Illiniwek perform at half time. This may soon be the case. Many Native Americans feel

that the symbol of Chief Illiniwek portrays a racist stereotype, but because Chief Illiniwek

represents the pride for athletics, as well as respect for the University of Illinois itself, he

should not be dismissed as mascot and swapped with some common, unoriginal

replacement. The dismissal of the chief would be an outrage.

The tradition of Chief Illiniwek was started on October 30, 1926, during a football

game against the University of Pennsylvania(Beckham 1). Also according to Beckham,

Lester Leutweiler, who portrayed the first Chief Illiniwek, was chosen because he had

studied Native American dance and leather work as a boy scout. Leutweiler made the first

Chief Illiniwek custom and created the first dance(1). Of all the students that have

portrayed Chief Illiniwek, only one was a female. The second student who portrayed

Chief Illiniwek was Webber Borchers. Borchers was the first student who portrayed the

chief to wear an authentic Native American outfit. He traveled to a South Dakota

reservation, where he stayed for a co

hard to figure out the right answer. Eisenberg states that to detractors, he is "MC

Eisenberg, Robert. "Symbols of Respect or Racism? An Even Handed Look at the Issue of

of Illinois songs; "Pride of the Illini", "March of the Illini", "Hail to the Orange"(Beckham

European explorers in today's Illinois.

steadfastly refused to change the seventy-two year old symbol. The board's decision ten

significance. The origin of pow wow is believed to be the societies of the Poncha and

Americans are about, they would not have a mascot of Native American descent. They

saw was the Chief, which they had always been taught to hold in high honor, making a

and Latinos. She was one of three Native American students recruited to the University

of Illinois, to pursue her bachelor's in art, from the Art Institute of Native

Tribune, Gary Reinmuth referred to Chief Illiniwek as the "mascot" for the University of

in Memorial Stadium for nearly seventy-five years.

his work and his wife's would be shared and be seen by many.

Some common words found in the essay are:
University Illinois, Chief Illiniwek, Native Americans, Native American, Chicago Tribune, Oglala-Lakota Sioux, Drinking Illini, Notre Dame's, Chief Illiniwek's, American Indian, chief illiniwek, university illinois, chicago tribune, native american, fools crow, native americans, chief fools, chief fools crow, feb 2001, portrayed chief, 08 feb, portrayed chief illiniwek, illiniwek chicago tribune, frank fools crow, chief frank fools,
Approximate Word count = 2065
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)