Years after Chief Illiniwek was retired as the school’s official mascot, the University has reached an agreement with the Honor the Chief Society on how the Chief can be used by their organization. 

In fact, Chancellor Phyllis Wise, who sat down with The Daily Illini Editorial Board Wednesday for an interview, hailed the agreement as a “good clarification” in terms of what the Society can and cannot do.

The society will not be allowed to do the following: use the term “Chief Illiniwek,” use the Chief logo, refer to people as Chief Illiniwek or refer to people as the next Chief Illiniwek.The society must also refrain from filling out additional trademark applications regarding Chief Illiniwek. 

The recent settlement ended a long and laborious battle over the Chief Illiniwek trademark and its uses by other student and alumni groups. 

The debate over the Chief stems back to 2005 when the NCAA instituted a ban on schools using “hostile and abusive” Native-American nicknames and in 2007 when the University of Illinois Board of Trustees announced that the Chief would no longer be a University symbol.

The University now can’t object to Chief Illiniwek performances from the Society. But that doesn’t mean that the University is loosening its stance. Campus officials are still making sure they are careful about not approving, endorsing or sponsoring events that honor the Chief or that advocate the reinstatement of the Chief as the University’s official mascot.

Both sides gained something here: The Honor the Chief Society has agreed to drop its original application for the trademark in 2009. But, the society can continue to use Chief Illiniwek as part of its full name — most notably for performances, also allowed in the agreement, that pay tribute to the dance.

In the end, this agreement not only set direct guidelines when using “Chief” or “Chief Illiniwek,” but it furthers the University’s agenda to distance itself from any performances or events surrounding the support of Chief Illiniwek. 

Even after the Board of Trustees voted to retire the Chief as the mascot more than six years ago, performances are still often associated with the Illini athletic program and the University in general.

So what now?

In the culture we live in, the issue of the Chief as a mascot won’t just disappear after a settlement. This resolved a legal issue but didn’t necessarily address the culture of the Chief that still exists on campus. 

We don’t expect the University to change its stance after the latest development or in the near future, either.

Merely, the agreement perpetuates the issue whether portraying certain native dances are considered as tributes or offensive. University officials could have continued the fight and even extended its reach — tried to gain control over all activity over the Chief. But that would have left out the most important success from the discussion: a mutual agreement.

On the other hand, after five years, it didn’t seem like the Honor the Chief Society was going to step off the gas pedal and back down to the University’s demands.

A settlement of this nature was the right solution. Sure, the University and the Honor the Chief Society lost something here, but each has secured some rights, too.