Retiring Chief Illiniwek: An unavoidable decision

Editor's note: Dr. Estabrook wrote the following DI op-ed column after chairing the first committee to recommend retiring Chief Illiniwek.

Reprinted from The Daily Illini, Friday, October 28, 1994.

Shortly after completing the first draft of the report On Building a More Inclusive Community, I was asked, "What have you learned?" I have learned how much pain our students feel because of the prejudice they encounter. Our committee could not ignore that pain as we shaped our recommendations to this campus, including the recommendations to retire Chief Illiniwek.

Building a more inclusive UIUC community will take much, much more than retiring Chief Illiniwek, for the Native American Indian community is not the only one feeling the pains of exclusion. A young Jewish woman told of her experiences of anti-Semitism. Asian American students report their struggles to have their special needs recognized, feeling that they are penalized for academic success. A white student spoke of her resentment that minority students receive special treatment. An African American student talks of the resentment that people falsely assume he comes from a poor background and had weak standardized test scores. At campus meetings on cultural centers, students who seek to build a more integrated community beg people representing different racial and ethnic minority groups to explain why members of these groups want a place "of their own."

For selfish reasons I would have preferred that our committee had avoided making a recommendation about the Chief. The politics were predictable, the recommendation was bound to detract from other important suggestions, and the likelihood of change appears small. After listening to the stories of Native American Indian students and staff, we had no other choice.

Stop for a minute. When you think about Indians, what are the images that come to mind? Is your first thought of someone engaged in the activities of everyday life--teaching, learning, having friends and family? Or is it of a "proud warrior" or Tonto or someone on a reservation weaving rugs or drinking? Few of us are able to overcome our stereotypes of Native American people. Their population is small and, because of the historic politics of the U.S. government, concentrated in certain geographic areas. Few of us have the opportunity to share the activities of everyday life with Indian people. We are thus particularly vulnerable to the stereotypes perpetuated by Chief Illiniwek.

Letters and telephone calls from people who oppose the report's recommendations about Chief Illiniwek often comment on the "dignified" tradition embodied in this symbol. While the use of an Indian in connection with University events began in 1926, there are many periods of University history in which the symbol was dormant. Despite recent University efforts to protect the dignity of the role of Chief Illiniwek, we find continuing embarrassing examples of ways the symbol has been used in any but dignified ways.

The Committee on Building a More Inclusive Community listened to the stories of Native American Indians on this campus. They told us of the fear one had for the safety of his son at a Homecoming parade. They expressed their hurt when non-Indians appropriate Indian dance, a spiritual and religious form of expression in Indian culture. They reported their outrage at non-Indians wearing a headdress, something none of them who was not actually a chief would dare to do.

These stories need to be told. It is not only Indians who object to Chief Illiniwek. Many others--from diverse racial and ethnic groups--have said that they object to and feel demeaned by his use. I hope that people who are angry over our committee's recommendation, who believe we are attempting to undermine a valuable tradition at the University, will not stay angry if they can understand how damaging that tradition is to making our University community one in which all members feel and are respected. Our committee discovered that continued use of the Chief is undermining other important University goals, particularly that of recruiting and retaining minorities and treating all members of the community with dignity.

Our committee could find no compelling reason to justify retaining Chief Illiniwek. The temporary harm to the University community caused by contention surrounding our recommendation is superficial when compared to the long-term harm his use has and may cause. We see no way the University can become truly inclusive without retiring this appropriated symbol.

The challenge we face is how to build a community that is inclusive for everyone. Chief Illiniwek is only one barrier to doing so. Other committee recommendations relate to such problems as segregation in certified housing (which includes sororities and fraternities), misunderstandings about the admissions process and an inadequate formal grievance procedure for those who experience discrimination. These are equally important to achieving inclusiveness. The committee welcomes comments and suggestions about any part of its report.

Forum submitted by Leigh Estabrook, dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and chairperson of the Planning Committee on Building a More Inclusive Community. The committee submitted its report as part of the campus' "Academic Plan for the Year 2000." Copies of its report are available by contacting the Office of the Chancellor at 601 E. John St., Champaign, or through e-mail to carswellatswan.admin.uiuc.edu. Copies are also available on Gopher on the Internet.

Reprinted with permission from The Daily Illini, Friday, October 28, 1994.
© 1994 Illini Media Company, all rights reserved.

Dr. Estabrook is a Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois.