woo hoo!

I am so pleased to announce that at long last, Chief Illiniwek is being retired.

I would say more, but I need to return to the New Materialisms conference on campus: Jane Bennett and Rey Chow are talking as I type! And Brenda Farnell, who has been a key campus leader on the issue of the Chief is presenting later on.

Materiality indeed!

Comments

[anne]

Hey! Bring that conference up here! I need it!

[Lance]

Finally! Will you post in a few days on the local reaction? When I was in CU, I could never fathom how rabidly pro-racist-mascot so many otherwise normal, rational-seeming Illinoisans were.

[dhawhee]

L: you bet.

And Anne: It's so awesome!

Also a clarification: it's the half-time performance that's being retired. But still. A big deal. Brenda Farnell told me at the conference that there are lots of ideas circulating about how to keep the Chief alive without the performance. I suggested that he sell popcorn or sth.

[Z]

According to the stories I've read today, UIUC must stop using the Chief's likeness, name, and performance if it wants to host NCAA postseason events. The press release says that "Continued removal from the list is conditioned upon the university’s future non-use of ‘Chief Illiniwek’ and the related Native American imagery in connection with university athletics." I think that means basically no Chief in any form at games.

Of course, people can still dress up as "Indians," whoop it up, and leap about all they want in their spare time, and apparently some of the Support-the-Chiefers are planning to do so on game days. I'm sure they will. For a year or two. Then they'll get tired and bored, people and the media will start ignoring them, and that will be the end of it. Just like at every other school that retired their Native American mascots with no ill effects. At least, that's my prediction.

But what will the new mascot be? A giant ear of sweet corn? A cow with a window in its side? A 300-pound man in sweatpants and an "OPH" t-shirt, carrying an outsized pancake in one hand and a frying pan of sizzling bacon in the other? If any members of the BoT are reading, feel free to use any of those, gratis.

(Man I miss the OPH.)

[ron greene]

For honest Labor and for Learning we stand.

[dhawhee]

Thanks for the careful reading Z. I guess it's the games thing that Brenda is worried about.

And according to the FAQ document http://www.uillinois.edu/chief/FAQ.pdf, the Fighting Illini will remain the team mascot. Maybe that just means they'll place the emphasis on fighting and the half-time shows will be an out-of-control undergrad beating up someone.

Two more things to note about the FAQs. One is that Board of Trustees is abbreviated to BOT (I think this is funny.)

John's favorite is the FAQ that (more or less) reads:

Q: Was this legal?
A: Yes.

[katka]

For Collegiality and Carbohydrates We Stand.

[Z]

My two favorite things about the FAQ:

1) They keep referring to it as "the consensus process" as though, Lewis Carroll-like, what they tell us three times is true.

2) The fact that there is an "assistant Chief" and that this assistant Chief dances at the women's basketball games. I had no idea. I love the phrase "assistant Chief," its combination of "heritage" with bureaucratic organizational hierarchy is brilliant. Although since the assistant Chief dances at women's games, maybe they should have had "Lady Chief" or "Squaw" instead? Sadly, all these questions are now moot and we will never learn the answers.

Man, there's going to be some angry, pitchfork-wielding people over at that diner on Kirby.

[Z]

PS. I loved the FAQ question that John points to as well. So Bush-like. My lawyer says it's legal so, don't worry, it's all completely legal.

[Achter]

Z--the ear of sweet corn is in use at my alma mater--go Concordia Cobbers!

Witness "Kernel"--but don't call him "sweet" corn:

http://www.gocobbers.com/

[Z]

Spectacular.

Ok, the ear of corn is out. But the 300-pound pancake-and-bacon eater is still possible.

[k8]

Finally! It is almost unbelievable how long this went on. SO happy I've attended institutions with animal mascots - Panthers (Hanover), Mastadons (IPFW), and Badgers (Wisconsin). But regardless of the mascot, the degree to which people identify with these symbols is staggaring. As excited as I sometimes get about 'my teams', I've never felt this deep allegience with the symbols of each team. I don't think that I really understand it. However, I suspect that this extreme identification is part of the reason that some people have trouble seeing the "chief" as racist. To call it racist would mean admitting that at least some part of themselves is racist too.

[dhawhee]

k8: definitely. I think I've blogged about it here before, but there was a facebook club that actually promised to become racist if the chief were retired--complete with specific threats against particular students and everything.