions,
17 University functions, Boy Scout jamborees,
18 schools, libraries, faculty events, so many to
19 recall. I remember speaking at the invitation of
20 Mr. and Mrs. Krannert at the Indianapolis Alumni
21 Club in 1967. We are certainly grateful for their
22 support and loyalty to this great University.
23 There are hundreds of times the Chief
24 has been such an ambassador. That symbol of the
PAGE 32
1 institution, the symbol of its pride, of its
2 excellence and loyalty.
3 In recent years that has changed
4 somewhat. However, the Chief is very restricted,
5 no speaking engagements, silenced. Rarely is the
6 Chief's logo displayed on University literature or
7 athletic uniforms. And the University has done so
8 in recent years I am sure with the intention of
9 more clearly defining the appropriate role and
10 reduce the debate.
11 Unfortunately, it has served to confuse
12 the public. More importantly, confuse the
13 students of the past ten years and those students
14 on campus today. Isn't the Chief, isn't the Chief
15 Illiniwek still a symbol of the University of
16 Illinois? Yes. It still is. Didn't this Board
17 of Trustees just a few years ago vote in support
18 in retention of the Chief? Yes. So why are we
19 sending mixed messages? Why is the administration
20 low keying the Chief?
21 A recent Sun Times poll showed 86
22 percent of those polled support the Chief. And
23 there are hundreds of thousands of people from
24 this great University that agree that the Chief is
PAGE 33
1 a great symbol and vital asset to this University.
2 A symbol that has served the institution well and
3 can continue to do so. Supporters of the
4 University of Illinois want to retain the Chief.
5 We urge this board to make it clear, I
6 hope the Alumni Association will do so too. The
7 Chief Illiniwek is still a beloved and honored
8 symbol of the University, not a stereotype and
9 needs the support and wholehearted commitment of
10 the Board. We surely want the Chief to be the
11 best.
12 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Thank you. Dawn
13 Neisen and Mike Drish, Hank Hanneken will be after
14 Michael Haney at the other microphone.
15 MS. DAWN NEISEN: Good morning, my name
16 is Dawn Neisen, I am the current President of
17 Students for Chief Illiniwek. And today I will
18 speak about my first experience with Chief
19 Illiniwek and how Chief Illiniwek inspired me to
20 further my awareness of Native American issues.
21 Then Mike Drish, Chairman of Research and Alumni
22 Relations for Students for Chief Illiniwek, will
23 discuss our organization's purpose and the
24 prominent role we have played in maintaining Board
PAGE 34
1 policy on this issue.
2 Chief Illiniwek, the honorable and
3 dignified symbol of the University of Illinois. I
4 will never forget the first time my eyes witnessed
5 the Chief during his half-time performance at a
6 men's basketball game. I was just a freshman at
7 the time and I often wondered if I truly fit in
8 here. You see, I was eager to meet new people,
9 but that isn't always such an easy task at a large
10 University such as this one. I remember following
11 everyone else onto the court, clueless as to what
12 I was about to experience.
13 Chief Illiniwek came running onto the
14 court and the whole arena watched in complete awe.
15 Upon completion of the performance everyone linked
16 arms to join in singing the Alma Mater. I was one
17 among strangers and hesitant at first, but no one
18 else seemed to mind. As the chorus rang
19 throughout the arena, at that very moment, I knew
20 I belonged.
21 At that moment, I realized what it meant
22 to be an Illini. Not because I was at a sporting
23 event, but more than that. At that moment, I
24 entered the circle of not only those current
PAGE 35
1 students amongst me, but also of all those who
2 have ever called themselves Illini. I experienced
3 the true spirit of the University of Illinois.
4 And it instilled in me a pride that I have not yet
5 experienced since.
6 It is important for me to note that
7 Chief Illiniwek is a symbolic representation of
8 the University of Illinois.
9 He is a fictional character created by
10 the legendary football coach Robert Zuppke. It is
11 not intended to be an accurate historical
12 portrayal of the Illinois Indians, but rather a
13 representation of the Illini spirit.
14 Chief Illiniwek has sparked my interest
15 to further my personal knowledge on Native
16 American issues. This past spring break, while
17 many of my friends were packing out to head for
18 the sunny beaches of California and Florida, I
19 opted to travel to Pine Ridge Indian reservation
20 in South Dakota.
21 While there, I met and worked with many
22 Lakota Sioux Indians. I participated in
23 rectifying a peace garden, tutoring Native
24 American children and helping with other community
PAGE 36
1 events. I also received the opportunity to visit
2 the historic site of the massacre of Wounded Knee.
3 Unfortunately, I also witnessed many of
4 the current hardships such as their struggles with
5 poverty, alcoholism and suicide.
6 But the thing that amazed me the most is
7 that even after all of this, there was still an
8 inspiring people who firmly held onto their
9 heritage and traditions with great pride. They
10 had such an admirable characteristic of strong
11 faith that they would overcome these struggles.
12 And they played an active role to improve the way
13 of life on the reservation. All the way while
14 maintaining a strong connection to their past.
15 I am so grateful for this experience,
16 because it truly enhanced my knowledge and
17 appreciation of Native American culture and
18 spirit. And I can wholeheartedly say that I would
19 have never taken this trip if it wasn't my
20 personal connection to Chief Illiniwek.
21 Therefore, I urge the University to
22 utilize Chief Illiniwek as an educational tool for
23 the State and the University of Illinois to
24 increase awareness regarding the past, present and
PAGE 37
1 future of Native American cultures.
2 It is with this thought in mind that I
3 stand here before you today and express my support
4 for the retention of Chief Illiniwek as a revered
5 symbol of this University. It is a 74-year-old
6 tradition that is a great source of pride for
7 those linked to the University and the State of
8 Illinois.
9 And I cannot conceive of any other
10 symbol that I would want to represent the
11 University of Illinois. With that said I would
12 like to leave you with something that was once
13 said to me and these words still ring through my
14 ears just as the Alma Mater did on that day I
15 first witnessed Chief Illiniwek. He said hold
16 onto your traditions, for that is what makes you
17 who you are.
18 And now I will turn the second part of
19 our presentation over to Mike Drish.
20 MR. MIKE DRISH: Thank you, Dawn. Good
21 morning, as Dawn said, my name is Mike Drish and I
22 am Chairman of Research and Alumni Relations for
23 Students for Chief Illiniwek. My half of the
24 speech will outline the purpose of Students for
PAGE 38
1 Chief Illiniwek, what has been done on the campus
2 level concerning the Chief issue and what we
3 believe the principal course of action should be
4 regarding the Chief.
5 Students for Chief Illiniwek is an
6 organization that serves many important purposes
7 at the University of Illinois. The first is to
8 support the honorable tradition of Chief Illiniwek
9 as a respected and revered symbol of the
10 University. The second is to provide an outlet or
11 resource for students to acknowledge their support
12 for the retention of the Chief. And the third
13 purpose is to present and promote accurate
14 information to the University of Illinois faculty,
15 staff and student body regarding the tradition and
16 significance behind Chief Illiniwek.
17 One of the most important aspects of
18 Students for Chief Illiniwek is the tremendous
19 support our organization has received from the
20 University student body. This support is evident
21 in the fact that we are the largest registered
22 student organization on the Urbana-Champaign
23 campus with well over 4,000 members, our
24 organization constitutes over 10 percent of the
PAGE 39
1 student body. That number is continually growing
2 every day as more and more students register their
3 support for the symbol of the University, Chief
4 Illiniwek.
5 In this past week alone, over 400
6 students showed their pride for Illinois and their
7 belief that the Chief is a dignified, respectable
8 and honored symbol by joining our organization and
9 becoming involved in the cause to save the Chief.
10 I believe that to be outstanding and a great
11 showing of the tremendous support for the Chief
12 that this dialogue session has inspired in most of
13 the student body.
14 This dialogue session will set the
15 course for the future of Chief Illiniwek as the
16 symbol of the University. Students for Chief
17 Illiniwek believe, regardless of the decision that
18 will be made by the Board of Trustees, that this
19 session should bring closure to the issue. A
20 strong stance needs to be taken by the University,
21 and the outcome of this dialogue should be the
22 final say on the issue. And it should never come
23 up for discussion again.
24 When considering this decision, we
PAGE 40
1 believe the Board will make the correct decision.
2 It would be unfortunate, if you, the Board chose
3 to be influenced by those that oppose Chief
4 Illiniwek and believe the symbol creates a hostile
5 learning environment. With the tremendous support
6 for Chief Illiniwek shown by current students,
7 faculty, staff, and not to mention the tremendous
8 backing from alumni and people across this great
9 State of Illinois and the entire nation, it would
10 be a shame to see an honored and respected symbol
11 that is held in admiration by so many at this
12 University to be removed due to comments and
13 protests by a cause fought by so few, most of
14 which do not attend this University, therefore
15 lack a complete understanding of the symbol, its
16 meaning and the situation surrounding it to begin
17 with.
18 I want to stress to everybody here today
19 that Students for Chief Illiniwek supports the
20 Board of Trustees, respects their decisions and
21 will continue to respect the integrity of the
22 people that formulate University policy. I, along
23 with all members of Students for Chief Illiniwek,
24 and those people that respect and revere the
PAGE 41
1 symbol, believe that the Board has handled this
2 issue in the past with the best interests of the
3 University at heart and I am confident that you
4 will continue to use sound judgment and base this
5 decision also on what is most beneficial for the
6 University and its students.
7 On behalf of Students for Chief
8 Illiniwek, Dawn Neisen and myself, I would like to
9 thank the Board of Trustees for this opportunity
10 to speak on the issue of Chief Illiniwek. I would
11 like to once again commend the Board on its past
12 actions concerning this matter and also remind you
13 of the importance of your decision.
14 The conclusion you reach on this matter
15 affects thousands of students, faculty and staff,
16 and alumni that are an intricate part of the
17 University and citizens of the State of Illinois,
18 because this is the flagship school. Thank you.
19 MODERATOR GARIPPO: That was
20 brinkmanship on the time. If we can get Faith
21 Smith and Gene Edwards ready on microphone two.
22 Michael Haney. Bill Roberts ready.
23 MR. MICHAEL HANEY: Good morning, Your
24 Honor. My name is Michael Haney, I am the
PAGE 42
1 executive director of the American Indian
2 Arbitration Institute. Yes. Thank you. I have
3 been asked to represent the 478 tribes in the
4 United States.
5 MODERATOR GARIPPO: I appreciate it. If
6 you just make this part of the record. It's very
7 distracting to have it held there. So if you will
8 just roll it up and make it part of the record.
9 MR. HANEY: Yes, sir, I will be glad to
10 give you copies of that.
11 MODERATOR GARIPPO: All right. Thank
12 you.
13 MR. HANEY: Show the audience what he is
14 objecting to there. Actually it's a list of
15 tribes, federally recognized tribes in the United
16 States, 478 of them, that are going on record and
17 saying that they want Chief Illiniwek to be
18 abolished. They think it's racist, it encourages
19 racial stereotyping.
20 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Mr. Haney.
21 MR. HANEY: Thank you very much. We
22 will put that way. Your Honor, I would like to
23 introduce, before I begin my talk, a group of
24 Philadelphia tribal members that traveled all the
PAGE 43
1 way from Philadelphia, Mississippi, all night long
2 to be here. They just came to say that they
3 support our efforts to abolish Native imagery and
4 protect Native culture everywhere. I really thank
5 them for coming. We have people from all over the
6 United States this morning, Your Honor, that have
7 come to join with us in this effort to protect the
8 future of our children.
9 I would like to make an announcement to
10 the press and perhaps to the Board of Trustees,
11 good morning to the Board. Is that I have heard
12 often about the Peoria tribe that you say that the
13 Illiniwek has its support in Oklahoma from the
14 Peoria tribe. Chief John Miles had made a video
15 approximately five or six years ago, saying he
16 didn't have an objection. He didn't see a lot of
17 the dances and some of the antics that went on.
18 And that's been used by the various Chiefs and the
19 other organizations that support racism here in
20 the University of Illinois, what they call
21 pro-Chief people.
22 I find that very amusing in the sense
23 that we are chief of the highest office that we
24 have within our culture just by the very fact they
PAGE 44
1 are saying they are pro-Chief, they are pro-
2 Indians, in the fact that they are diametrically
3 opposed to actions of Native growth within this
4 institution.
5 But what I would like to announce to the
6 media is that last Wednesday, April 4 of year
7 2000, the Peoria tribe has joined with every other
8 tribe in America, make it unanimous, there is no
9 tribe in the United States that supports the
10 University of Illinois. I would like to read
11 this.
12 The Peoria tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
13 request the University of Illinois to cease the
14 use of Chief Illiniwek as a mascot.
15 Whereas, the Peoria Tribe of Indians of
16 Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe of
17 Indians;
18 Whereas, the Business Committee of the
19 Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma is authorized
20 to enact resolutions and act on behalf of the
21 Peoria tribe;
22 Whereas the Peoria tribe of Indians are
23 descendants of the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Piankeshaw
24 and Wea Tribes, a group of tribes known as
PAGE 45
1 Illiniwek, or Illini or Illinois nations, whose
2 members were removed from their homes and forced
3 to move first move to Missouri, then to Kansas and
4 finally to the northeastern part of the Indian
5 Territory now Oklahoma;
6 And whereas, the image portrayed by
7 Chief Illiniwek does not accurately represent or
8 honor the heritage of the Peoria Tribe of Indians
9 of Oklahoma and it is a degrading racial
10 stereotype, degrading racial stereotype that
11 reflects negatively on all American Indian people;
12 Now, therefore, be it resolved that the
13 Peoria Tribe of Indians does not endorse nor
14 sanction the characterization of Chief Illiniwek
15 as a mascot for the University of Illinois, and be
16 it finally resolved the Peoria Tribe of Indians of
17 Oklahoma request the leadership, Board of Trustees
18 of the University of Illinois to recognize the
19 demeaning nature of the characterization of Chief
20 Illiniwek and cease the use of this mascot.
21 How about that? Your Honor, we have a
22 message from the Chief. The General Secretary of
23 the tribe said, "I find the Chief Illiniwek
24 hurtful and I think is a stereotypical, demeaning
PAGE 46
1 and dehumanizing."
2 The new chief of the Peoria Tribe says,
3 "My personal opinion is that the Chief Illiniwek
4 is a clown." Where did that former clown go? I
5 mean former Chief Illiniwek. "My personal opinion
6 is that Chief Illiniwek is a clown. I have never
7 seen any Indian dance like that and I have been to
8 quite a lot of Indian dances on this 50 years in
9 this little planet. They want to call him
10 Illiniwek, if he wants to look like an Illini,"
11 this is an Illini speaking now, "Then we need to
12 take of all of his clothes except for an apron and
13 we need to tatoo him from his head to his toes to
14 make him historically correct and then we will see
15 how many folks line up to be Chief Illiniwek."
16 All right?
17 I further would like to say, "I don't
18 know what the origination or reason was for the
19 University to create Chief Illiniwek. I don't
20 think it was to honor us, because hell, they ran
21 our butts out of Illinois." This is the Chief
22 talking. All right?
23 What I am saying is that after you have
24 run the people that inhabited, the people that
PAGE 47
1 welcomed your ancestors to Illinois, teach you how
2 to exist, fed you, the first welfare line in
3 Illinois was your ancestors. We fed you. We
4 offered you our resources. And in return you
5 named Chief Illiniwek after us. In return, after
6 you hunted the Mesquaki, Chief Blackhawk, after
7 you hunted the Sauk and Fox people to their death
8 like animals, hunted them, killed man, woman and
9 children, then you named ice hockey teams after
10 them and you think we should be satisfied. I
11 wonder why they call them outside agitators. I am
12 from Oklahoma, but I wouldn't be from Oklahoma if
13 your ancestors hadn't run my people out of
14 Illinois.
15 I represent all those Native people that
16 are opposed to what is going on here. We want
17 this to cease. We will keep coming, we will keep
18 coming and we will keep coming until this is over.
19 Until you change that racist symbol, we will never
20 give up until the institution finally recognizes
21 that we are human people too, that we do have
22 feelings. And I guarantee you that the American
23 Indian movement, I guarantee that the Choctaw
24 nation, I guarantee you that the people of St.
PAGE 48
1 Louis and the people of Chicago, will not cease
2 until Chief Illiniwek is dead.
3 What I think is conspicuous is that
4 there are no, that 95 percent of all faculty are
5 not here, there are no religious organizations
6 here. There are no politicians here to stand
7 behind you. I think you are all jumping off this
8 ship. My time is up. I want to thank you, Your
9 Honor. I want to encourage the Board of Trustees
10 to eliminate Chief Illiniwek and call off what I
11 consider the longest undeclared war in history,
12 that's the war against the American Indians here
13 in our own homeland.
14 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Mr. Haney, first I
15 want to thank you and Miss Ostrovsky and Mr.
16 Wakeland for assisting me in identifying the
17 groups here. When you were in my office the other
18 day, you indicated to me that there is some middle
19 ground here. And I asked you if you would present
20 that, present your proposal today.
21 Now, you didn't do it during your
22 address, but I am going to give you extra time now
23 to address the issue of where do you think a
24 middle ground might be?
PAGE 49
1 MR. HANEY: Sir, I accept the sentiments
2 of the organization called the Red Roots, the
3 Native organization led by Debbie Reese that
4 talked about establishing a Native American
5 studies department. I firmly support the
6 establishment and endowment of a Native American
7 studies chair. I also would like to encourage a
8 scholarship fund be implemented to perhaps maybe
9 fund, through the merchandising of the images that
10 the University finds so successful marketing our
11 image. We also, we have, we have children that
12 would love to come to this University. We would
13 identify those. I chair my education committee
14 back home. I would love to send my gifted and
15 talented people here.
16 You develop, we would offer our
17 resources, offer the consultation of our
18 educational officers to help develop a
19 comprehensive education improvement program. We
20 also would encourage the development of course
21 work and the aggressive improvement of Native
22 students. We would join with that if there was a
23 dialogue we can talk, because we have never sat
24 down and talked before, sir. We are standing
PAGE 50
1 ready to put our minds and our resources together
2 to come to a conclusion that everyone wants here.
3 MODERATOR GARIPPO: As I understand you
4 and Miss Reese, then the Chief could stay, that
5 the -- if you got these other things that you
6 asked for, the Chief could stay and it would be
7 then through the educational process that over
8 time you would feel that the Chief would die as a
9 result of greater educational opportunities on the
10 campus, is that correct?
11 MR. HANEY: Yes, sir. We realize it's
12 been 500 years. We realize that the University is
13 a slow learner. But yes, we think they will come
14 to that conclusion.
15 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Thank you very much.
16 MR. HANEY: I would like to finally, I
17 would like to ask, they talk about the headdress
18 that was given by Chief Fools Crow. Sir, I am a
19 Dakota, we would like to have that returned to our
20 nation. Thank you.
21 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Thank you. Hank
22 Hanneken.
23 MR. HANK HANNEKEN: Good morning. My
24 name is Hank Hanneken. I am the current president
PAGE 51
1 of the University of Illinois Dad's Association.
2 And it is in that capacity that I make my comments
3 this morning. Please allow me to begin my remarks
4 by first commending the University of Illinois and
5 the Board of Trustees for their willingness and
6 commitment to dialogue on the Chief Illiniwek
7 issue. Open discussion and the ability to outline
8 one's position on any subject with varying
9 viewpoints is a tradition in our country and I
10 believe it is weaved in the fabric of operations
11 at this University.
12 For the record, it is the Dad's
13 Association's understanding that the following
14 process has been established to assist the Board
15 of Trustees in a decision or in determining the
16 direction the University will take on the future
17 of the Chief Illiniwek activities: A senior legal
18 professional has been retained to compile all the
19 testimony and submissions by the May 31 deadline.
20 It is our understanding that a three-part report
21 will be prepared consisting of an executive
22 summary, a distillation of these arguments into
23 specific points to which the Board of Trustees
24 will reply, and an appendix of all the transcripts
PAGE 52
1 of this sessions and all other communications that
2 have and will be received by the 31st of May.
3 We also understand that all members of
4 the Board of Trustees will receive a copy of this
5 document by August 1, and that the Board will
6 reply at a special response session in early fall.
7 The Dad's Association appreciates being
8 invited to participate in this determination
9 process. And would also appreciate being notified
10 if there are any changes in the above process as
11 designed by the Board of Trustees.
12 The Dad's Association represents the
13 oldest organization of its kind in the United
14 States. For over 75 years this organization has
15 existed as a link between the parents and the
16 University of Illinois. This organization with
17 the Mom's Association represents 6,000 annual and
18 continuous members, many of these parents are also
19 graduates of this University. The years of
20 support and service to the students, parents and
21 University, has become a tradition with the Mom's
22 and Dad's Association. With this long history of
23 service, the Dad's Association reserves the right
24 to speak in relation to any and all activities and
PAGE 53
1 traditions of the University of Illinois.
2 The Dad's Association wishes to speak in
3 favor of keeping Chief Illiniwek as a revered and
4 honored symbol of this University. The Dad's
5 Association urges the preparer of the three-part
6 document and the Board of Trustees to consider the
7 intent at the time of Chief Illiniwek's inception.
8 Consider the intent since that day or those days.
9 Consider the intent in the present day ceremonies
10 of Chief Illiniwek. And consider the intent of
11 any future ceremonies or appearances of the Chief.
12 Today's question of what some people
13 view as political correctness, possible racism,
14 mocking, dehumanizing, oppressing, poking fun at
15 and being disrespectful of the culture of the
16 Native Americans can only be answered by
17 evaluating the intent through the years of the
18 Chief Illiniwek tradition. Was the intent of the
19 founders and the Marching Illini band through the
20 years to depict the Chief, his people and Native
21 Americans in a demeaning fashion? A study through
22 history clearly show that this was not the intent.
23 History legends and stories tell of a
24 chief born out of friendship on a grassy field
PAGE 54
1 before a University of Illinois football game. A
2 member of the Marching Illini dressed as a Native
3 American led the performance in a gesture of
4 friendship. Since that day, the Chief has always
5 been a symbol of honor, pride, strength, courage
6 and friendship that is the University of Illinois.
7 Over the years the University has
8 represented the Chief in only the most respectful
9 and dignified of ways. The term Fighting Illini
10 stands for the strength and pride, and in that
11 manner, can be anything but a disrespectful
12 activity toward the Illini people. Ninety percent
13 of the respondents to a Dad's Association poll are
14 in favor of retaining the tradition of Chief
15 Illiniwek. A similar Mom's Association poll
16 resulted in an 86 percent retention favorable.
17 It is the position of the Dad's
18 Association that the Board of Trustees must
19 determine the fate of this revered, honored and
20 enduring symbol based on intent. It is the
21 position of the Dad's Association that the Board
22 of Trustees have only to look at the intent to
23 reach a well known conclusion, a well known and
24 accepted conclusion by an overwhelming majority of
PAGE 55
1 the persons ever associated with this University.
2 They, the Board of Trustees, will reach
3 the well known conclusion that this tradition is
4 the University of Illinois and all should be proud
5 to stand for and stand up to the minority that
6 would destroy such tradition. I thank the Board
7 of Trustees for this Opportunity to be a part of
8 this dialogue. And I hope that all parties will
9 abide by your final determinations. Thank you
10 very much.
11 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Mr. Roberts.
12 MR. WILLIAM ROBERTS: Hello. I am here
13 speaking on behalf --
14 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Identify yourself.
15 MR. WILLIAM J. ROBERTS: William J.
16 Roberts. I am here speaking on behalf of James
17 Yellow Banks. My name is William Roberts. I am
18 from the Potawatomi nation. I lived in Chicago
19 all my life, born and raised. And I don't have
20 really nothing prepared to say, but I am just
21 going to wing it, speak from the heart. When I
22 was young, when I was growing up, people in my
23 neighborhood, the Indian people, we are harassed
24 for being Indian. There was a lot of people when
PAGE 56
1 they were young, they never wanted to tell anybody
2 they were Indian.
3 And I think one of the reasons for that
4 is because things like this, like this mascot
5 prancing around a football field ridiculing our
6 race. And there is a great deal of suicide,
7 suicide rates is high, alcoholism is high, and
8 that comes from depression. Depression comes from
9 low self-esteem and that low self-esteem comes
10 from seeing our identify prancing around a
11 football field. It's just really hard looking at
12 that sometimes. And you know, me being from
13 Illinois, my people used to be all up and down
14 these parts. I never remember, I don't remember
15 seeing no headdress on anybody here. And he's
16 supposed to be this member from this other tribe,
17 but he doesn't resemble nothing from that, from
18 them people. He's all on his own. And that's
19 basically just what I have to say for now. I
20 didn't really have nothing really more to say than
21 that.
22 MODERATOR GARIPPO: You had plenty to
23 say.
24 MRS. JEAN EDWARDS: My name is Jean
PAGE 57
1 Edwards, I am chairman of Citizens for Chief
2 Illiniwek. When this symbol of honor and dignity
3 that we respected, the spirit of the University of
4 Illinois started being challenged nine years ago,
5 I was outraged. I kept hearing all about it over
6 the radio, through the paper and I felt that
7 somebody had to do something. Somebody had to
8 speak up on behalf of the town people and the
9 alumni who love the Chief and didn't want to lose
10 him.
11 As I contemplated what I as an
12 individual could do, I decided to form a group
13 called Citizens for Chief Illiniwek. It would be
14 the voice of those who were not connected to the
15 University, the many who felt as I did, but didn't
16 know what they could do. I thought if everyone
17 wrote a letter to various Board of Trustee
18 members telling them of their support, it would
19 give them an idea of how many people backed the
20 decision to retain the Chief.
21 We sent over 4,000 hand addressed
22 letters, names culled from every source we could
23 think of. The result was very positive. Each
24 Board of Trustee member received about 1500
PAGE 58
1 letters. Many of those people then wrote to me
2 and told me stories of their University experience
3 and how much the Chief meant to them. Businessmen
4 said they had a picture of Chief Illiniwek hanging
5 in their office and it reminded them of their
6 University years and the honor the symbol of the
7 Chief instilled in them. I do not consider myself
8 an activist. I am just an alumni who cares a
9 great deal about keeping this symbol.
10 And to me, it honors all Native American
11 Indians. Over the past years, both the University
12 athletic office and I have watched for anything
13 being sold in the market that is derogatory of the
14 Chief and seen to it that it is no longer for
15 sale. We will not tolerate caricatures.
16 Let's look at some of the problems we
17 face. The Chief is a white person acting as a
18 Native American Indian. There are others dancing
19 in pow-wows around the United States who are a
20 friend of the tribe or who live with them. It's
21 not unusual for that to happen. The dance is not
22 authentic. Well, why must it be? It is a form of
23 fancy dancing that has evolved over the years just
24 as an early Native American dance evolved from
PAGE 59
1 person to person. It is not a religious or a war
2 related dance, but one to inspire confidence and
3 ability in a sporting event.
4 Our Chief does not run around the
5 football field and act crazy and allow
6 cheerleaders to touch or pick him up. He never
7 wears his regalia until he arrives at his
8 destination. When he dons his regalia, he does
9 not talk to people or sign autographs. He acts
10 with dignity at all times. He brings to us the
11 spirit of a proud Illinois tribe that is almost
12 all gone, giving us encouragement and strength and
13 pride.
14 I would like to quote from a letter of a
15 former Native American Indian football player.
16 "It was at the game during the Rose Bowl year, it
17 was half-time and we had played badly and were
18 losing. It was time for Coach Elliott's half-time
19 speech. He said we had more pride and spirit than
20 what we showed in the game. He said we were not
21 like other Big 10 teams. He said we weren't the
22 University of Wisconsin where they had Badgers or
23 animals that dug holes in the ground. He said we
24 were not the University of Iowa who were Hawkeyes
PAGE 60
1 or birds who flew in the air. He said we are not
2 like the team from Ohio, who are Buckeyes who are
3 a bunch of nuts. He said we were the Fighting
4 Illini, a team of fiercely proud men who deserved
5 victory. As we rushed onto the field, Chief
6 Illiniwek and the dance had already started. We
7 went wild with the crowd too and won the game and
8 went to the Rose Bowl."
9 At basketball games, the Chief is
10 anticipated with excitement. Everyone stands up
11 while he is performing. And as he leaves the
12 floor after his dance, they are quiet in reverence
13 and respect. How can 16,000 people not show you
14 by doing this that they are thrilled to be part of
15 that spirit that unifies them with the dignity of
16 Chief Illiniwek?
17 Claims that the controversy is having an
18 adverse effect on academic performance surely is
19 only in the minds of the opposition, they are the
20 ones that bring it up. Forbes Magazine rates the
21 University of Illinois numerous' departments in
22 the top 10 in the entire country.
23 Two years ago Citizens for Chief
24 Illiniwek circulated a petition for support of the
PAGE 61
1 Chief and in two months we had collected 15,750
2 signatures. They came from 250 Illinois towns and
3 almost every single state in the union. We felt
4 that it was so important we wanted the Board of
5 Trustees to know, so on October 16, 1998, we took
6 the petitions to the Board meeting. This is a
7 unique symbol among colleges and universities.
8 Why can't we build on it and have greater
9 education about Native American people instead of
10 fighting about it all the time?
11 The intent is to honor and appreciate
12 Native American Indians who lived on this land in
13 the State of Illinois. It is not done with any
14 derogatory intention. The group Chief Illiniwek
15 Education Foundation was formed with the idea of
16 learning more about Native American culture and
17 way of life.
18 Two years ago we invited three men from
19 the Hopi tribe from Second Mesa, Arizona, to visit
20 with us. Because they didn't want to be involved
21 with any type of demonstration, we were unable to
22 advertise their being here and had only 65 people
23 instead of a possible 350 at the meeting, where
24 they talked about their family life. It was a
PAGE 62
1 fine meeting and it was sad that more people
2 couldn't have been there.
3 We must find an answer to this
4 controversy. Our state is full of Indian names,
5 of towns, rivers, natural areas, can we not help
6 but perpetuate the past history of these people
7 through the honor, pride and dignity that we show
8 them? The enormous support of the Chief must
9 count for something. I surely hope we can and I
10 want to most earnestly ask the Board of Trustees
11 to continue their support of Chief Illiniwek as
12 our honored spiritual symbol of the University of
13 Illinois. Thank you.
14 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Again, those people
15 who have prepared remarks, if you please leave
16 them for the court reporter.
17 MS. BROOKE ANDERSON: Good morning. My
18 name is Brooke Anderson, I am a senior here at the
19 University of Illinois and the Co-Coordinator of
20 the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative on
21 whose behalf I speak to you today.
22 The PRC is a multi-issue, multi-tactical
23 activist organization committed to peace with
24 social justice. The PRC has been at the forefront
PAGE 63
1 of the effort to eliminate Chief Illiniwek as the
2 University's mascot and logo since the inception
3 of the anti-Chief movement in 1989. And, with the
4 exception of the vote to retain the Chief in 1990,
5 the Board of Trustees has been silent on this
6 issue as we have talked, argued, pleaded and
7 screamed for a hearing.
8 The PRC has participated in the
9 international anti Columbus demonstrations in
10 1992, the infiltration of the Chief tryouts of
11 1994, the lawsuits filed with the Illinois
12 Department of Education in 1995, and the first
13 real Chief debate in 1996, as well as the airing
14 of a documentary "In Whose Honor" in 1997, and the
15 First National Conference on the Elimination of
16 Racist Mascots in 1998. And finally, the first
17 and second annual convention of the People's Board
18 of Conscience in 1999 and 2000.
19 But where has been the Board of
20 Trustees? At each of these pivotal moments in the
21 history of the anti-Chief movement, the Board has
22 ignored the voices of the anti-Chief movement and
23 the people of conscience who have sought dialogue
24 with them on the status of Chief Illiniwek. Now
PAGE 64
1 that the Board has finally decided to listen, how
2 can we possibly hope to recreate in eight short
3 minutes the many and diverse voices of opposition
4 that we have heard throughout the course of the
5 past decade of our struggle. We simply cannot,
6 although we are obligated to try.
7 On behalf of the PRC, I speak before you
8 today to demand an immediate and unconditional end
9 to Chief Illiniwek, and an end to the tolerance
10 for racial hatred that he promotes and he
11 represents in our community and beyond. First,
12 you say the Chief is a tradition here and that he
13 is meant to honor. But honor is not an honor when
14 those whom it is purported to honor continually
15 ask for its discontinuation. As with slavery,
16 tradition is never a justification for the
17 perpetuation of injustice.
18 Second, Chief Illiniwek's half-time
19 performance is undeniably unauthentic. The Chief
20 tradition began as an extension of a 1926 Boy
21 Scout project. The drum beat is pure Hollywood
22 and the dance reinvented annually by the
23 individual student portraying the Chief each
24 particular year. The University administration
PAGE 65
1 knows this. They know the Chief is unauthentic
2 and has admitted such in intra-administration
3 communications obtained by the PRC through the
4 Freedom of Information Act.
5 Because they know this, the University
6 has done everything they can to sanitize the
7 Chief's image, including the discontinuation of
8 Illini beer, Chief boxers and toilet paper and the
9 Chief's presence in the homecoming parade. We
10 count these changes as victories for the
11 anti-Chief movement but understand that the Chief
12 remains a distorted and derogative caricature of
13 Native American peoples which destroys their
14 universal and unalienable right to and dignity
15 integrity, self-determination and cultural
16 autonomy.
17 As such, the next logical step and
18 indeed the only responsible one is to immediately
19 retire Chief Illiniwek.
20 Third, even if the Chief were authentic,
21 what business would the state's flagship
22 University have parading Native American sacred
23 cultural and spiritual elements around its
24 football fields and basketball courts as half-time
PAGE 66
1 entertainment. No business at all.
2 Fourth, this injustice against Native
3 Americans sets a dangerous precedent of acceptance
4 for the racist and stereotypical representation of
5 any and all other social groups targeted for
6 oppression. If it's acceptable to mock and
7 degrade Native American culture, why not also have
8 the Tibetan Lama, a Jewish survivor of the
9 Holocaust, or a Kosovar woman raped by a Serb
10 entertain us at half-time? Or as one prominent
11 Native American scholar suggests, how about adding
12 Illinois Honkeys, Sambos, Drunken Papists or
13 Jungle Bunnies to half-time entertainment. If
14 these analogies sound ridiculous and dehumanizing,
15 then so is your Chief.
16 Fifth, the maintenance of your Chief has
17 repeatedly taken precedence over democracy,
18 non-discrimination and multicultural education at
19 this University. The University's mission
20 statement reads, "The commitment of the University
21 of Illinois to the most fundamental principles of
22 academic freedom, equality of opportunity, and
23 human dignity requires the decisions involving
24 students and employees be based on individual
PAGE 67
1 merit and be free from invidious discrimination in
2 all its forms."
3 Yet, the Board has repeatedly violated
4 their own commission statement in handling the
5 Chief issue. As just one example among many, in
6 1998, the U of I Board of Trustees member Tom
7 Lamont told Native American students who wrote in
8 protesting the Chief that if you didn't like the
9 Chief, perhaps he ought to find another school.
10 The Chief has become important, more
11 important to the Board than the voices of Native
12 students and more important than the voices of
13 national Native organizations that have requested
14 the Chief's removal.
15 Sixth, it is will of the University
16 community and of people of conscience worldwide
17 that the Chief cease to be the mascot of the
18 University of Illinois. With a majority of
19 student organizations representing
20 African-American, Latino, Asian Pacific American,
21 Southeast Asian students have all denounced the
22 Chief, as well as religious organizations,
23 congregations, clergy representing Christian,
24 Jewish, Hindu, Catholic and Muslim peoples.
PAGE 68
1 Further, faculty and staff at the U of I
2 Departments of Anthropology, History, Sociology,
3 Psychology, Education, Social Work and English, as
4 well as the University's Counseling Center, School
5 of Life Sciences and College of Medicine have all
6 passed resolutions condemning Chief Illiniwek.
7 On a national level, we have found
8 support from everywhere from such publications as
9 Sports Illustrated, Chicago Sun Times, The Lakota
10 Times and Indian Country Today, as well as from
11 such organizations as the American Indian
12 Movement, United Indian Nations, and Reverend
13 Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, and from such
14 individuals as the former chair of Amnesty
15 International and our Big 10 opponents Wisconsin
16 and Iowa.
17 On an international level, KOLA, a
18 Native American human rights organization, has
19 brought the issue to the attention of the
20 international media, the European Parliament and
21 the United Nations.
22 The Board simply cannot continue to
23 ignore the diversity and magnitude of this local,
24 national and international outcry against the
PAGE 69
1 Chief.
2 In conclusion, the racist tradition,
3 inaccurate portrayal and inappropriate use of
4 Chief Illiniwek, as well as the precedent it sets
5 for discrimination against other historically
6 oppressed groups, the violation of
7 non-discrimination policies, and the defiance of
8 the will of the community constitute indisputable
9 reasons for the Board to immediately discontinue
10 its use of Chief Illiniwek as the school's symbol
11 and mascot. Official bodies such as the Board of
12 Trustees have a moral and political obligation to
13 speak out against racism and injustice wherever
14 and however it manifests itself.
15 I challenge you in your decision to hold
16 yourselves accountable to your own mission of
17 standards and fairness. I also challenge you to
18 initiate similar dialogues on the numerous other
19 campus issues which you have so conveniently
20 ignored. Talk to your Native American, Asian
21 American, African-American and Latino students and
22 faculty about better funding for existing cultural
23 houses and studies programs, about the creation of
24 new programs and about increased recruitment and
PAGE 70
1 retention rates of students and faculty of color
2 on campus.
3 Take immediate action to stop the severe
4 shortage of child care facilities on campus. Stop
5 pretending that rape whistles are enough to
6 protect women on this campus from being sexually,
7 and finally, negotiation with the GEO.
8 But regardless of the outcome of the
9 dialogue process, we will continue organizing
10 around this issue and continue to recruit new
11 generations of activists to pick up the struggle
12 and maybe one day the retirement of Chief
13 Illiniwek and the induction of another symbol will
14 represent a new era of cultural sensitivity and
15 racial harmony on this campus. Please do the
16 right thing. Thank you.
17 MODERATOR GARIPPO: John Mamminga.
18 MR. JOHN MAMMINGA: Good morning, I do
19 have some prepared remarks, but I would first off
20 just like to make a few comments based on what I
21 have seen so far this morning. Is Charlene still
22 in the room here? I know we are looking for some
23 common ground today. I think one thing that
24 everybody in this room can agree with is that
PAGE 71
1 Chief Illiniwek toilet paper is something that is
2 shameful and embarrassing. I think we can all be
3 glad that's gone out of existence.
4 Second of all, is Michael Haney still in
5 the room? Michael is gone too also. Michael
6 requested that the headdress be returned to the
7 Dakota, we do have a letter here, I would be happy
8 to share this, that that headdress that was
9 presented by Fools Crow has been indeed returned
10 to the family. And then finally --
11 MODERATOR GARIPPO: When was that done?
12 MR. MAMMINGA: This is 1991. And
13 finally, I would like to welcome the people, was
14 it Mississippi, that are here from Mississippi; is
15 that right? Outside again. Also I would just
16 express my disappointment that all the prominent
17 leaders of apparently the anti-Chief movement are
18 not here to fully listen to this discussion. But
19 I would like to welcome -- the dialogue session is
20 going on right now. But I would like to welcome
21 and invite all the people that are here today from
22 Mississippi --
23 MODERATOR GARIPPO: I think the remarks
24 should be addressed to the Board.
PAGE 72
1 MR. MAMMINGA: I would like to invite
2 the people that are here from Mississippi, I don't
3 believe many attended the game, I would like to on
4 behalf of Chief Illiniwek to share in our
5 tradition at a game with us next fall on behalf
6 the Educational Foundation. Now I will continue
7 with my prepared remarks.
8 When French explorers first journeyed
9 onto this great land that we now call Illinois,
10 they were befriended by a people who called
11 themselves Hileni or Illiniwek. And it is from
12 this first people of the land that our great state
13 is named.
14 Today, while no Indian nation resides in
15 Illinois, a journey throughout this land will
16 reveal numerous towns, rivers, counties and
17 historical places whose names bear honor and
18 tribute to the Indian people who lived, worked,
19 fought and celebrated in the land of Illinois.
20 From Lake Michigan and the Kaskaskia River to the
21 Cahokia Mounds and Starved Rock State Park, from
22 Kankakee and Iroquois Counties to the great cities
23 of Chicago, Peoria, the people of Illinois take
24 great pride in Illinois' vast Indian heritage.
PAGE 73
1 And because of this Indian heritage, it
2 is only meaningful and appropriate for the
3 University of Illinois, the flagship academic
4 institution of this great state, to be represented
5 by the dignified symbolism of Chief Illiniwek.
6 And no matter where you stand on this issue,
7 nobody in this auditorium should doubt that the
8 performance of Chief Illiniwek stirs feelings of
9 pride, honor and loyalty in many of Illinois' 11
10 million people, many of whom, like myself, proudly
11 refer to ourselves as Illini.
12 And yet, while I believe it is
13 appropriate that the University be represented by
14 the majestic symbolism of Chief Illiniwek, I also
15 believe that it is appropriate for those who
16 champion American Indian issues, for those who
17 seek to bring about a greater understanding of a
18 complex and diverse people, and for those who seek
19 to fight against the injustices brought against
20 the Indian people, it is appropriate that these
21 people see Chief Illiniwek not as a barrier, but
22 as an opportunity.
23 I believe this because I am one of those
24 people. I have seen firsthand the poverty and
PAGE 74
1 alcoholism that ravages many of the Indian
2 reservations. I have danced at pow-wows and
3 experienced the overwhelming beauty of Indian art,
4 dance and music. And I am proud to support many
5 social justice causes currently advocated by those
6 in the pro-Native movement.
7 And maybe it is just my optimistic
8 nature, but I believe with all my being that the
9 presence and visibility of Chief Illiniwek gives
10 all of us a unique opportunity to promote a
11 greater understanding of Indian people. And an
12 opportunity for all of us to work together in an
13 effort to implement positive changes.
14 For example, since its founding less
15 than two years ago, the Chief Illiniwek
16 Educational Foundation has sponsored student
17 service projects to Indian reservations, furnished
18 libraries with books by and about Native
19 Americans, and contributed material and monetary
20 gifts to various Native American charities. Our
21 members have participated in Indian celebrations
22 and met with tribal leaders.
23 These are but a few examples of how
24 Chief Illiniwek has inspired our students and
PAGE 75
1 alums, people like Dawn Neisen, to learn more
2 about our state's Native heritage and positively
3 involve themselves in contemporary Native issues.
4 And this is just a beginning. Every day
5 we are contacted by new students and alums whose
6 profound appreciation for the symbolism of Chief
7 Illiniwek inspires them to get involved in efforts
8 to benefit both the campus and Native American
9 communities. Our educational foundation is
10 constantly expanding our philanthropic activities
11 and we will explore new endeavors such as
12 scholarship funds and workshops.
13 On the surface, many of the Foundation's
14 activities seem to have little to do with Chief
15 Illiniwek, but remember, none of it would be
16 possible without the inspiration offered by Chief
17 Illiniwek. Chief Illiniwek is the impetus, the
18 reason for questions like why is the Chief a
19 symbol of our University? What is the state's
20 Native heritage? And perhaps most importantly,
21 what can I do to contribute to today's Native
22 community?
23 That is the value of Chief Illiniwek at
24 the University of Illinois. By evoking such
PAGE 76
1 questions and desires, the Chief's preferences and
2 visibility has allowed our Foundation to
3 positively harness the enthusiasm of our students
4 and alums.
5 Unfortunately, I believe that many of us
6 who champion Indian causes are misguided in our
7 efforts if we believe that the way to further the
8 Indian cause on this campus is to do so on the
9 destruction of a tradition that is so revered by
10 countless thousands of people. I am perplexed by
11 the notion that this sought-after destruction of
12 this tradition could somehow bring about a greater
13 good.
14 If there is one thing that I have
15 learned from our personal interaction with Indian
16 people is that these people are loving people and
17 a people who hold tradition in the highest regard.
18 I cannot, I do not and I will not believe that the
19 majority of Indian people would want to destroy,
20 family's, my Illini family's revered tradition.
21 So today, I challenge those of you who
22 champion Indian causes, I challenge you to not
23 fight and antagonize the hundreds of thousands of
24 those who love and revere this tradition, but to
PAGE 77
1 work with us. To those of you who revere this
2 great symbol, I challenge you to reach out to
3 those of us who support the Indian cause to
4 welcome us and to support us in our efforts.
5 In conclusion, the majestic symbolism of
6 Chief Illiniwek at this world class institution
7 presents all of us here with an extraordinary
8 unique opportunity. Will we destroy this
9 tradition and squander the opportunity? Or
10 instead will we build on it and harness its full
11 potential. I believe that we should work together
12 to build on this tradition. If we do, I sincerely
13 believe that we can and we will accomplish the
14 extraordinary. Thank you.
15 MODERATOR GARIPPO: The next speaker
16 will be Christine Redcloud and then we will take a
17 15 minute break.
18 MS. CHRISTINE REDCLOUD:
19 Animikik-quadoo-e-quay sa da ijinikas. Nin
20 anishinabe e-quay. My name is Christine Redcloud,
21 I am of the Ojibway Nation and I am here today on
22 behalf of the American Indian Center of Chicago.
23 The Indian Relocation Act of the 1950s,
24 along with the federal policy of selective
PAGE 78
1 termination of tribal status, was a concerted
2 attempt to break up the reservation system.
3 Implementation of the Relocation program sent
4 thousands of Native Americans to the city to face
5 difficult challenges in an unfamiliar environment.
6 In response to these needs of the new
7 Chicago community, the American Indian Center was
8 formed and has been operating continuously since
9 1953. It is the oldest urban Indian Center in the
10 country.
11 I am an enrolled member of the Minnesota
12 Chippewa Tribe, I say that so there is no doubt
13 that I am an American Indian. My family came to
14 Chicago on the relocation program and I was raised
15 in Chicago. I currently serve on the Board of
16 Directors of the American Indian Center. And I
17 say that so there is no doubt that I represent the
18 Chicago American Indian Center, its Board of
19 Directors, its staff and its membership.
20 Our message is simple: We are not
21 honored by Chief Illiniwek. And we believe he
22 should be retired as the symbol of the University.
23 One of the most common arguments for having and
24 keeping Chief Illiniwek is that he is honoring
PAGE 79
1 Native people. On behalf of the American Indian
2 Center of Chicago, I am here to say that we are
3 not -- that you are not honoring us.
4 You say that you are doing this out of
5 respect for Indian people. Well, it appears that
6 you do not respect us enough to listen to us. How
7 many times in how many ways and for how long do we
8 have to say that we are not honored by Chief
9 Illiniwek?
10 You say you want to honor us, how about
11 honoring our feelings. There are generations of
12 us here today from elders to young people to tell
13 you that we are indeed offended by Chief
14 Illiniwek.
15 A second purpose as stated on the Chief
16 Illiniwek web site for having and keeping Chief
17 Illiniwek is that most knowledge of Native culture
18 will be lost. Somehow you believe that you are
19 keeping Native culture alive by dressing up and
20 pretending to be an Indian, not an Illini, but
21 your concept of what an Indian should look like.
22 He has exaggerated the dance and the face paint
23 and is not dressed appropriately for those people
24 who you claim to be honoring. He is dressed in
PAGE 80
1 the plain style, reminiscent of all the old
2 western movies, that showed tepees set up down in
3 the southwest. It is inaccurate.
4 Does this institution of higher
5 education really want to be known for teaching
6 inaccuracies, mocking other cultures and that
7 racism is acceptable? Chief Illiniwek is not
8 keeping Native culture alive, he is keeping a
9 stereotype alive.
10 Part of the mission statement of the
11 American Indian Center reads, "To create bonds of
12 understanding and communication between Indians
13 and nonIndians in this city."
14 The American Indian Center has been
15 working with the University of Illinois at Chicago
16 for the last three years to host our annual
17 pow-wow at their facility. UIC, by the way,
18 changed their sports name to the Flames. We value
19 this relationship because we are sharing our
20 culture our way.
21 We also have good working relationships
22 with the College of Lake County, Joliet Junior
23 College and the College of Du Page, because they
24 too are understanding and respectful of the
PAGE 81
1 traditions that we hold dear.
2 Last year we began a cultural tour
3 program for schools and other groups throughout
4 Chicago and the suburbs to come to the Indian
5 Center and learn about traditional and
6 contemporary Native America. Over 100 groups with
7 school age children have visited the Center so
8 far. One school teacher remarked that this tour
9 should be mandatory for all third graders.
10 In fact, today, April 14, as this
11 hearing is going on, the American Indian Center is
12 hosing 150 Chicago area cointegrating school
13 teachers who want to learn about Native people
14 from Native people.
15 It will take time before these school
16 age children attend this University, when they get
17 here, will we be having this same argument? I
18 believe the answer is yes. As long as Chief
19 Illiniwek is here.
20 Once again, the message from the
21 American Indian Center of Chicago is simple: We
22 are not honored by Chief Illiniwek and we believe
23 he should be retired as a symbol of the
24 University. Thank you.
PAGE 82
1 MODERATOR GARIPPO: We will now take a
2 15 minute break.
3 (A break was taken, and the intake
4 session continued as follows:)
5 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Please take your
6 seats.
7 MR. ENGELBRECHT: Thank you for coming,
8 for those of you who have come in late, my name is
9 Bill Engelbrecht, Chairman of the Board of
10 Trustees. All the Board here at 8:00 this morning
11 were introduced, but through some travel problems
12 I would like to introduce one additional trustee
13 who has just come to join us, over on my far left
14 Arun Reddy, Trustee, University of Illinois at
15 Chicago and I might add just recently, elected for
16 his second term just as of yesterday.
17 MODERATOR GARIPPO: At microphone No. 2,
18 if we could have Anthony Enright.
19 MR. ANTHONY ENRIGHT: Ladies and
20 gentlemen, my name is Anthony Enright, on behalf
21 of the College Republicans at the University of
22 Illinois, I would like to thank you for this
23 opportunity to speak to you today in support of
24 your retaining Chief Illiniwek as an honored
PAGE 83
1 symbol of the University.
2 I would like to begin today by reading a
3 letter to the Board of Trustees from State
4 Representative Rick Winkle, dated April 12, 2000.
5 "To the University of Illinois Board of Trustees:
6 I respectfully draw your attention to the
7 following statute concerning Chief Illiniwek,
8 which passed both Houses of the Illinois General
9 Assembly and Governor Jim Edgar signed it into
10 law.
11 "Chief Illiniwek: Consistent with a
12 longstanding, proud tradition, the General
13 Assembly hereby declares that Chief Illiniwek is
14 and may remain the honored symbol of a great
15 University, the University of Illinois at
16 Urbana-Champaign.
17 "As the sponsor of the legislation that
18 created this law and an alumnus of the University,
19 I once again declare my support for the symbol of
20 Chief Illiniwek. I encourage you to remain
21 steadfast and reaffirm that Chief Illiniwek shall
22 remain the honored symbol of the University of
23 Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and not abdicate your
24 responsibility to make the decision on the issue.
PAGE 84
1 "Thank you for the opportunity to be
2 heard and for your consideration of all points of
3 view, sincerely, Richard J. Winkle, Junior, State
4 Representative."
5 The College Republicans are an
6 organization of more than 500 individuals
7 dedicated to the involvement of students in the
8 policy making process at the national, state and
9 local level. We respect and support the fact that
10 the Board of Trustees shall make any decision
11 regarding Chief Illiniwek, and we trust that the
12 Board will do what it is best for the University.
13 In addition to the statement from
14 Representative Winkle, we have also received
15 statements from the offices of Congressman Tom
16 Ewing and State Representative Tim Johnson
17 acknowledging their support for Chief Illiniwek
18 and stressing the importance of the Board's
19 decision.
20 Because the decision on this matter will
21 affect people across the nation, we feel that it
22 is very important that we express our sentiments
23 on the issue. For 74 years, Chief Illiniwek has
24 personified the achievements and challenges known
PAGE 85
1 to the University, as well as the honor, pride and
2 dignity shared by the alumni, students, staff and
3 faculty members.
4 While other universities represent
5 themselves with animals that mean very little off
6 the footfall field, we choose to represent the
7 University of Illinois with a symbol that commands
8 genuine respect and promotes a sense of pride, not
9 just in our athletic achievements, but in all that
10 we have accomplished and will accomplish in the
11 future.
12 The fact that we are represented by a
13 symbol of such great honor as Chief Illiniwek
14 reflects the higher standard to which we hold
15 ourselves at the University of Illinois, and shows
16 we will not settle for anything less than the very
17 best.
18 The enthusiasm expressed by the
19 participants in today's intake session reflects
20 the strength of the passion that Chief Illiniwek
21 instills in the hearts of many men and women
22 associated with the University of Illinois. It is
23 this passion that motivates our professors to
24 provide the best education available. It is this
PAGE 86
1 passion that motivates our athletic teams to
2 strive to be the very best. It is this passion
3 that motivates our alumni to use their Illini
4 educations to achieve what was before thought
5 impossible and to invest in the University to
6 provide a better future for tomorrow's Illini.
7 Finally, it is this passion that reminds
8 U of I students that we can achieve anything.
9 Chief Illiniwek demonstrates that the University
10 of Illinois sets itself apart from other
11 institutions, that the achievements of the U of I
12 are Illini achievements, made possible by a
13 motivation and pride unmatched anywhere else.
14 Some say it is time to bring this era of
15 great accomplishment, success and pride to a close
16 by retiring Chief Illiniwek. To do so is to say
17 that the Illini have accomplished all that they
18 can and that we should no longer represent
19 ourselves with a symbol that reflects such a high
20 standard, that it is time that we settle for less.
21 Holding ourselves to a high standard
22 requires us to face strong challenges. Any
23 expression or symbol will always be subject to
24 scrutiny and will always have opponents. It is
PAGE 87
1 only natural that a symbol so strong as Chief
2 Illiniwek has opponents who present a strong
3 challenge.
4 But ladies and gentlemen, it is facing
5 challenges such as this that has allowed the
6 University and its alumni, students, staff and
7 faculty members to achieve the great successes
8 that Chief Illiniwek symbolizes. To retire Chief
9 Illiniwek simply because his retention requires
10 that we overcome obstacles is to send the message
11 that we should not strive for greatness as we are
12 not willing to face the challenges that we will
13 meet in doing so; to retire Chief Illiniwek is to
14 say that we will settle for mediocrity and the
15 University of Illinois' strive for greatness is
16 over.
17 We do not claim that the grievances of
18 those who oppose the retention of Chief Illiniwek
19 should not be addressed. On the contrary, the
20 issues that they raise are of significant
21 importance. Racial stereotypes do indeed dilute
22 the recognition of individual merits and diminish
23 the strength of individual choices and actions.
24 Such stereotypes are a product of ignorance and
PAGE 88
1 should be combatted with education.
2 Chief Illiniwek is a fictional
3 character, a personification of the values
4 important to the University of Illinois. He does
5 not represent the views or beliefs of any
6 individual or race of people. Rather, he
7 represents the honor, dignity, pride, achievement,
8 strength and courage of the alumni, students,
9 staff and faculty members of the University of
10 Illinois.
11 Chief Illiniwek has long been a symbol
12 to which we look and remember that the
13 accomplishments that this University has
14 facilitated have been truly great. He reminds us
15 that we hold ourselves to standards far above
16 others in a way that no other symbol could. To
17 retire Chief Illiniwek would be to end this era of
18 great pride and respect for the University. No
19 longer would students be able to say I am an
20 Illini and an Illini can achieve anything.
21 Without this, they would have to say, the Illini
22 achieved greatness but they were from a different
23 era at the University of Illinois. They held
24 themselves to a higher standard.
PAGE 89
1 The College Republicans at the
2 University of Illinois believe that it is not time
3 for this era to come to an end. We are dedicated
4 and proud Illini and we want our opportunity to
5 add to the achievements of the past and to take
6 them to new levels. The Illini have experienced a
7 history of greatness, but with all that we have
8 accomplished, we have still only just begin.
9 Please allow Chief Illiniwek to remain
10 the honored symbol of the University of Illinois
11 at Urbana-Champaign and allow us to continue to
12 achieve and succeed in his honor.
13 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Will you please
14 state your name.
15 MS. FAITH SMITH: Good morning I am
16 Faith Smith, I am an enrolled member of the Lac
17 Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Tribe in northern
18 Wisconsin, I am also a resident of Chicago, and
19 the president of NAES College, which stands for
20 Native American Educational Services College.
21 NAES is a four year liberal arts college
22 which serves the higher education needs of four
23 Native communities, two in urban areas and two
24 reservation communities. The central office and
PAGE 90
1 campus are located in Chicago. The college was
2 established 25 years ago in part to meet higher
3 educational needs of Native people who were poorly
4 served by conventional institutions.
5 At NAES, the basis of learning and
6 instruction comes from the intellectual traditions
7 and knowledge of Native communities, so that the
8 link between student learning and the needs of the
9 community are closely linked.
10 In our 25 years since NAES was started,
11 we have been witness to tremendous change within
12 Native communities, tribal and urban. Communities
13 which once had no economic base which they could
14 control, now have developed economies which
15 contribute to the quality of life of tribal
16 members, as well as supporting the economy in the
17 regions where they are located.
18 Twenty-five years ago there were few
19 people working at the community level with college
20 degrees. Today community agencies and
21 institutions commonly require college degrees and
22 are able to recruit and hire qualified Native
23 people to be a part of the work force.
24 When NAES was created, there were very
PAGE 91
1 serious concerns about the continuity of Native
2 languages and the spiritual and social lives of
3 our communities suffered from 200 years of
4 negative pressure from outside influences,
5 including and particularly federal policy.
6 Today not only does NAES offer and
7 require tribal language as a part of our
8 graduation requirements, language retention
9 programs and programs which strengthen the
10 cultural and spiritual life of our communities,
11 are cornerstones of community life.
12 These changes and many more have put
13 Native communities in a position to radically
14 change the poor economic and social conditions
15 which have limited our development in the past.
16 An area where we have had very limited
17 support and change actually is in influencing many
18 of the institutions of larger society to educate
19 themselves about Native issues and to integrate
20 this knowledge into their ongoing work. This
21 ignorance exists at the national, state and local
22 levels.
23 Every time a new Congress is elected at
24 the national level, national Native advocacy
PAGE 92
1 organizations like the National Congress of
2 American Indians, tribes, urban communities and
3 other private organizations, must start anew to
4 engage in a basic education with them about Native
5 concerns and issues, so that we are not excluded
6 as policy decisions are made.
7 Among higher education institutions,
8 that same ignorance exists. For them there is no
9 excuse. Like the University of Illinois, they
10 have existed for many years and have made a public
11 commitment to treat all of its students equitably,
12 with respect, and in recognition of the diverse
13 needs which new populations bring to their
14 institutions.
15 The insistence of the University of
16 Illinois to maintain the Chief Illiniwek symbol, a
17 caricature of a Native American, seriously damages
18 its relationship with Native students enrolled
19 here and with the larger Native American community
20 which seeks the same kind of educational resources
21 that are available to other students.
22 As an accredited institution, the
23 University must follow the principles adopted by
24 the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education
PAGE 93
1 of the North Central Association of Colleges and
2 Schools. According to the Commission's 1991
3 statement, this is from North Central, statement
4 on access, equity and diversity, "Regardless of
5 specific institutional practices, the Commission
6 expects an institution to create and maintain a
7 teaching and learning environment that supports
8 sensitivity to diverse individuals and groups.
9 "Further, the Commission expects an
10 affiliated institution to teach students and
11 faculty alike to see in proper perspective the
12 differences that separate and the commonalities
13 that bind all people and cultures."
14 For Native students and faculty at the
15 University of Illinois, the continued use of Chief
16 Illiniwek as a symbol of the institution creates
17 an atmosphere in which Native and other students
18 learn that sensitivity does not apply to Native
19 Americans, that our sacred symbols can be
20 appropriated without regard for Native feelings or
21 for our cultures, and that the only place for
22 Native consciousness within the University setting
23 is as a public spectacle that no Native people can
24 identify with.
PAGE 94
1 According to the University's own
2 strategic plan for the future, the University
3 stated that, the University of Illinois, first we
4 invest in people, the people who constitute our
5 campus community at all levels represent an
6 increasingly diverse population. Because we can
7 see no visible investment in creating a positive
8 learning environment for Native students, such as
9 increasing the Native student population, offering
10 a curriculum in which Native issues are an
11 integral part throughout the disciplines of social
12 science, increasing Native personnel, including
13 faculty or working with the Native American
14 community to understand the issues which all
15 students should learn about Native Americans, we
16 must assume that the framework for the future as
17 defined by the University of Illinois does not
18 include Native American.
19 The University issued the following
20 statement in 1991, "Resolving, one, to eradicate
21 prohibited and invidious discrimination in all its
22 forms; and two, to foster programs within the law
23 which will ameliorate or eliminate where possible
24 the effects of historical discrimination."
PAGE 95
1 In light of this statement, the Board
2 must consider and respond to the way in which it
3 denies Native American students the opportunity to
4 fully participate in a nondiscriminatory learning
5 environment by maintaining a symbol that was
6 created 75 years ago, adopted in an era when it
7 was felt that Native Americans were disappearing,
8 when Native Americans tribes and community clearly
9 had not disappeared.
10 Our strength today comes from resilience
11 in the face of tremendous pressure to adopt
12 majority culture and values and it comes from the
13 strength and the intellectual capacity of our
14 leaders to chart a course of survival which
15 necessitates our speaking against the improper use
16 of sacred symbols.
17 In the past, some of the institutions
18 who have made these changes at high schools and
19 other universities have also done it in the face
20 of a lot of opposition from inside their
21 institutions. But they have made the courageous
22 decision to do so.
23 In the North Central report, three major
24 points were made in conclusions about keeping the
PAGE 96
1 Chief as a symbol. One is the use of the Chief as
2 an educational issue, two, the controversy
3 surrounding the Chief will not go away, and three,
4 the institution appears not to be addressing the
5 issue in a manner consistent with the policies and
6 principles of its board, and its strategic plan.
7 The hearings today represent a small
8 step on the University's part in taking this issue
9 seriously. And in part this issue exists, with
10 the whole of the State of Illinois --
11 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Your time is up.
12 Thank you. Roger Huddleston is up next and then
13 Rosalyn LaPier on microphone No. 2 is to be ready.
14 You may proceed.
15 MR. ROGER HUDDLESTON: Good morning. My
16 name is Roger Huddleston and I am with the Chief
17 Illiniwek Support Fund. The Illini Support Fund
18 is managed and maintained by the University of
19 Illinois Foundation and has been set aside
20 specifically to go ahead and provide some of the
21 funds to educate students Chief in Native American
22 understanding.
23 I thank you for the opportunity to
24 address the Board this morning.
PAGE 97
1 In the fall of 1959, my dad took me to
2 my very first Illinois football game. And that
3 began a wonderful love affair with the University
4 of Illinois. The game was against Army and I
5 marveled at all the wonderful pageantry and
6 tradition. The most memorable event of that day
7 was at half-time when the crowd that I was a part
8 of rose to their feet and welcomed Chief
9 Illiniwek. Everyone greeted this honored symbol
10 with respect.
11 The dignity displayed by John Forsyth,
12 the Chief Illiniwek that year, caused a stirring
13 in my soul that I would understand more and more
14 in the years to come. To me, the Chief was never
15 a specific person, but a personification of
16 dignity, loyalty, tradition and inspiration that I
17 have come to respect and cherish as I have grown
18 older.
19 As a 12-year-old boy, my relationship
20 with the University of Illinois and Chief
21 Illiniwek did not have much substance. Other than
22 something special that I sensed was good. I was
23 just a boy. But the Chief was someone to be
24 revered, because when he appeared, everything
PAGE 98
1 seemed to stop. No one appeared to speak and the
2 crowd stood in respect.
3 He was different than school mascots,
4 because he wasn't one. He wasn't a Chief Wahoo
5 from the Cleveland Indians, he wasn't wild and
6 uncivilized, he wasn't a cartoon that encouraged
7 us to pretend we had tomahawks like Ted Turner's
8 Atlanta Braves. He was a personification of a
9 common, noble heritage. He was the symbol of an
10 unifying spirit that could cause a football crowd
11 of 80,000 individuals to become one spirit for a
12 few moments.
13 He did not speak. He had no opinions,
14 he was not a cheerleader, he was someone you never
15 thought to ask for an autograph. He never
16 appeared at grocery store openings, he didn't hold
17 small children while parents shook his hand. He
18 was and is the Chief. He is respected for not who
19 he is as the student who portrays him, or as a
20 historical individual. Chief Illiniwek is each
21 person's opportunity to affirm what is good about
22 the human race. The Chief is a measure of
23 excellence of what each of us should be if we
24 strive for dignity.
PAGE 99
1 The Chief speaks volumes when it comes
2 to pride of self, although he never says a word.
3 The Chief is an unifying factor for a melting pot
4 of people who find common bonds in what is good.
5 The Chief encourages no matter what the score is,
6 reminding all that our worth as humans is not
7 determined by the winning or losing of an athletic
8 contest and the Chief has the charismatic dignity
9 to be afforded full attention when he appears.
10 But, if the Chief is good, why do other
11 good people object to him? Why do Native
12 Americans, who have sincere reasons to question
13 every motive behind every portrayal of their
14 ancestors, genuinely object? Why is the student
15 called Chief Illiniwek wearing Sioux clothing and
16 dancing a dance that is not historically correct?
17 If my position and my advocacy are
18 valid, must I not only listen with my heart but
19 with my head and soul to justify my passion for
20 the Chief. To lay one's understanding down and
21 seek truth is to become vulnerable, but a sincere
22 effort to attain intellectual honesty and
23 integrity demands this surrender.
24 The Chief's own character traits that I
PAGE 100
1 revered for many years required the submission of
2 myself to ask questions that would lay my
3 perceptions open to change. I listened to others:
4 Opinion and conviction, emotion and passion,
5 legend and fact, bias and resolve, political
6 correctness and moral honesty. My personal
7 mission was to intellectually discover what was
8 and what wasn't.
9 I was to take two steps back and look
10 with my imperfect heart for the perfect answer. I
11 studied what I could. I read editorials, essays
12 and papers. History provided more than I expected
13 as I learned about a vast confederation of
14 Algonquin people made up of many tribes. I
15 learned that these Illini that the French called
16 Illinois were a society and a culture of
17 subsocieties and subcultures, joined together by a
18 geographical area and common interest while
19 maintaining specific tribal difference.
20 I learned that the confederation came
21 together and in spite of their diversity were led
22 by a single leader, a Chief. We today are a
23 people defined by a geographic area we call
24 Illinois. We are a society wonderfully blessed by
PAGE 101
1 a diversity of subsocieties and subcultures. We
2 are a community that celebrates things right and
3 condemns things wrong. What better symbol to
4 represent all that we cherish and hope for in this
5 world than a human being that we all treasure and
6 hold as a measure of character and excellence.
7 What better symbol has historical
8 significance and also shares identify with our
9 whole state of Illinois. What better symbol of
10 dignity, loyalty, tradition and inspiration can
11 represent all of mankind in a sinful world that is
12 still populated by people who without exception
13 fall short of perfection.
14 It is to these ideals that I reaffirm my
15 commitment to the Chief. It is to these character
16 qualities that I dedicate this poem, "The Chief"
17 that I humbly share with you.
18 Centuries back a noble spirit was born,
19 honored champion greeting each prairie morn.
20 Inspiring his people a legend bound, excellence
21 was the standard to be found. Faithful to time
22 his purpose would not wane, integrity and honor
23 are his name. Love of his tribe, devotion to his
24 own, loyal to all who call Illinois home. In
PAGE 102
1 victory or the darkest of defeat, never wavering,
2 leadership complete. Inherited tradition, year to
3 year, warrior of great esteem who is held dear.
4 Elect for all time, true and worthy one, kindred
5 spirit for all in years to come." Thank you.
6 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Miss LaPier.
7 MS. ROSALYN LaPIER: Hello, my name is
8 Rosalyn LaPier and I am the vice chairperson for
9 the city of Evanston Human Relations Commission.
10 The city of Evanston's Human Relations
11 Commission is a nine member citizen body appointed
12 by the mayor with the consent of city council.
13 The purpose of the Commission is to foster,
14 encourage and stimulate the improvement of human
15 relations among and between citizens of all races,
16 colors, creeds, national origins and economic and
17 educational levels, so as to provide all
18 individuals with an equal opportunity to grow,
19 participate and share to the best of their ability
20 in our economic, educational, political, social
21 and judicial systems.
22 Our responsibilities include, but are
23 not limited to, administering and enforcing the
24 Fair Housing Ordinance, processing charges of
PAGE 103
1 discrimination and conducting investigations;
2 providing mediation services through our
3 alternative dispute resolution program; addressing
4 and investigating activities such as hate crimes;
5 and facilitating and participating in a variety of
6 activities to include community wide dialogues on
7 race relations, civility, violence prevention,
8 community safety and accessibility.
9 On March 22, 2000, the City of Evanston
10 Human Relations Commission unanimously approved a
11 letter of support in retiring the University of
12 Illinois' symbol, Chief Illiniwek. I will read
13 that letter as well as the names of the
14 Commissioners and the Executive Director at the
15 end of this opening statement.
16 As a citizen of Illinois, I believe in
17 the critical role that public education plays in
18 developing community and cultivating citizenship
19 in a democratic society. Creating community
20 begins in the classroom. For most citizens, being
21 a classmate constitutes their first active
22 participation outside of their family in the
23 ongoing social construction of community.
24 Beginning in kindergarten, we learn the
PAGE 104
1 complex concepts of community, such as learning to
2 respect and have empathy for others, and learning
3 to work with those different from ourselves. In
4 kindergarten, we accomplish this by learning basic
5 skills such as not calling people names, sharing
6 with others and thinking about how we would feel
7 in another person's situation. In these simple
8 ways, a school teaches a child the expectations
9 that the community has of its citizens.
10 These lessons learned and the vision of
11 community that a school exemplifies can influence
12 for life a students's ideas and expectations about
13 fairness, justice, equity and public participation
14 and their role as a citizen.
15 The use of Chief Illiniwek as the symbol
16 of the University of Illinois does much harm in
17 not teaching its students, its citizens the
18 important values of community. We ask a great
19 deal of students when they enter the University.
20 We ask them to leave the familiar environment of
21 home, to encounter peers and adults who may look,
22 act, speak and think differently from themselves
23 and their families and to fit in successfully with
24 these strangers as learners, colleagues and
PAGE 105
1 friends.
2 Yet, when students enter the University
3 of Illinois, they learn that the University
4 officially sanctions and endorses a mascot, a
5 symbol capitalizing on people who are different
6 from themselves. Unfortunately, students learn
7 that one of the first lessons they had learned in
8 kindergarten of not calling people names is
9 acceptable conduct, even when it is offensive to a
10 large number of people.
11 Names define who we are. For Native
12 people who have a tragic history, naming is
13 especially important. Names can define authority,
14 status and value, or they can be used to denigrate
15 and dehumanize. When used in conjunction with
16 mascots or symbols such as Chief Illiniwek, they
17 relegate Native people to anachronistic roles in
18 American cultural milieu; Native voices are not
19 only not heard, they are denied. The inability to
20 hear the voices of others creates an atmosphere
21 where stereotyping, bias and prejudice can develop
22 and occur.
23 But if bias is a perspective learned
24 from many sources and is extremely resistant to
PAGE 106
1 change, what can an institution reasonably be
2 expected to do?
3 First, institutions of higher education
4 must be models of acceptance of diversity and of
5 intolerance of prejudice.
6 Second, institutions of higher education
7 must teach students how to think critically and
8 develop the capacity to thrive in a diverse world.
9 Learning to be a citizen in a diverse community
10 means learning to understand how actions impact
11 the greater community. It means learning how to
12 accept other people's understandings of situations
13 that impact them, even if the same exact situation
14 does not impact others in the same manner.
15 What is the lesson in diversity that the
16 University of Illinois wishes to impart to the
17 state's future leaders?
18 The following letter by the City of
19 Evanston's Human Relation Commission supports the
20 retiring of Chief Illiniwek.
21 "Dear Mr. Engelbrecht, we are writing to
22 support the retiring of the University of
23 Illinois' Chief Illiniwek. The purpose of the
24 City of Evanston's Human Relations Commission is
PAGE 107
1 to foster, encourage and stimulate the improvement
2 of human relations. As such, we resolve that the
3 dishonorable symbol used by the University of
4 Illinois needs to be exchanged for a symbol that
5 will be both representative and inclusive of all
6 groups in Illinois, or at the very least, not
7 demeaning to any.
8 "We believe that an Indian mascot such
9 as Chief Illiniwek is an anachronistic symbol. We
10 believe it to be insulting and stereotyping of
11 actual Native peoples. It is unethical and
12 immoral for a public institution to appropriate
13 another group's cultural history and symbols.
14 "Furthermore, we believe that Indian
15 mascots develop and perpetuate racist perceptions
16 of Native Americans, especially when mascots are
17 used in sports events where students may dress
18 like Indians and misuse subjects and/or symbols
19 such as feathers, headdresses and drums that may
20 have religious and cultural significance to
21 contemporary Native groups.
22 "We believe the University of Illinois
23 does actual harm to Native American citizens in
24 the State of Illinois.
PAGE 108
1 "Thirty years ago, both Dartmouth
2 College and Stanford University provided
3 leadership to other institutions of higher
4 education by changing their Indian logos and
5 mascots. Now is the time for the University of
6 Illinois to provide leadership for the next
7 millennium and transform its image. We urge you
8 to retire the Chief. Sincerely, Hollis Settles,
9 Jr., Chairman, Evanston Human Relations
10 Commission, Nancy Bailey, David Bradford, Michael
11 Cervantaes, Mavis Hagemann, Leo Kirwan, Lloyd
12 McBell, Hallie Rosen and Paula A. Haynes,
13 Executive Director." Thank you.
14 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Brian Silverman.
15 MR. BRIAN SILVERMAN: Good morning, my
16 name is Brian Silverman, I live in Champaign, I am
17 an attorney who practices law here. There are
18 those who say I couldn't say hello in four
19 minutes. I think, Judge, we ought to get one of
20 those for closing article argument. I think it's
21 really neat.
22 North Central Association for
23 Accreditation came here with the mission of
24 accrediting the University and its educational
PAGE 109
1 mission. They deviated from what their role was
2 and went off on a tangent, were given some very
3 one-sided perspectives on the Chief. And instead
4 of just talking about the accreditation of the
5 University, they spent a good portion of their
6 report talking about the Chief and suggesting, and
7 the Board of Trustees took their suggestion, that
8 the University create a dialogue.
9 The problem with the term dialogue is
10 that it implies that there is give and take on
11 both sides. The term dialogue implies that people
12 will be willing to compromise, that if you start
13 out with one group at point A and the other group
14 at point Z, that somewhere along the line you are
15 going to meet at point M.
16 That isn't what is happening in this
17 debate. The debate is one-sided and one side will
18 not compromise. I have been at forums, and I have
19 argued with the anti-Chief people on several
20 occasions, publicly and privately. And every time
21 I have asked them if there is any compromise, any
22 compromise whatsoever that they would agree to
23 that would allow the University to keep the Chief
24 as its honored symbol, the answer is always no.
PAGE 110
1 So there is no compromise, there is no
2 point to a dialogue, because one side is not
3 willing to give at all. The University needs to,
4 in my opinion, put this behind us. We need to get
5 on with the business of teaching. We need to get
6 on with the business of the University. We need
7 to get on with the University of what this is all
8 about.
9 The University has to, the Board of
10 Trustees that is, has to make a decision. They
11 have to base that decision on whatever they want
12 to base it on, base it on the thoughts of alumni,
13 students, faculty, and friends of the University.
14 Quite frankly a lot of people who come to this
15 University and enjoy the Chief never went to
16 school here and are not part of this University
17 other than they are a friend of the University.
18 The Board of Trustees has to once and
19 for all distill all of this information, decide
20 whether the Chief is, as I believe, a revered and
21 honored symbol, or whether as the opponents say
22 the Chief is something that needs to be retired.
23 The Board of Trustees has to make a
24 decision in my opinion, stick to that decision and
PAGE 111
1 just say enough is enough, let's put this behind
2 us and let's get on with things once and for all.
3 I believe that the purpose of a dialogue
4 is not being served here today. Because one of
5 the sides is not willing to change at all. The
6 pro-Chief people have long had a history of
7 willing to say, we will make it more authentic, we
8 will do whatever you think is correct so that the
9 Chief is not demeaning. The opponents of the
10 Chief will have none of it.
11 So I say to you, don't waste any more
12 time, don't waste any more effort and certainly
13 don't waste any more money on a dialogue that is
14 meaningless and useless and is not going to
15 accomplish a thing. Let's get this behind us and
16 get on with the mission of the University. Thank
17 you for your time.
18 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Well, Mr. Silverman,
19 you weren't here earlier today when actually two
20 groups did propose some sort of compromise. So
21 you know, maybe the dialogue might prove fruitful
22 in that regard.
23 MR. SILVERMAN: If they are willing to
24 compromise, I will glad to be proven wrong.
PAGE 112
1 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Vanessa Casillas.
2 MR. R.J. SMITH: Hello, my friends. All
3 of you in this room, my name is R.J. Smith. I am
4 Ojibway and Assiniboine. I was born and raised in
5 Chicago. I am the proud director of the Urban
6 Natives of Chicago Youth Council, this is a group
7 of young Native Americans all who have grown up in
8 Chicago who have faced the hardships of growing up
9 in this city life away from their culture and away
10 from their people, most of them.
11 This group came together about five
12 years ago to promote Native American youth
13 leadership and youth activism, within this five
14 years, they have done many things for their
15 community and in turn, their community has done
16 many things for them. Their community has told
17 them that they have pride in their youth, that
18 their youth are valid people, that they are part
19 of the community and that they count. And this
20 group does many good things for their community,
21 not only the Native community, but non-Native
22 people as well.
23 In this five years, they have set up a
24 Native American dance troop and a drum group, all
PAGE 113
1 on their own doing. This is Native American youth
2 trying to find out their own culture. And they
3 have gone to the right people. They have gone to
4 those people who know about their culture, those
5 who possess that knowledge. They have gone to
6 their elders and their families and they have
7 asked for the permission to perform these dances
8 and to sing these songs. I am not going to take
9 up too much more time, I am going to turn this
10 over to our youth representative, Miss Vanessa
11 Casillas.
12 MS. VANESSA CASILLAS: I am Vanessa
13 Casillas. I am a 19 year old full-time college
14 student attending Truman College in Chicago. I am
15 also the co-president of Urban Natives of Chicago
16 Youth Council. Our purpose in coming here today
17 is to influence the council and judge that the
18 dehumanization placed on Native Americans on the
19 Native American race by the appearance by Chief
20 Illiniwek mascot has no place in society today,
21 let alone a publicly funded university.
22 Mascots playing dress up and want-a-be
23 Indian are sadly sometimes the only representation
24 other cultures see of us. It's stereotypes like
PAGE 114
1 Chief Illiniwek that keep Native Americans from
2 being respected at schools and work, oppressing
3 Native Americans from reaching their full
4 potential.
5 I have always been taught that my
6 community, by my community that adults should be
7 respected for the wisdom they carry. However,
8 what I have witnessed by the supporters of Chief
9 Illiniwek and the actions of the University sicken
10 me. It sickens me that adults who will openly
11 display such horribly racist views with such
12 enthusiasm. Keeping Chief Illiniwek alive says to
13 me that dominant society is actively trying to
14 hang on to past decades when racist attitudes and
15 slurs were commonplace.
16 In the past, racial slurs such as black
17 Sambo and Frito Bandito have been eliminated by
18 efforts of activists. Why society still accepts
19 racial stereotypes and the degradation of the
20 Native American race baffles me. When I see
21 mascots being used to represent a race, it tells
22 me that Native Americans are seen as a nonexistent
23 race, our culture open to be taken up as a hobby.
24 It tells me that our feelings, worries and
PAGE 115
1 cultures are not important and can be disregarded
2 to suit dominant society.
3 Chief Illiniwek does nothing to help our
4 traditions. Keeping Native American traditions
5 alive is the sole responsibility of Native
6 Americans. Chief Illiniwek holds no role in
7 serving our culture. Instead, he causes
8 misconceptions. Like the misconception that the
9 Illiniwek people wore headdresses belonging to a
10 Sioux, which does nothing to the Native American
11 race. What he does accomplish is taking the
12 culture of pride and turning it repulsive.
13 If what the University of Illinois at
14 Urbana-Champaign truly wants to do is honor Native
15 Americans, you can give us the rights of any other
16 race, an equal opportunity to thrive. Get rid of
17 Chief Illiniwek. To honor Native Americans, you
18 can develop a Native American studies problem here
19 at UIUC. Putting your educational resources to
20 work.
21 If you truly want to honor us, then you
22 will listen to us and treat these words with all
23 seriousness, get rid of Chief Illiniwek.
24 MS. BLACKER: My name is Jayne Waupanook
PAGE 116
1 Blacker and I am a full-time student at the
2 University of Illinois at Chicago. I am from the
3 Menominee and Potawatomi tribes.
4 And the only reason I did not even apply
5 to this University is because of the Chief
6 Illiniwek mascot. I did not even consider UIUC as
7 an option. The Chief Illiniwek mascot puts up an
8 unwelcome sign to me. Excuse me. The only way I
9 knew I could succeed at this school is if I hid my
10 Native American identity and that is out of the
11 question. I am proud of the fact that I am a
12 traditional dancer, I know where my grandparents
13 came from, I am proud of that.
14 I have tried to not be offended or hurt
15 by the mockery the Chief Illiniwek mascot makes of
16 my culture and of all Indian nations, but it is
17 impossible. I have tried to not be offended by
18 people who mock my culture in the same exact
19 fashion that the Chief Illiniwek dances. I have
20 tried to not get hurt by the lack of respect that
21 Native American communities get because of Chief
22 Illiniwek.
23 Chief Illiniwek mascot degrades, excuse
24 me, I'm sorry, Native Americans as human beings.
PAGE 117
1 Chief Illiniwek mascot perpetuates ignorance of my
2 Native American culture. The Chief Illiniwek
3 mascot breeds low self-esteem in Native American
4 youth. I do not understand why Native American --
5 why Native Americans are supposed to be honored by
6 some guy dancing at a half-time show. If you can
7 call that dancing.
8 Who exactly is supposed to be honored by
9 a white guy wearing Lakota clothing and labeled as
10 the Chief of the Illini? Honoring a person, a
11 tribe or a whole race of people means respecting
12 them as human beings and respecting their beliefs.
13 People who are advocates of saving the Chief are
14 not respecting the hurt emotions of Native
15 Americans. Respect is not given to Native
16 Americans by the misrepresentation of the Illini
17 tribe. The half-time dance shows only disrespect
18 for Native American culture.
19 To those who say Native Americans should
20 feel honored and respected by the Chief Illiniwek
21 mascot, I say to them, tell my heart to not cry
22 when the Chief Illiniwek mascot mocks my people's
23 culture. Tell my heart to not break when the
24 Chief Illiniwek mascot promotes ignorance of my
PAGE 118
1 people's culture.
2 Native Americans most can hold their
3 tears, but the University of Illinois Illiniwek
4 still hurts right here.
5 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Next speaker.
6 JULIAN B: My name is Julian B, I am
7 from Oklahoma. I am enrolled in the Muskogee
8 tribe. And I just wanted to say that to all --
9 MODERATOR GARIPPO: This is not --
10 VOICE: Let him speak.
11 JULIAN B: What's up? Okay, I will make
12 it really quick. To all the Illini, you guys want
13 to keep that racist, you know, mascot, it's really
14 simple. You know, you guys use in God we trust on
15 your money, if it was us taking your cross, you
16 know, and using it like the tomahawk chop, it
17 would be a different story. Do you know what I am
18 saying? Then put a Native on that panel today.
19 In you want to honor Native people, we can't go
20 anywhere, because this is our home.
21 AUDIENCE: This is not democratic.
22 MODERATOR GARIPPO: The next speaker is
23 Beverly Moser.
24 MS. BEVERLY MOSER: My name is Beverly
PAGE 119
1 Moser, I am a Menominee Indian and I am director
2 of the Institute for Native American Development,
3 support for Native American students at Truman
4 College in Chicago. The INAD program was
5 established in 1979 out of a need to provide a
6 program to recruit and provide academic support
7 services to Native Americans who seek to enroll
8 into higher ed, GED, vocational training programs
9 and continuing education programs at Truman
10 College. Before INAD existed, it was documented
11 that in 1976, only three Native Americans were
12 enrolled, at that time it was called Amundson
13 Mayfair College, now named Harry S. Truman
14 College.
15 I am giving this background to make you
16 aware of a perspective of a community that has
17 worked and struggled to offer programs to recruit
18 and keep Native Americans in school. The dropout
19 rate for Native Americans in the Chicago public
20 school system is around 70 percent or higher.
21 And we are up against institutions of
22 higher education that do not recognize the value
23 of offering a curriculum in Native American
24 history and culture. The lack of inclusion of
PAGE 120
1 Native American history and culture in the public
2 school system and institutions of higher ed is
3 exactly what has contributed in large part to the
4 dropout rate of Native American students, but is
5 also definitely a contributing factor to this
6 continued argument.
7 I always hear throughout these last ten
8 years of this fight against the Chief Illiniwek
9 mascot that, you know, that Chief Illiniwek honors
10 us as a people, honors and respects who we are. I
11 feel it's an empty statement completely, because
12 the image was born out of an era that proudly
13 boldly produced cartoon images of all ethnic
14 groups. It came out of the era that produced the
15 black Sambo image.
16 Since that time most, a lot of those
17 images have since been properly classified as
18 racist. It would never be utilized in promotional
19 or commercial campaigns, yet here we are in a ten-
20 year long argument trying to convince students,
21 alumni and the public at large that this mascot is
22 offensive, racist and should be stopped. Why is
23 there a resistance to this argument? With most
24 other ethnic minorities groups it would have been
PAGE 121
1 a much quicker decision.
2 The idea that Chief Illiniwek honors the
3 Native Americans, again I feel it comes from a
4 lack of knowledge about who we are as Native
5 American people. Again, there are not very many
6 Native American studies programs that are offered
7 in the public school system or institutions of
8 higher ed, at the moment, today we are trying to
9 begin a dialogue at Truman College where we can
10 offer Native American students programs.
11 But it's always been a continuing
12 struggle for us in Chicago, and across America for
13 us to instill the importance of our inclusion in
14 Native American history and culture.
15 I cannot stress enough of the importance
16 of the need to incorporate Native American history
17 and culture into the curriculum or public school
18 institutions of higher education nationwide. I
19 believe that the reason we are still arguing on
20 this issue is because nonIndians and the general
21 public's argument is coming from a position of
22 ignorance. Ignorance of who we are except from,
23 you know, from the small blurbs out of history
24 books and more about the knowledge, I think that
PAGE 122
1 more of the knowledge really comes from the point
2 of reference that come out of the John Ford cowboy
3 western movies that Hollywood produced.
4 If you make the right decision to do
5 away with this mascot, it would be a big step
6 forward in our fight to do away from other sports
7 mascots representing collegiate and professional
8 sports teams. We can also begin a dialogue about
9 developing and offering a curriculum that includes
10 Native American history and culture.
11 And I just as a final statement wanted
12 to say that I am here representing my community
13 and I am also representing my own children and I
14 am hoping that you go in the decision to do away
15 with it to make our lives a little bit easier and
16 our struggles to educate our own in the general
17 public of who we are. Thank you.
18 MS. IMANI BAZZELL: Good morning, my
19 name is Imani Bazell, Carol Spindel, and my son
20 Cofe who is out of school today to get a different
21 kind of education. We are Latino and Asian, black
22 and white, marginal and privileged, lesbian and
23 straight. We are mothers, godmothers and
24 grandmothers. We are Women Against Racism and we
PAGE 123
1 say the Chief has got to go.
2 Last year, the Trademark Trial and
3 Appeal Board, which is composed of three federal
4 judges, canceled the seven trademarks belonging to
5 the Washington Redskins football team. In their
6 ruling, they cited as one of their reasons the
7 fact that there is an infinite array of possible
8 names that can be used for the team. They aren't
9 limited to Redskins. There is no need for them to
10 maintain the legal right to use the term. In
11 other words, the judges said there are plenty of
12 names out there that aren't disparaging. This one
13 is, so pick something else.
14 Women Against Racism felt similarly. It
15 is clear that many people in this community, many
16 students, staff, faculty and alumni are
17 embarrassed by Chief Illiniwek and wish that our
18 teams had a symbol of which they could be proud.
19 This is why we sponsored a contest, A New Mascot
20 for a New Millennium. The community responded
21 enthusiastically and sent 80 suggestions.
22 Illinois Tornadoes, Rolling Thunder, Rattlesnakes,
23 Illini Lightening, the Nighthawks, the
24 Railsplitters, the Storm, the Blue Stems, the
PAGE 124
1 Springtails, the Blades.
2 Each of these entries was accompanied by
3 a rationale and a graphic design. Some
4 contestants added cheers and half-time activities.
5 The winning entry, chosen by a panel of judges,
6 was Illinois Prairie Fire, submitted by three
7 different contestants, including a team of two
8 fourth graders.
9 Prairie Fire was chosen because it leaps
10 high, jumps from spot to spot, is powerful and
11 alive and renews and renourishes the prairie when
12 it passes. The logo maintains the Illinois
13 colors, orange and blue.
14 All of the values that have been
15 symbolized by Chief Illiniwek, bravery, courage,
16 loyalty, school spirit, can be symbolized even
17 better by a new mascot with which everyone can
18 identify.
19 A new mascot that doesn't demean any
20 ethnic group will be welcomed at the Universities
21 at Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin as Chief
22 Illiniwek is not. The professional academic
23 societies that are boycotting our state will once
24 again hold conferences on this campus.
PAGE 125
1 The University of Illinois is the most
2 prestigious institution in our state. And if it
3 would put just a portion of the resources into a
4 new athletic symbol that it has put into promoting
5 and justifying the reverence and the aura that
6 surrounds Chief Illiniwek, the new symbol would
7 surely succeed.
8 We firmly believe that it is possible to
9 create a community based on equality and mutual
10 respect. We know that the greatest obstacle to
11 this is ignorance and miseducation.
12 We know this community and this campus.
13 We ask the University to stop teaching our
14 children, whether they are Native American,
15 African-American, Latino, Asian, American, white
16 or any mixture thereof, that stereotyping another
17 group of people is acceptable as long as you do it
18 dramatically and with good graphics. Just because
19 it's a positive stereotype doesn't make it any
20 less a stereotype. Just like the idea that all
21 Asian kids are math whizzes, or all
22 African-American kids are basketball champions,
23 positive stereotypes keep us from seeing real
24 people.
PAGE 126
1 No professor who taught engineering or
2 geography the way it was taught in 1926 would get
3 tenure at this University, they would be laughed
4 at. But the leadership of this University teaches
5 race relations that were practiced in 1926. The
6 1926 fight song contained the word darkies. And
7 the student theatricals included minstrel shows.
8 The students of 1926 assumed that Indians would
9 soon vanish forever. They also assumed that only
10 white men had the right to leadership positions in
11 government and business.
12 In the south, white women often used to
13 have and I think continue to have, a mammy doll in
14 their kitchen. They claimed to love that little
15 doll. But that doesn't mean they love or respect
16 African-American women. This means that they feel
17 affection for a romanticized past that never
18 existed, a past where slave women loved their
19 masters and stayed with them after emancipation.
20 It's a fantasy. The affection for Chief Illiniwek
21 is just like the affection for Aunt Gemina.
22 It seems that one of the greatest
23 stumbling blocks to those who continue to embrace
24 the Chief as an honored symbol is the confusion
PAGE 127
1 over intent versus consequences. They know
2 themselves to be good people, so how could good
3 people do bad things? The issue is not about
4 intentions, as noble as they may be, but about
5 consequences. The consequences of continuing to
6 represent Native people in this one dimensional
7 way is to perpetuate a stereotype, demean Native
8 people, offend all people of conscience and
9 restrict the campus community and nation from
10 moving together into the 21st century.
11 In the final analysis, it is only the
12 consequences of our actions that make the
13 difference. This boils down to a moral issue, not
14 a popularity contest. If you took a vote today,
15 the Chief would definitely win. But if you took a
16 vote on slavery in the south in 1865, guess where
17 I would be today?
18 Stereotypes and racism cannot be
19 reformed. They must be eliminated. Proposing to
20 reform the Chief is like proposing to reform
21 slavery. Can we keep them if we promise to only
22 beat them on Saturdays? Can we keep them if we
23 promise to let them eat twice a day? The answer
24 to the question of racism and all forms of
PAGE 128
1 oppression will always be no.
2 As community women, we have been here on
3 this issue and will remain. We are long distance
4 runners. And we ain't no ways tired. So when it
5 comes to Chief Illiniwek, it ain't over until it's
6 over. Thank you.
7 MODERATOR GARIPPO: Stephen Kaufman.
8 MR. STEPHEN KAUFMAN: Good morning, Your
9 Honor. My name is Stephen Kaufman. I am a
10 professor in the department of cell biology and I
11 have been on this faculty for 26 years and I
12 represent faculty against the Chief.
13 More than ten years ago Charlene Teters
14 stood alone before crowds of sports fans with a
15 simple sign that read Indians are people, not
16 mascots. Then and now, that truth is self-evident
17 and it is nonnegotiable, sir. At least I hope it
18 is evident to you, because unfortunately, it has
19 not been as clear to our Board of Trustees.
20 Since that time, our elected student
21 government, as well as a special campus wide
22 committee convened by the Chancellor to recommend
23 how to make this campus a better place for people
24 of all cultures to study and work, as well as our
PAGE 129
1 elected faculty and Student Senate, all passed
2 resolutions advocating the retirement of Chief
3 Illiniwek. Mountains of testimony have been
4 given.
5 Sadly, all of these democratic exercises
6 enfranchised by the rules that govern this campus
7 have been disregarded by our administration and
8 Board of Trustees. Moreover, the Board and campus
9 administration refuse to engage in an independent
10 mediated arbitration of this issue. They
11 summarily dismissed without due process grievances
12 charging racial discrimination.
13 They have refused to include this issue
14 in two self studies, one conducted by the National
15 Collegiate Athletic Association and the other
16 conducted by the North Central Association of
17 Colleges and Schools pertaining to academic
18 accreditation. And they have fostered an
19 atmosphere of intimidation in many quarters of
20 this campus.
21 However, recently, 13 independent senior
22 academics from other institutions that comprised
23 the North Central Accreditation team did review
24 this issue and did meet with both pro and
PAGE 130
1 anti-Chief advocates. Their report is an
2 unprecedented condemnation of the institutional
3 integrity of this campus. It severely criticized
4 the University administration for their failure to
5 deal with the Chief issue in a manner consistent
6 with our Statutes, which prohibit invidious
7 discrimination.
8 In other words, they pointed out the
9 contradiction between having a Native American
10 mascot and the educational mission and rules of
11 this University.
12 In response to this condemnation, the
13 Board publicly reiterated its firm commitment to
14 maintaining the mascot and then, quote, reaffirmed
15 its commitment to a dialogue. They reaffirmed
16 their commitment to something they previously
17 refused to discuss. Instead of acting to finally
18 end this form of invidious discrimination, they
19 chose to ask the same old question, hoping that if
20 they controlled the process, they would finally
21 get the answer they sought. And so here we are.
22 Remarkable as it may seem, in response
23 to censure for lack of institutional integrity,
24 the first response of the Board was allegedly to
PAGE 131
1 break the law by violating the Illinois Open
2 Meetings Act. Since then they have continued to
3 defy that law, all meetings, including the ones
4 selecting you, Judge Garippo, were held
5 unannounced and in secret by persons who have
6 publicly declared their strong position and
7 interest in maintaining the Chief.
8 Furthermore, this dialogue process per
9 se clearly violates the Statutes of this
10 University and this is not how we resolve
11 educational issues at this institution. What an
12 astonishing way to confront condemnation of
13 institutional integrity, by breaking the law and
14 violating the statutes of the institution.
15 But here we are, sir. The question at
16 hand is whether this process is anything more than
17 a charade, or a circus to placate the concerns of
18 the North Central Association Accreditation team.
19 Let's have a look at some of the evidence.
20 One, the process to date has been
21 closely managed in secret and has included only
22 those who have publicly declared their pro-Chief
23 position.
24 Secondly, tens of thousands of taxpayer
PAGE 132
1 dollars have been spent by the Board to send out
2 messages directed to specific constituencies who
3 might favor keeping the Chief. This includes
4 advertising and personal letters from Mr.
5 Engelbrecht. The source of the letter, Mr.
6 Engelbrecht, has made his position quite clear.
7 And he invited people who feel as deeply as he
8 does to participate in the dialogue.
9 Moreover, who did not receive this
10 personal invitation from Mr. Engelbrecht is
11 equally important. He did not send it to the
12 Council of Deans, releasing them from the
13 intimidation that they have been under for the
14 past ten years. He did not send it to the
15 University faculty, and he did not send it to
16 Native Americans, either on this campus or
17 anywhere else. Perhaps he isn't interested in
18 knowing how they feel about his honoring them.
19 Thirdly, although tens of thousands of
20 dollars have been used to target audiences the
21 Board wanted to reach, Mr. Engelbrecht, President
22 Stukel and Provost Herman refused to defray the
23 expenses of Native Americans to come and
24 participate in this intake session today. They
PAGE 133
1 denied support to cover the costs of ads and
2 letters to be directed more uniformly. And they
3 denied access to the same mailing lists they used.
4 And fourthly, perhaps the most egregious
5 act by Chancellor Aiken and Mr. Engelbrecht is
6 that they have refused to provide you with the
7 correspondence they have received prior to the
8 initiation of this dialogue. They have set up a
9 dialogue but are withholding essential evidence
10 from you.
11 What is this information? There are
12 mountains of it, including testimony from dozens
13 of individuals and organizations, local as well as
14 from around the world, organizations concerned
15 with human rights, including Amnesty
16 International, the National Organization of Women,
17 the NAACP, the Rainbow Coalition, organizations
18 that represent Native Americans nationally, the
19 Minorities Opportunity Committee of the NCAA and
20 all student organizations on this campus that
21 represent people of color. In essence, from
22 anyone who knows discrimination when they see it.
23 They withhold from you the transcript
24 and audio tape of our Senate proceedings, anti-
PAGE 134
1 discrimination complaints dismissed without due
2 process, statements by various campus departments
3 condemning the use of the Chief, and a host of
4 additional documents.
5 Judge Garippo, I respectfully request,
6 sir, that you advise the Chancellor and Board to
7 forward these documents and an annotated list of
8 them to you without further delay and make that
9 list available to the public. And secondly, that
10 you advise the Board to write the Chancellor, the
11 Provost, the Deans and Directors, inviting their
12 candid input on this issue and guaranteeing them
13 that there will be absolutely no reprisals of any
14 sort should they disagree with the perspective of
15 the Board.
16 Your Honor, there is intimidation at all
17 levels of this campus where this issue is of
18 concern and that is toxic to the mission of this
19 University and it is wrong. And perhaps, sir, you
20 can help end this.
21 Judge Garippo, as a scientist, I must
22 say that with the sole exception of conversations
23 with you, there is no data thus far that this
24 process is anything but a charade. I hope I am
PAGE 135
1 wrong. But it is up to you to convince us
2 otherwise.
3 I hope that in your deliberations you
4 remember what is self-evident, that Native
5 Americans are people, not mascots. And that there
6 cannot be any compromise of that, it is
7 nonnegotiable.
8 In support of the position to retire the
9 Chief, I present you with a resolution signed by
10 793 faculty of this campus. This includes 10 of
11 the 13 prestigious Swanlund chairs, 17 additional
12 named chairs, 11 of 15 Jubilee professors of the
13 College of Arts and Science, 24 department heads
14 and hundreds of plain old faculty like me. Thank
15 you, sir. I will be happy to answer questions.
16 MODERATOR GARIPPO: I have no questions.
17 I just want to assure the audience that the -- I
18 have assurances from the administration that
19 anything I seek and I request from the
20 administration will be furnished to me. As I
21 stated earlier, I have no interest in having my
22 report come out on one side or another. My
23 interest is just to present each side fully,
24 document it in every way that I can. I have
PAGE 136
1 sought Professor Kaufman's input. I have sought
2 Mr. Wakeland's input, Mr. Haney, Miss Ostrovsky,
3 this is only in the first two weeks that I have
4 been named.
5 I will continue to seek the input from
6 all sources, this session today is only a fraction
7 of what I will use as the source of my report.
8 And as I stated earlier today before many of you
9 were here, I invite input from anyone, either
10 through the e-mail, the e-mail address which has
11 been published, to the box office, post office box
12 that has been published. Or you could even send
13 it directly to my office. I will fail in my
14 mission if my report comes out slanted one way or
15 another.
16 Believe me, I will have no opinion,
17 nothing I do, I will have no opinion, nothing I
18 say should be interpreted as having an opinion one
19 way or another on what action the Board shall
20 take. So I just wanted to assure you, and believe
21 me, I will seek your input through the coming
22 weeks and months as I will seek the input of every
23 other person who I see, who I feel can assist me
24 in making this report. We are going to break
PAGE 137
1 now -- we'll have a couple more speeches. Then
2 maybe we can break a little earlier this
3 afternoon. If you will introduce yourself.
4 MR. JOHN MADIGAN: Good afternoon. My
5 name is John Madigan, I am currently the student
6 who portrays Chief Illiniwek. First of all, I
7 want to thank everybody who has come here today.
8 Thank you. Thank you. First I want to thank
9 everybody who has come here today and to express
10 their views. I would ask that everybody who does
11 have different views, please listen to those who
12 have views who may be different from your own,
13 because I know that's what other people are doing
14 as well.
15 I have never and will never argue on
16 keeping any tradition solely for the sake of
17 tradition. It is healthy for traditions to be
18 challenged from time to time, because if they are
19 strong and worthwhile, they will be made stronger
20 in the end. That's what I think we are here to do
21 today. I have been told by various people that
22 Chief Illiniwek attempts to mock and dehumanize
23 Native Americans. It makes me very sad to hear
24 people say this and that they would think that
PAGE 138
1 this is what Chief Illiniwek is meant to do.
2 A lot has changed since Chief
3 Illiniwek's inception in 1926, but one thing that
4 hasn't changed is its original intent and purpose.
5 Lester Leutwiler spoke of his first performance,
6 "The performance took place at a time when Native
7 Americans in the west were installed on
8 reservations and struggling for survival. Many in
9 the areas like Champaign-Urbana had only heard
10 stories about the savage, animal-like
11 characteristics of Indians. I simply wanted to
12 prove that there was another side to the culture
13 that most people were unaware of; the
14 inspirational side, the beautiful side, the
15 meaningful side." Those reasons which Leutwiler
16 said reflects what is happening today.
17 Many opponents of Chief Illiniwek also
18 say that they have a problem with the authenticity
19 of Chief Illiniwek. Well, what exactly does
20 authenticity mean? The University of Illinois
21 created Chief Illiniwek as an expression, as an
22 art of the Native American heritage that was part
23 of the state, part of the area and the name of the
24 state even. It's an expression in the spirit and
PAGE 139
1 the heritage of the University of Illinois and the
2 Native Americans who walked these lands before us.
3 It matters not whether the regalia was given to us
4 by the Sioux, by the Potawatomi, it is the spirit
5 with which it is conducted.
6 It was never meant to authentically
7 replicate any type of Native American dancing. It
8 is a celebratory dance. It is based on fancy
9 dancing.
10 Fancy dancing is very popular in Native
11 American circles today. It is largely designed to
12 show the outside world the beauty of Native
13 American dance while not limiting the special
14 religious ceremonies. Today I have seen fancy
15 dancing competitions held at pow-wows, where prize
16 money is given to the best competitors. These
17 best competitors often perform such extravagant
18 and fancy moves like back flips and somersaults.
19 It is designed to travel, or Native
20 American troops have been designed to travel all
21 over the nation to show people this beauty of
22 Native American dance and this side of their
23 culture, never ever to mock or degrade these
24 people. This is the spirit with which Chief
PAGE 140
1 Illiniwek conducts himself.
2 I have been told about a hostile
3 learning environment and that just makes me sad,
4 and furthermore, it's just simply not true,
5 because in 1994, the US Department of Civil Rights
6 did a thorough investigation of the University of
7 Illinois and ruled that there was no hostile
8 learning environment created by the presence of
9 Chief Illiniwek. So hopefully we can all together
10 look past that.
11 I must say that I am very excited about
12 the energy and the passion that I see from all
13 groups of people here today. But once again, I am
14 even more excited because for once, since the ten-
15 year struggle to remove Chief Illiniwek began, I
16 have seen both sides express views to work for a
17 compromise. This is something that has not
18 existed in the past. I, myself, have been trying
19 to work to establish scholarships for Native
20 Americans, working with University officials. I
21 see all this passion and energy that you people
22 are creating as well. Why can't we work together
23 instead of fighting. I challenge you to take this
24 community to use Chief Illiniwek to further this
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1 cause. Thank you for your time.
2 MODERATOR GARIPPO: This will be the
3 last speaker before we break for lunch.
4 MS. PAULA OSTROVSKY: My name is Paula
5 Ostrovsky. I am here as a public relations
6 officer and press officer for the National
7 Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media and also a
8 member of Alumni Against Racist Mascots. That
9 proves that not all alumni are for Chief
10 Illiniwek.
11 Before I go on, I would like to sort of
12 respond to Mr. Madigan's comments by inviting
13 everybody to go see a real pow-wow on how real
14 Native Americans dance and to really say that what
15 he said is not true. There is a pow-wow at
16 Madison State Park on June 3 and 4 it's near
17 Starved Rock. If you need more information we
18 have people outside who can give it to you.
19 Before I go on to my prepared comments,
20 I wanted to express my concern, what I see here is
21 that everybody who is speaking for Chief Illiniwek
22 seems to be Caucasian. And people of color and
23 Indian people are the ones objecting. I likewise
24 am objecting to the use of sacred Native American
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1 elements in this fashion.
2 I think the Board and the University
3 have a huge racial problem here. And it's a big
4 racial divide, it's a ticking bomb and if Chief
5 Illiniwek is not done away with, it might explode.
6 And I hope this is addressed soon.
7 A statement by Bill Murphy on
8 yesterday's Daily Illini affirmed the common
9 ground for everybody involved in this issue is
10 valuing Native Americans and Native American
11 culture. It is clear that those opposed to the
12 University's Indian symbol, logo and name are
13 Native Americans.
14 Every major national organization
15 representing Native Americans in this country has
16 formally asked sports teams and educational
17 institutions to stop using Native culture and
18 images for entertainment and profit. Clearly
19 indicating that this practice is not perceived as
20 an honor but a blatant disrespect.
21 The National Congress of American
22 Indians, this is the oldest and largest
23 organization representing Native peoples in this
24 country, have condemned the University
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1 specifically in the strongest possible terms for
2 this practice. Today we have representatives from
3 Native organizations throughout the country and