"The Chief" is dead in Illinois

The Illini need to find a new mascot, and Mark Tupper of the Decatur Herald & Review is ticked off. If you are a fan of the university or interested in this debate, please stop by and read his article. Because he makes a decent point about the NCAA's uneven ruling on Chief Illiniwek: "If the use of Native American imagery and symbols is wrong, then it's wrong everywhere. It makes the NCAA look foolish and without the courage of commitment when it allows a school like Florida State to flaunt its Native American imagery (without a shred of the dignity that some of us see in Chief Illiniwek) on its athletic fields simply because it pays money to a 'namesake' tribe to say it's OK." I would take that argument a step further. Either you allow ethnic mascots, or you don't. The problem with this, of course, is that it could result in banning the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (and other mascots like the only slightly lesser-known Fighting Scots of the Division III College of Wooster). Because a dancing leprechaun putting up his dukes is completely inoffensive to anyone of Irish heritage, right? I mean, who wouldn't want to have their history represented by a conniving belligerent mythical twirp? But we know the NCAA won't touch their sacred cow. This is a difficult debate because you will never appease all the members of a group. Because of this dilemma, if the NCAA is concerned about ethnic mascots being offensive, it should ban them unilaterally. But that would require the NCAA to have a shred of consistency and dignity. Clearly, it does not. Once again, this group that allegedly represent institutions of higher learning and thinking has danced around the issue. They have singled out one group bowing to political pressure, and ignored the same problems elsewhere. Sadly, we have grown to expect little else.