Posted: 2/16/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Adam Nekola (File) The Chief exits the tunnel of Memorial Stadium at half-time of the last football game of the 2005 season on Nov. 19, 2005 against Northwestern.

University's Press Release

Chief Illiniwek will make his last appearance at a University athletic event on Feb. 21, the last men's basketball game of the season at Assembly Hall.

According to a University press release, the University will now be able to host postseason National Collegiate Athletics Association championship events because of this decision, as stipulated in a letter sent by Bernard Franklin, senior vice president for governance, membership, education and research services of the NCAA, to the University on Feb. 15.

The press release also stated that the removal of the sanctions is predicated on the assumption that the University will not resume the use of Chief Illiniwek or any related imagery to the University symbol or Native Americans in connection with the University's athletics program.

"This step is in the best interest of the University and is consistent with the Board's previously stated goal of concluding this year its consensus process regarding Chief Illiniwek," stated University of Illinois Board of Trustees Chairman Lawrence Eppley.

The decision comes one day after Dan Maloney and Logan Ponce, current portrayers of Chief Illiniwek, filed suit against the NCAA and the University that sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the NCAA from enforcing sanctions against the University and to keep the University from retiring the Chief.

But Judge Michael Jones, who heard the case this morning, declined to issue a restraining order. He said that because a decision to suspend the Chief at the end of the basketball season has been made, and the Chief could not dance again until next fall, this does not qualify as an emergency situation - a condition that must be met in order for an injunction to be issued.

"I don't believe ... it's my business to discuss what course of action the University of Illinois should have taken," Jones said in his concluding remarks. "One can second guess that course of action, but it is not within my power to make that decision."

Decisions on the rest of the case are still up for further litigation.

Rumors had been flying around on campus about the future of Chief Illiniwek in the recent weeks, especially after the Jan. 17 resolution passed by the Executive Committee of the Oglala Sioux tribe demanding the University return Chief Illiniwek's regalia.

Gordy Hulten of the popular blog IlliniPundit.com posted an entry Thursday that stated the University Board of Trustees will eliminate the Chief Friday, in one form or another.

Sources within the University and close to the Chief tradition confirmed Hulten's statements late Thursday, saying that Eppley intended to single-handedly retire Chief Illiniwek Friday under pressure from Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones.

A student government member said, based on his conversations with University administrators, Eppley was the driving force behind the move to retire the Chief.

"The conversation I have had with University administrators, I got the impression that it's a very top-down decision," the student official said.

Trustee David Dorris told the State Journal-Register that he believes Eppley decided to make the announcement today with the belief that the board had reached a consensus.

"I think it's unfortunate that it's come to this because I've never seen the wisdom of the NCAA proclamation," Dorris said. "I think Larry maybe believed that there was some significant agreement
by board members about what he was going to do.
I'm sure he believed he had significant support."

According to the University Board of Trustees bylaws, the chair of the board can call an "unplanned executive session" in case the board must discuss and decide on "any business which is urgent and cannot be postponed to a regular meeting of the board." The executive committee, which comprises the chair and two members of the board, can meet "by conference telephone call" or any other means that would allow the members to communicate with each other simultaneously. Eppley, Kenneth Schmidt and Niranjan Shah are the current members of the executive committee.

Bylaws state that the executive committee has the power to make binding decisions if it does not act on matters settled during a session in a regular board meeting.

The executive committee is also prohibited from discussing or deciding on matters the board has deferred to "regular or special committees." The executive committee must keep a written record of its meetings.

That record gets submitted to the board at the next regular meeting.

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."

Dorris told the State Journal-Register that the decision was forced on the board.

"We didn't want this," Dorris said. "It's pretty obvious (we opposed it) We appealed twice, and (the NCAA) we did not agree, and those appeals were denied."

Check back at DailyIllini.com and tune into The Daily Illini On-air newsbreaks on WPGU 107.1 FM for more information.

For background information on the Chief, visit http://www.uillinois.edu/chief,

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