The following transcript is from the 4/14/00 Chief Illiniwek dialogue "intake session". It is an unedited excerpt from the original U.I. document.

The city of Evanston's Human Relations Commission is a nine member citizen body appointed by the mayor with the consent of city council. The purpose of the Commission is to foster, encourage and stimulate the improvement of human relations among and between citizens of all races, colors, creeds, national origins and economic and educational levels, so as to provide all individuals with an equal opportunity to grow, participate and share to the best of their ability in our economic, educational, political, social and judicial systems.

Our responsibilities include, but are not limited to, administering and enforcing the Fair Housing Ordinance, processing charges of discrimination and conducting investigations; providing mediation services through our alternative dispute resolution program; addressing and investigating activities such as hate crimes; and facilitating and participating in a variety of activities to include community wide dialogues on race relations, civility, violence prevention, community safety and accessibility.

On March 22, 2000, the City of Evanston Human Relations Commission unanimously approved a letter of support in retiring the University of Illinois' symbol, Chief Illiniwek. I will read that letter as well as the names of the Commissioners and the Executive Director at the end of this opening statement.

As a citizen of Illinois, I believe in the critical role that public education plays in developing community and cultivating citizenship in a democratic society. Creating community begins in the classroom. For most citizens, being a classmate constitutes their first active participation outside of their family in the ongoing social construction of community.

Beginning in kindergarten, we learn the complex concepts of community, such as learning to respect and have empathy for others, and learning to work with those different from ourselves. In kindergarten, we accomplish this by learning basic skills such as not calling people names, sharing with others and thinking about how we would feel in another person's situation. In these simple ways, a school teaches a child the expectations that the community has of its citizens.

These lessons learned and the vision of community that a school exemplifies can influence for life a students's ideas and expectations about fairness, justice, equity and public participation and their role as a citizen.

The use of Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of the University of Illinois does much harm in not teaching its students, its citizens the important values of community. We ask a great deal of students when they enter the University. We ask them to leave the familiar environment of home, to encounter peers and adults who may look, act, speak and think differently from themselves and their families and to fit in successfully with these strangers as learners, colleagues and friends.

Yet, when students enter the University of Illinois, they learn that the University officially sanctions and endorses a mascot, a symbol capitalizing on people who are different from themselves. Unfortunately, students learn that one of the first lessons they had learned in kindergarten of not calling people names is acceptable conduct, even when it is offensive to a large number of people.

Names define who we are. For Native people who have a tragic history, naming is especially important. Names can define authority, status and value, or they can be used to denigrate and dehumanize. When used in conjunction with mascots or symbols such as Chief Illiniwek, they relegate Native people to anachronistic roles in American cultural milieu; Native voices are not only not heard, they are denied. The inability to hear the voices of others creates an atmosphere where stereotyping, bias and prejudice can develop and occur.

But if bias is a perspective learned from many sources and is extremely resistant to change, what can an institution reasonably be expected to do?

First, institutions of higher education must be models of acceptance of diversity and of intolerance of prejudice.

Second, institutions of higher education must teach students how to think critically and develop the capacity to thrive in a diverse world. Learning to be a citizen in a diverse community means learning to understand how actions impact the greater community. It means learning how to accept other people's understandings of situations that impact them, even if the same exact situation does not impact others in the same manner.

What is the lesson in diversity that the University of Illinois wishes to impart to the state's future leaders?

The following letter by the City of Evanston's Human Relation Commission supports the retiring of Chief Illiniwek.

"Dear Mr. Engelbrecht, we are writing to support the retiring of the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek. The purpose of the City of Evanston's Human Relations Commission is to foster, encourage and stimulate the improvement of human relations. As such, we resolve that the dishonorable symbol used by the University of Illinois needs to be exchanged for a symbol that will be both representative and inclusive of all groups in Illinois, or at the very least, not demeaning to any.

"We believe that an Indian mascot such as Chief Illiniwek is an anachronistic symbol. We believe it to be insulting and stereotyping of actual Native peoples. It is unethical and immoral for a public institution to appropriate another group's cultural history and symbols.

"Furthermore, we believe that Indian mascots develop and perpetuate racist perceptions of Native Americans, especially when mascots are used in sports events where students may dress like Indians and misuse subjects and/or symbols such as feathers, headdresses and drums that may have religious and cultural significance to contemporary Native groups.

"We believe the University of Illinois does actual harm to Native American citizens in the State of Illinois.

"Thirty years ago, both Dartmouth College and Stanford University provided leadership to other institutions of higher education by changing their Indian logos and mascots. Now is the time for the University of Illinois to provide leadership for the next millennium and transform its image. We urge you to retire the Chief. Sincerely, Hollis Settles, Jr., Chairman, Evanston Human Relations Commission, Nancy Bailey, David Bradford, Michael Cervantaes, Mavis Hagemann, Leo Kirwan, Lloyd McBell, Hallie Rosen and Paula A. Haynes, Executive Director." Thank you.

MODERATOR GARIPPO: Brian Silverman.

See the U.I. Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek page for more transcripts and information.