Three things gave me the beginning-of-the-semester wake-up call. The 2 ½ hour drive down here. The mountain of last-semester books on my bed that I forgot to sell back (sorry, wallet). And the ISS mass email that talked about the Campus Spirit Revival movement.

The pro-Chief/no-Chief debate has been an issue since I came on campus, even though I was a freshman a couple of years after the University removed the Chief. In the past year, I have heard less and less about the issue on campus, like the kind-of-talked-about elephant in the room that’s been shrinking.

But with Campus Spirit Revival, and their symbol/mascot contest that’s coming up, more students are speaking out. My Facebook feed is blowing up with different statuses, comments and pages on the matter. And this time, the debate goes beyond whether we should bring back the Chief. There’s the question of we even need a mascot (or symbol) or not.

As someone who went through an indifferent, “mascots are stupid,” phase for my freshman and sophomore year, I get why some students are on the “no-mascot” side of things. As of right now, we are not desperately suffering without one. We didn’t end up doing any worse in football because we lost a mascot, and we’re probably not going to get any better by gaining another one. And I agree that there should be an option to vote for no mascot. It’s a fair right for anyone to choose.

But I don’t see any harm in getting a new mascot. In fact, not having one makes me feel like our campus is missing something. No so much like Destiny’s Child without Beyonce, but like a present without the red bow on top. We need a mascot, or a symbol, something that ties us together and makes us proud to go to this school besides our high-ranking academic status, diversity and never-ending wealth of outside-class opportunities. As silly as this may sound, things like traditions, mascots and symbols draw students together. In a world where we are all different, it’s something that makes us common students.

Now, the idea of having the Chief as a symbol is gone. Not gone in the sense that there aren’t T-shirts or certain store windows, or it’s not the hearts of wistful alumni. But gone, as in the University isn’t going to reinstate the Chief as the mascot. The University sees that the Chief, and everything it stands for, offends members of the community, and it’s been six years without one mention of wavering back on the decision. Anything that makes even fraction of a University population feel like their culture is disrespected shouldn’t be kept around. Case closed.

But just because we lost a mascot doesn’t mean that we need to give up. There shouldn’t be any bashing of the Campus Revival Committee, any more than there should be bashing for people who feel uncomfortable with the Chief around. The committee is not the enemy, they do not have any weird, hidden agenda, and they are not out to start a war against those who are pro-Chief. They are just looking at a situation (no mascot) and making the best of it by trying to unite our campus. 

Instead, let’s take this moment to reinvent ourselves. Let’s get some great artist to step up and create something that makes our school look as good as we are. Let’s look at the selection, be open to some change and vote. And if there is a majority of votes for one design, let’s get the Illinois Student Senate to take this one step further and use its power as student government and pass a resolution.

This isn’t going to be easy. It may be easier to continue on with no mascot, and I may be in the small, idealistic, major-school-spirited minority who thinks we need a school symbol. But at a time where we have temporarily lost another symbol of Illini-ness (come back soon, Ms. Alma!), I don’t think it would be a bad idea to gain something that we can all rally around and ban together.

We can’t dwell in the past of what was. But let’s see if we can look to the future and create something else.

Tolu is a senior in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].