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The U.S. Department of Justice offer to mediate the Mascot Issue was rejected by U of I Trustees.

The United States Department of Justice recently revealed that the University of Illinois refused its offer to hear and mediate the Chief Illiniwek controversy that has been a focus of dispute on the Urbana-Champaign campus for the past twelve years. In response to the condemnation of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools of the University's lack of institutional integrity in dealing with the issue of its race based mascot, the University Board of Trustees reaffirmed its support for Chief Illiniwek and simultaneously announced it would hold a 'dialogue' to get popular input.

It was at that time, Kenith Bergeron of the Department of Justice Community Relations Services, Region 5, Chicago, offered their services to the University. "The function of our office is to help resolve issues of race, color and national origin as mandated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and to help prevent the escalation of racial and ethnic tension, incidents, or civil disorder. The Chief controversy on the Urbana campus appeared to us to clearly fall within our jurisdiction and so we offered our services to the University," said Bergeron.

"We believe that the neutrality of our office would allow opposing parties to come together on this issue," explained Bergeron. "The Department of Justice services are provided free, without cost."

The Justice Department, without cost to the University, would have provided a process, a forum, and if need be, independent mediation, where all relevant parties would have been heard. This offer was refused by the University's Trustees, who subsequently identified and contracted with former Judge Louis Garippo to oversee their 'dialogue' process. It was obvious that the University wanted to maintain tight control of this process.

"We decided to let their dialogue run its course while continuing to monitor the process," said Bergeron.

When the Garippo report came out this Fall, it was clear that it was not thorough, accurate, or independent, but provoked further controversy. It was at that time the Department of Justice again approached the University and again offered its services.

"The Board appears to have received what it bought and paid for," said Cyd Crue, president, of the Illinois Chapter of the National Coalition On Racism in Sports and the Media. "We believe that a meaningful resolution cannot be reached until the Board has frank discussions that include those who advocate ending the Chief tradition. In our view, this has not yet taken place and we remain acutely concerned about the potential for further confrontation."

"This episode is unfortunate in many ways," said UIUC Swanlund Professor of History Frederick Hoxie. "It is now plain that the Trustees were never interested in a real dialogue. If they had been, they would have taken the offer of the Justice Department. Rather than taking a positive step towards the creation of a healthy discussion of how best to embrace the value of diversity on this campus, the Board devised an extremely expensive strategy that has neither improved the campus atmosphere nor moved us closer to a resolution. "

Debbie Reese, graduate student and president of the UIUC Native American Student Organization, Red Roots, stated, "I believe the Trustees want to keep their fake Indian. In doing so they deny the campus the enriching educational opportunities that can occur when Native Americans enter into meaningful dialogue with fellow students. In light of this, I'm not surprised the Trustees rejected the offer from the Department of Justice."

Professor May Berenbaum, Swanlund Professor and Head of the Department of Entomology, concerned by this news said, "By turning down an offer for independent oversight of its dialogue, the Board of Trustees seriously compromised its status as an honest broker of intellectual exchange. It's not just about the money--it's about credibility, and it seems that an extraordinary opportunity was missed for reasons that were not clearly articulated."

"What an appalling waste of student and taxpayer dollars. I hope that the Board does the right thing and retires the Chief soon. We have too much to lose, not least of which is the impact of all this on recruiting a new Chancellor for the Urbana campus," said UIUC Professor Vernon Burton, 1999 Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year.

This was not the first time the Trustees refused independent mediation of the Chief issue. In November, 1998, UIUC Professor Stephen Kaufman raised this option with University President James Stukel, who brought the proposal to the Trustees. No reason was given for the Trustees refusal to engage in a professionally mediated independent discourse at that time. Responding to this new revelation from the Justice Department Kaufman said, "To maintain control and direct the process to the outcome they sought, the Trustees have squandered hundreds of thousands of student and taxpayer dollars. It's a shame they didn't take this opportunity to have a credible review of the issue. The North Central Association remains very concerned about the mascot issue on the Urbana campus and it is not likely that they are going to be taken in by the charade of the 'dialogue' staged by the Board. What this translates into with regard to the academic accreditation of the UIUC campus remains to be determined."

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The National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media (NCRSM)
"The National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media (NCRSM) was established in 1992 by leaders of the American Indian Movement in order to organize against the use of Indian images and names for logos, symbols or mascots in professional and collegiate sports, marketing and the media. We are a coalition working diligently to change the perception mainstream society has of Indian people, with the ultimate objective of increasing self-esteem in American Indian youth." Contact Cyd Crue by e-mail: crue@uiuc.edu or by telephone: 217-355-6757.