CHICAGO — Just a week after top campus faculty members said there’s no need to revisit the 2007 decision regarding Chief Illiniwek, a group is asking the Board of Trustees to engage in conversations about the former University symbol.

The Council of Chiefs presented a proposal before the board, asking for limited performances of the Chief with the consent from the Peoria tribe of Oklahoma. The proposal was informal — it was presented during the public comment session at the trustees’ meeting late Wednesday afternoon.

Rick Legue, who served as the Chief from 1966-67, spoke on behalf of the council. He asked the board to consider participating in discussions with the organization and the Peoria tribe.

“Picture a Native American, a Peoria student, in Peoria regalia, making a walk-on appearance during Three-In-One, all by design of and in collaboration with the Peoria tribe,” Legue told the trustees.

The council is proposing about two appearances each year during the Three-In-One halftime performance. These appearances would not include any dance movements – just a “stationary presence.”

Legue’s speech was immediately followed by Urbana-Champaign Senate Executive Committee member Joyce Tolliver’s, in which she urged the board to consider the consequences of allowing such a performance.

“Bringing back the Chief, even if it (were) once or twice a year, would mean countless editorials, protests, speeches in front of the campus senates, on the Quad and right here in front of the board,” Tolliver said. “It would mean accusations of racism or racial insensitivity.”

The SEC last week passed a resolution that reaffirmed the senate’s previous stance that the Chief is an inappropriate symbol for the University. But Legue said Wednesday that his group is not seeking a vote to make the Chief the official symbol.

The proposal also asks for a “single-day, theme-based” programing to fund raise for the Peoria tribe and University programming. In addition, the idea calls for a re-evaluation among all parties after a two-year period.

A student resolution supported the Chief by nearly a 4-to-1 margin, but Chancellor Wise has said she does not believe revisiting the issue. Wise, who met with Peoria leaders earlier this year, was not at Wednesday’s meeting.

University President Robert Easter said after the meeting that Wise and Urbana campus has responsibility to bring forward such a resolution, if they wish to. He said he knew there was discussion about bringing a proposal to the board, but he hadn’t heard it in detail until Wednesday.

Darshan can be reached at [email protected] and @drshnpatel.