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Garripo Report Falls Short Response of the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and the Media to the report of Louis B. Garippo to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, The Chief Illiniwek Dialogue: Intent and Tradition vs. Reaction and History.

The Garippo Report on The Chief Illiniwek Dialogue is sorely disappointing. It seriously falls short of being a thorough, objective and accurate compilation of the positions and arguments. Aside from factual errors, the errors of omission and the lack of a balanced sense of proportion are glaring.

The choices of what was excluded vs. included are of serious concern. The positions of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the NAACP, and the UIUC Counseling Center were completely omitted from the discussion. An entire letter from one pro-chief faculty member in History is included whereas the statements condemning the use of Native Americans as sports mascots from his department, from Kevin Gover, Senator Paul Simon, the heads of national churches and national human rights organizations, all were excluded. The fact that there has been no significant change in gift giving at any institution of higher education that has retired its mascot was also omitted.

The attempt to discuss the issue of racism as personified in the use of American Indians as sports mascots is sorely lacking substance. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP, Amnesty International, The Rainbow Coalition, and others have weighed in on this, but have been disregarded in this report.

Vernon Bellecourt, President of NCRSM commented today, "The recent school board decision at Niles West High School is an example of the difference between an educational institution with leadership at the top and one which lacks leadership. It must be stunning to the citizens of Illinois that it’s flagship educational institution clings so desperately to a racially insensitive environment!"

Two further omissions are egregious. [1] A thorough and factual coverage of the position of Native American tribes and organizations was not included. The voices of Indians are largely absent. The position and solution that was presented and endorsed by the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and the Media, AIM, and the American Indian Arbitration Institute also were omitted. [2] The failure to present the Chief and Fighting Illini as educational issues of the UIUC campus, and the lack of mention of the impact of this controversy on the campus and community are serious deficiencies in the report. Who says it's an educational issue? The North Central Association, the Chancellor's Committee on Inclusivity, and UIUC departments, faculty, and Senate do, as do several academic societies. Who says it has a serious effect on campus atmosphere? The UIUC Counseling Center does. The University's Self Study of it's athletic programs says it does, and, that it impacts recruitment of student athletes. Testimony that this form of discrimination keeps other students from seeking to enroll at UIUC was presented, but excluded from the report. Faculty and staff also related to the ‘dialogue’ the intimidation and censorship that this issue has provoked in their workplace, and this too was not included.

The data presented in the report are also biased. For example, the numbers of faculty stated does not include the approximate 800 faculty who signed a petition that was submitted as part of the 'dialogue' process. Likewise the numbers of alumni and student responses are very small percentages of the total numbers invited by the Board to respond. In contrast, literally millions of people are represented by the 176 national and 42 local organizations listed that oppose the use of race-based mascots.

In short, the report does not provided a useful, thorough and accurate synthesis of the arguments. As such, this report does not contribute to, but undermines progress.