Chief affecting academics, report states

An evaluation team from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) criticized the University Board of Trustees (BOT) for its lack of progress in resolving the Chief Illiniwek controversy in a report released Wednesday.

The NCA did not take any action against the University and said the Chief is not an accreditation issue. However, the report said the Chief controversy hurts the University's academic mission and will continue to do so at an accelerating pace as long as the issue remains undecided.

Although University officials and BOT members do not agree with everything in the report, University spokesman Tom Hardy said the University will take into consideration the report's concern about how the Chief issue affects academics.

"Our effectiveness in educating our students is always a central consideration in all that we do," said Interim Chancellor Richard Herman in a press release. "Because this issue is so important, I believe it is essential that we obtain full and comprehensive information concerning it."

Herman plans on forming a faculty committee of experts to further investigate how the issue actually impacts the University's academic mission.

Hardy said that while the report's concerns were "anecdotal and hypothetical," the faculty committee's findings will be "fact-based."

He said Herman has not yet decided who the committee's members will be and how it will go about its research.

Karen Solomon, assistant director of accreditation services for the NCA, said she was pleased that the University formed a committee that involves the faculty, as the report requested.

The three-person evaluation team created the report based on information collected during an April visit to the University, a follow-up to a 1999 visit. The follow-up visit was meant to look at the BOT's efforts to address the educational and governance issues surrounding the Chief.

The report noted that dialogue on the Chief controversy has increased since the commission's last report, but said that nothing had been done to solve the problem, creating a polarized environment.

According to the report, people on campus can be harassed because of their opinion on the Chief and potential applicants for University positions may be dissuaded by the controversy surrounding the mascot. These include the University's open positions for president and chancellor.

Because the BOT is the only group that can make any official decision on the Chief, the report focused its criticism toward it and said a lack of action on the issue shows that the BOT is not concerned about the issue's divisive and debilitating effects.

"In the absence of decisive action, the board is, in effect, saying that it prefers to face the consequences of eroding damage to the effectiveness, governance and reputation of the institution than the consequences of retiring the Chief," the report stated.

Board member Marjorie Sodermann said she disagrees with the report's accusation that the board is being passive and failing to provide leadership, but believes it does point out the major impact of the Chief issue and why it should be addressed.

In a press release, BOT chair Larry Eppley said he took issue with parts of the report but agreed that the Chief is not an accreditation issue.

"The Board has been clear that any resolution of the Chief issue will be based upon consensus," Eppley said. "Our goal remains, as we have said before, a solution that best serves the University rather than particular interest groups, and Interim Chancellor Herman's approach should be an ingredient of our deliberations."

The NCA will visit the University in 2006-2007 to see if there has been progress made in resolving the Chief issue.