This news from my old hometown and university on the AP wire caught my eye:
The University of Illinois will retire its 81-year-old American Indian mascot, Chief Illiniwek, following the last men’s home basketball game of the season on Wednesday.
The NCAA in 2005 deemed the buckskin-clad Illiniwek an offensive use of American Indian imagery and barred the university from hosting postseason events.
American Indian groups and others complained for years that the mascot, used since 1926, is demeaning. Supporters of the mascot say it honors the contributions of American Indians to Illinois.
The active debate over the Chief has gone on for almost two decades. Back before I started at UIUC, Latino groups were actively using the Chief as a symptom of the university administration’s insensitivity towards minority groups.
A Daily Illini article has a bit more information on the reasoning for the decision now:
[Board of Trustees Chairman] Eppley explained during an interview that a big factor in the decision to end the half-time performance was the severity of the NCAA sanctions against schools on the “hostile and abusive list,” noting that the University lost the right to host the NCAA Men’s Tennis playoffs after losing its final appeal that sought to keep the Chief.
“We spent an enormous amount of time … trying to find a way to comply with the NCAA rules short of halting the half-time performance. So far, we’re unable to come up with that,” Eppley said. “We’ve only got two more men’s basketball games, and we wanted to give the fans a good, proper, prior notice. So that’s why we’re doing it today.”
I can appreciate the sentiment of the advocates who feel the Chief was offensive. Personally, I’d consider the Chief more “politically incorrect” than actually offensive, and I think that the Chief’s detractors could have better spent their energy on more blatantly offensive sports traditions, such as the Braves’ tomohawk chop, Cleveland’s Chief Wahoo, and the name of the Washington DC football team.
But despite my grumpiness over the retirement of the Chief, I do think that far too much energy has been spent debating him in the past two decades, and his retirement probably is for the best.
Apparently no decision has been made on whether Illinois will have a new mascot, and if so, what it will be.
Might I suggest conscripting Illinois’ favorite son, Abraham Lincoln, for mascot duty. Or would that be too offensive for Republicans? Perhaps to maintain political balance, UIUC teams could rotate between being the “Fighting Lincolns” and the “Fighting Obamas”. 
But, perhaps priorities should be set appropriately. Illinois could stand to actually have a football team first before worrying about who or what will be performing on the sidelines.
Once more, for old time’s sake: Oskie wow-wow, Illinois.