Mascot melee.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 5/05/04): Central Michigan University uses the Chippewas nickname with the approval of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. The university hasn't used an actual Chippewa mascot for more than 30 years, and in 1989, prohibited the use of any stereotypical drum beats or the wearing of American Indian apparel. A story Sunday on American Indian mascots didn't note the university's restrictions on the Chippewas name.

The University of Oregon has agreed to play two men's basketball games against the University of Illinois despite growing protests over the Midwest college's Indian chief mascot.

Though the universities agreed that the mascot, Chief Illiniwek, won't appear at the game in Oregon, the UO's decision to play Illinois nonetheless has brought the controversy to the Eugene campus.

The decision is especially troubling, some critics say, in light of a resolution signed by about 250 students and faculty and presented to the UO administration two summers ago. The resolution urged a ban on UO teams playing nonconference foes with American Indian mascots that aren't sanctioned by a tribe.

"There's the talk, and this should have been the walk," said Debra Merskin, a UO professor of journalism who studies issues of race, gender and media. "It's so contradictory to the university's stated intent of recognizing the importance of issues around diversity."

Merskin and others who attended a 2002 meeting with UO President Dave Frohnmayer said they came away confident that he understood their concerns about Indian stereotypes - and would champion them as a member of the NCAA's executive committee.

That's why the university's decision to go forward with the basketball contests, without so much as a nod to the resolution, is disappointing, said Frank Silva, a UO law school student who also was at the session with Frohnmayer.

The Chief Illiniwek mascot "is one of the most controversial and contentious representations of Native Americans in American sports," Silva said. "President Frohnmayer's tolerance of this scheduling is a complete affront to the spirit of the resolution."

The UI mascot - a source of criticism for decades - is portrayed by a white student dressed in Plains Indian headdress and garb who dances and gyrates at sporting events.

Dan Williams, UO vice president for administration, and Athletic Director Bill Moos said the university feels strongly that the University of Illinois and the NCAA are the ones to decide what to do about the mascot.

The UI board of trustees is slated in July to consider a resolution to ban the Chief Illiniwek mascot. The NCAA may review the broader topic of American Indian mascots later this year or next year. The association's Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee has been wrestling with the topic for more than two years.

Moos, who is part Lakota, said the UO is thrilled at the chance to play against a powerhouse basketball team from the prestigious Big 10 Conference. The University of Illinois "is not an outlaw renegade bunch - they just happen to have a mascot that is offensive to some people, and it sounds to me that they are addressing it," he said.

The UI-UO contract agreeing to play the games - this December in Chicago and the following December at the Pape Jam in Portland - is being brokered by the ESPN regional television network and likely won't be signed for another month or two, Moos said.

In initial talks, Moos said he planned to insist that Chief Illiniwek not be allowed to attend the Portland game, but was beaten to the punch by his UI counterpart, Athletic Director Ron Guenther, who said the mascot would not travel with the Fighting Illini team.

"He was well aware of the concern of people on our campus and community," Moos said. "It's a national issue."

Illinois campus debate

It's certainly an issue in Champaign, Ill., home of the University of Illinois.

In a scene reminiscent of the 1960s, about 40 students and teachers opposed to the mascot staged a 33-hour sit-in at the UI administration building last month. They won an audience with state legislators and a university accreditation review team.

Just last week, the Illinois Senate president threatened to cut state support to the university if it insists on keeping the Chief Illiniwek mascot.

The Oregon connection has found its way into the dispute, with the UI student newspaper devoting front-page coverage to a recent Oregon Daily Emerald editorial that called on the UO to scrub the games until and unless Illinois agrees to change its mascot.

In a nonbinding referendum in March, meanwhile, more than 13,000 UI students voted on the matter - with roughly 70 percent voicing support for the popular icon.

The debate over whether such mascots celebrate or disparage American Indians has raged for years, both on and off campuses. An oft-cited Sports Illustrated poll in 2002 found that 88 percent of respondents - including 75 percent of American Indians - didn't feel that Indian team names and mascots contribute to discrimination against Indians. The percentage fell to 53 percent, however, among Indians living on reservations.

At the UO, the controversy has played out in the student newspaper. In addition to the critical editorial, letters to the editor have run on both sides of the question and a columnist wrote a piece calling the ongoing mascot debate "stupid" and "boring."

"We need to realize that they aren't meant to offend and only meant to honor," writer Peter Hockaday said in the commentary.

Several college campuses across the country have abandoned their American Indian mascots, while others have kept theirs. No Pac-10 Conference team has had such a mascot since Stanford University changed from the Indians to Cardinal after a bitter debate in the early '70s.

The UO resolution in 2002 circulated long before the university anticipated playing the Illinois basketball team - but did surface when the UO football team was anticipating a 2003 date with the Utah Utes. The Utes, however, are among two colleges - the other is the Florida Seminoles - whose mascot is sanctioned by a bona fide tribe, and thus don't fall under the resolution's suggested constraints.

UO critics said they still hope the UO will cancel the Illinois basketball games, but aren't holding their breaths.

"Maybe 10 years ago," said Leland Roth, a longtime architecture and art history professor, "but not today. The whole athletic institution has gotten so much power and clout, I don't think they respond well to any outside pressure."

Ernie Kent, the UO men's basketball coach, didn't return a telephone call for comment. Frohnmayer, who no longer is on the NCAA executive committee, was unavailable to speak on the subject, university officials said.

Williams, the UO vice president, said he believes the debate could be settled before the two teams play because of possible action by Illinois officials.

While the decision on the mascot isn't the UO's to make, "it's hard for me to imagine that in this day and age schools would want to hang on to a mascot that is offensive to a large part of their student or faculty or alumni base," Williams said.

UO critics take issue

At the UO, meanwhile, some students and faculty have a personal history with Chief Illiniwek - and don't like the idea of their Duck mascot tangling with him.

Elizabeth Wages, a UO graduate student in art history, grew up in Illinois in a family of "die-hard Illini fans."

Her attitudes changed, she said, when she learned that she herself is part Cherokee - and later watched a documentary in high school on an American Indian woman who endured harsh rebukes for trying to have the Chief Illiniwek mascot retired.

"It's not about a mascot being created to honor Native Americans," she said. "It's a racial stereotype that dehumanizes, and the fact that it's perpetuated is bothersome."

Roth, the professor of architecture and art history, isn't American Indian, but he graduated from the University of Illinois.

He's refused to contribute to his alma mater - and has even declined to take part in a symposium at the UI - because of the university's position on its mascot.

Roth said years of teaching American Indian architecture and talking to Indian students has sensitized him to the harm produced by such images as Chief Illiniwek.

Among the affronts he cites: The Illini no longer exist as a tribe and so can't speak for themselves; the mascot's "gymnastic leaps" have nothing in common with traditional American Indian dance; and the mascot appears at sporting events in full feather headdress.

"That's a very discourteous and insulting thing to wear if you haven't earned it," Roth said. "It would be like wearing an oak-leaf cluster or five-star medal without having earned it through valor in battle."

Roth said he's confounded by people who think it's OK to mimic American Indians in ways that would never be tolerated for other ethnic groups.

"There are no universities with dancing rabbis or people in African tribal blackface," he said. "It's just an inappropriate approbation of somebody else's culture. We waged war against Native Americans for as long as we could get away with it, and I see this as part of the same thing."

COLLEGE MASCOTS

New mascots: Stanford Cardinal (formerly Indians); St. John Red Storm (formerly Redmen); Marquette Golden Eagles (formerly Warriors); Seattle University Red Hawks (formerly Chieftains)

Same mascots: Illinois Fighting Illini; Central Michigan Chippewas; North Dakota Fighting Sioux; Utah Utes; Florida Seminoles

CHIEF ILLINIWEK HISTORY

1926: Conceived by assistant band director at University of Illinois, the mascot first appears at UI-Pennsylvania football game in Pennsylvania. Since its inception, mascot has never been portrayed by American Indian student.

1943: Chief Illiniwek temporarily replaced by Princess Illiniwek when lone woman portrays mascot.

1975: First anti-chief protest appears in UI yearbook.

October 1990: UI board of trustees votes to make Chief Illiniwek the official university symbol.

March 1991: Student government resolution declares mascot discriminatory, calls for its elimination and apologizes to American Indians.

1998: Faculty-student senate asks board of trustees to "retire Chief Illiniwek immediately."

2001: Ten of 12 trustees support keeping mascot, appoint member to study possible compromises.

2002: Member announces no compromise possible, says board should either replace or retain mascot. Board takes no action.

November 2003: Trustee withdraws resolution to retire mascot but says she will reintroduce proposal in July 2004.

March 2004: In advisory referendum, more than 9,100 UI students vote in favor of keeping Chief Illiniwek while about 4,000 vote against mascot.

April 2004: Anti-mascot advocates stage sit-in, win meetings with state legislators and UI accreditation team. Illinois state Senate president threatens loss of state funds if UI doesn't retire mascot by end of May.

- Associated Press, Daily Illinois

CAPTION(S):

John Madigan, a University of Illinois student, played the part of Chief Illiniwek during halftime shows at Illini games during the 1998 to 2000 football seasons. "It's a racial stereotype that dehumanizes, and the fact that it's perpetuated is bothersome." - ELIZABETH WAGES, UO GRADUATE STUDENT