Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

CHAMPAIGN, IL - An appointment to the Center for Advanced Study is considered the highest academic honor the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign can bestow on its faculty. These professors are often viewed as the best of the best .

In a recent article in The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Jeanie Taylor, deputy director of the center, said, "They're responsible for being, in a way, a consulting body for the campus leaders." The advice of the center's members is often solicited by administrators, including the Chancellor and the Provost.

Although the members of the Center are not always of a like mind, the overwhelming majority (13 of 19) support the retirement of Chief Illiniwek. This prestigious group of academic leaders join with 12 of the 14 UIUC Swanlund Chairs and 11 of 15 Jubilee Professors of the College of Liberal Arts and Science in advising

The University Administration and Board of Trustees retire Chief Illiniwek and discontinue licensing Native American Indian symbols as representations of the University

In doing so, these academic leaders join with more than 800 of their colleagues on the UIUC faculty, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Organization for Women , the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and the Media, the American Indian Movement, the National Congress of American Indians, the American Indian Arbitration Institute, Amnesty International, the NAACP, the National Rainbow Coalition, the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, organizations that represent every Native American nation in the US, the National Association of Social Workers, all student organizations on the UIUC campus that represent people of color, the UIUC Departments of History, Anthropology, Sociology and English, the UIUC Counseling Center, the UIUC Faculty Student Senate, the UIUC Chancellor's Committee on Inclusivity, and dozens more local and national organizations.

Perhaps it is time to listen. Perhaps it is time to act.

Send e-mail to: e-mail: dialogue@uillinois.edu or send postal mail to: Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek, P.O. Box 5052, Champaign, IL 61825.