The Registered Student Organization Campus Spirit Revival and the Native American Indigenous Student Organization hosted a forum at Gregory Hall on Tuesday concerning whether Chief Illiniwek, the University’s 80-year-old tradition, should be reinstated.
Tayana Panova, NAISO member and junior in LAS, said Campus Spirit Revival hosted a contest to choose a new mascot, bringing forth protests from both students and alumni still hoping for the Chief’s return. Among those who voted in the Spring 2013 referendum, support for Chief Illiniwek as the official symbol of the University was overwhelming with 9,003 votes in favor and more than 2,517 against.
Xochitl Sandoval, president of Campus Spirit Revival and junior in LAS, began the forum by explaining some of the group’s reasons why they believe Chief Illiniwek is degrading to Native American culture.
“Today society has stereotyped and romanticized images of Native people,” Sandoval said. “There has become a sexual image of Native Americans. Today, Hollywood has created a stereotypical image of what Native people are.”
After a brief history of Native culture was given, guests were open to discuss their personal opinions. The majority of the room was in favor of eliminating the Chief, while others proposed requiring educational courses.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Robert Heath, University alumnus, said the Chief could be eliminated because students are unaware of its history.
“There’s no history class or education behind it. It wouldn’t bother me if we were the Fighting Illini in the mind and body, but everyone knows the Chief, but no one knows the history or what it stands for,” he said.
Though a majority of those present were ready to move past the Chief, Ivan Dozier, junior in ACES, said the Chief is an important figure at the University.
“This has been embedded in the community,” Dozier said. “If it’s here, we should use it to our advantage. The intentions of the mascot do have merit. The intentions were never evil.”
The forum closed with debating future ideas for moving forward.
“There should be mandatory classes we take as freshmen about the history of Illinois,” Dozier said. “The class should have nothing to do with the Chief, just students becoming educated about those that came before us and the University’s history.”
Tayana said the forum was necessary because discussion had previously only taken place over social media.
“We’re all passionate about this issue so we needed to come together and share our emotions,” Panova said. “We needed to come to an understanding of what the other side is thinking.”
Yele can be reached at [email protected].
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article stated that Xochitl Sandoval was the president of NAISO. Sandoval is the president of Campus Spirit Revival, not NAISO. The Daily Illini regrets the error.
