English Department announces opposition to Chief
University English Dept. asks for Chief's retirement

by Kat Schwartz
Daily Illini reporter

The faculty of the University's Department of English announced Wednesday that it is asking for the retirement of Chief Illiniwek.

In an official statement by the department, it called Chief Illiniwek "an inappropriate symbol or mascot."

"We understand that Chief supporters mean well, but the time has come to understand that we are a University with a cartoon Hollywood stereotype," said professor of English and Native American literature Robert Parker.

The Department of English released its statement after faculty discussed the issue.

"We had a strong feeling that the English department needs to take a stand - it is an educational issue," Parker said, adding that he hadn't heard of any faculty member who opposed the department's stand.

The department's statement was worded strongly and used examples that "we would not honor African Americans by having a Booker T. Washington imitator provide halftime entertainment ... we would not honor Latina and Latino Americans by having a César Chavez imitator put on a mariachi costume and dance at athletic events." Parker said not all faculty members may have agreed with the statement's wording.

The symbol of Chief Illiniwek has become a problem for the University, and the debate is a familiar one in American Indian communities because the issue has received national attention.

"The University of Illinois is infamous because of Chief Illiniwek," Parker said.

There has been some trouble recruiting graduate students and faculty to the University because of Chief Illiniwek and the publicity surrounding the issue, Parker said.

The Department of English is not the first department to announce its stance on the Chief, though its statement comes only days before the public dialogue; the Department of Anthropology announced its stance against the Chief in 1998.

The Department of Anthropology's letter to the board of trustees is posted on the department's Web site and makes many of the same points as the English department's statement.

Despite the Department of English adding its weight to the anti-Chief movement, Students for Chief Illiniwek President Dawn Neisen was unconcerned.

"I don't see their logic behind their stance; it's a symbolic representation of those here before us," Neisen said. "It's a representation ... of their spirit itself.

"Everything that needs to be said will be heard on Friday," Neisen added. "Just the fact that their department took a stance on it, I don't think it is going to affect the board's decision come next semester."