Chief Illiniwek

The executive committee of the Oglala Sioux (or Lakota) tribe has asked the University of Illinois to return regalia used by "Chief Illiniwek" at athletic events, according to a story in today's Chicago Tribune. This action brings to a head -- or should bring to a head -- a controversy that has been simmering along more than 10 years now.

Here's the gist of the story, beginning with some background and leading up to what journalists call it the nut graf (by which they mean the paragraph, or "graf," that contains the kernel, or "nut," of the story). Taking it from the top:

In a 1982 halftime ceremony at Memorial Stadium, a 93-year-old Oglala Sioux chief and medicine man presented the University of Illinois with tribal regalia for use by the university's mascot, Chief Illiniwek.

The university paid $3,500 for the moccasins, blanket, peace pipe pouch, breastplate and war bonnet with 90 eagle feathers, all owned by Sioux Chief Frank Fools Crow, according to the university's archives.

On Thursday, Oglala Sioux tribal members, including Fools Crow's grandson, asked for it all back.

The tribe's demands are the latest in a growing campaign by students, faculty, Native American groups and the National Collegiate Athletic Association—which has already penalized the U. of I.—to dump the mascot.

A resolution passed Thursday by the Oglala Sioux asks the university to stop using the mascot and return the attire, including the original feathers.

Further down in the story, we learn the action was taken by the executive committee of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the tribe's federally recognized governing body, and it came out at a meeting of the U of I board of trustees.

Here's the Sioux (or Lakota, to use the name preferred by members of the tribe) officials' reasoning:

The resolution, passed by three of the tribe's five-member executive committee, points out that Chief Illiniwek, intended to honor Illinois-based tribes, does not belong in Oglala clothing in the first place, because that tribe is not from Illinois.

"The antics of persons playing 'Chief Illiniwek' perpetuate a degrading racial stereotype that reflects negatively on all American Indian people," according to the resolution.

Debate over the mascot, a barefoot student who performs at football and basketball games in the buckskin costume and feather headdress, has raged for years. This episode comes as a U. of I. student faces possible expulsion over a comment on a pro-Chief Web site threatening to hurt a student who opposed the mascot.

Some university students and Native Americans have asked university trustees to end the Chief tradition, saying it is humiliating and creates a hostile environment on campus.

Supporters say the Chief respects Native American culture and is a revered tradition that dates to 1926.