Mr. Trustee: Chief
Today the DI will print my column advocating that people write-in “Chief Illiniwek” for student trustee. It is not a joke, it is not a ruse. Those who care about the Chief and want to do something about his demise have a very real choice: they can vote for someone who will futilely attempt to restart the debate and call for a vote by the full Board, or they can realize the unlikelihood of that action and vote for the Chief himself.
If elected, the Chief will send a clear statement to the college sports nation that U of I students love their mascot. It will highlight the improprieties of the Board’s process and might force a second vote. More importantly, it will loudly declare that anyone attempting to deep-six the “Fighting Illini” ain’t seen nothin’ yet. They may have taken the Chief from us, and they may keep him from us, but if anyone tries to declare the Fighting Illinois racist or demeaning, there will be a battle.
Personally, the Chief is not my cup of tea. I don’t care about him either way, but I think it is a corruption of democracy for three people to make a binding, consequential decision of this magnitude without even a majority of the voting body present! When Congress attempts such underhanded tactics as this the other party screams foul. Here, however, those who support the Chief, or those who at least do not oppose him, on the board are afraid to make their dissatisfaction with the process known, lest they receive the label of “Pro-Chief.”
Today the battle to save the Chief takes a new approach. The U of I campus can either roll over and play dead, or it can draw on its political mettle and shout to all the Illini past, present, and future: you cannot ignore us and you cannot beat us by cheating. Vote for Chief Illiniwek and make the voice of campus heard!
February 26th, 2007 at 3:34 am
Speaking of lawsuits. How about leaving the UIUC alone and going after the NCAA for capricious implementation of subjective policy that exceeded their (Ncaa”s) authority and resulted in the violation of first amendment rights. The damages to the reputation and image of the UICU as well depriving 10s of thousands of a meaningful tradition could be a beginning. Dan Maloney was deprived of his 1st amendment rights also. How to fund a Chief Legal defense fund? Easy, with the money from fans, alumni, students and faculty who have decided to withhold their money from the UIUC. (See for starters the 12,000+ petition of signatures of people pledging to do just that&g
This would be a benefit on every front win or lose. If nothing else it would give empowerment to the Chief supporters who were totally disenfranchised in the decision process and let the UIUC and NCAA know that they will pay a price for such caving in to PC crowd in the future. It will also give us the opportunity to do what the administration of the UIUC were unable to do or chose not to do…provide a full and convincing defense of the Chief to the public. North Dakota and others may join in with us. Judging by the numbers and polls I doubt we will suffer from too little funding. We can contact the alumni clubs in the different states for help. The very possible and best result would be that we may see the Chief bursting out from the ranks of the Marching Ilini again to perform his honorable, dignified moving dance for his loyal fans.
THe Anti chief crowd will say “ypu cant win” but to their credit they never quit. Why should we?We will gain much even if we are defeated iin court. I think theres a good chance of winning there too.
February 26th, 2007 at 6:21 am
VOTE FOR THE CHIEF!
February 26th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
A call for proper procedure by the BOT is appropriate, but a vote for the Chief will not be interpreted as such. There are three student trustees on the board, and one voting member - it is their role to bring up the matter.
February 27th, 2007 at 5:25 am
the chief is great!!!!
February 27th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I agree that voting for the Chief would send a message, but that message would just be how stupid we are! Yeah, let’s write in Chief Illiniwek. Then when they realize that the Chief is a symbol, they will make the decision that the person with the next highest amount of votes will be elected. What happens if the person with the most votes is anti-Chief? Then we’ve done nothing but hand them the election.
Writing in the Chief will not highlight the board’s improprieties and force a second vote. It will simply highlight the student body’s stupidity.
February 27th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Trustee “Benedict” Eppley sold out the Chief in order to stay in the good graces of Emil Jones and retain his position. He will soon be up for re-appontment. Now would be a good time to begin lobbying for his dismissal as a Trustee, along with all of the other anti-Chief Trustees, via the state Senate. Let us return the decision-making to a democratic process. Maybe the next Board of Trustees will develop a backbone and tell the knee-jerks at the NCAA to stick it in their ear.
February 28th, 2007 at 2:47 am
Back in the day (2001, I believe), we elected a popular DI comic strip character to the student government, demonstrating what we thought about the usefulness of the body at large.
They sure had to do some zero-hour backtracking to cover themselves there, but the point was made.