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News :: Civil & Human Rights |
UI Prohibited from Hosting Postseason Tournaments |
Current rating: 0 |
by wayward (No verified email address) |
05 Aug 2005
|
NCAA considers Chief Illiniwek to be "hostile or abusive" American Indian imagery |
(via the News-Gazette) The University of Illinois will not be able to host any NCAA championship competitions if it continues to use Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of its athletic teams.
http://www.news-gazette.com/localnews/story.cfm?Number=18727 |
This work is in the public domain |
Re: UI Prohibited from Hosting Postseason Tournaments |
by David Gehrig zemblan (nospam) earthlink.net (verified) |
Current rating: 0 05 Aug 2005
|
That's fantastic news. It's also not as much of a surprise as you might think; I had the sense was that the writing was on the wall. NCAA says that they don't have the power to _force_ a university to change its mascot, but losing the ability to host any kind of post-season play (not that it'll matter to the football team) is a major _problem_ for the Athletic Association, since that's such a key piece of the commercial-athletics-disguised-as-non-profit-academics industry.
@%< |
and to win a title? |
by passenger pigeon n/a (unverified) |
Current rating: 0 08 Aug 2005
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Here are the 18 schools and the link to the NCAA website http://www.ncaasports.com/story/8706763
Eighteen colleges and universities continue to use Native American imagery or references and are subject to the new policy:
Alcorn State University (Braves)
Central Michigan University (Chippewas)
Catawba College (Indians)
Florida State University (Seminoles)
Midwestern State University (Indians)
University of Utah (Utes)
Indiana University-Pennsylvania (Indians)
Carthage College (Redmen)
Bradley University (Braves)
Arkansas State University (Indians)
Chowan College (Braves)
University of Illinois-Champaign (Illini)
University of Louisiana-Monroe (Indians)
McMurry University (Indians)
Mississippi College (Choctaws)
Newberry College (Indians)
University of North Dakota (Fighting Sioux)
Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Savages)
Illinois has good chance of winning the title this year.
The NCAA also discusses alcohol abuse in this policy release. |
Re: UI Prohibited from Hosting Postseason Tournaments |
by yawn (No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0 10 Aug 2005
|
People give more money when they're mad than when they're complacent. That's why NRA membership spikes whenever Congress makes noise about strengthening gun laws. Watch for this policy to actually increase donations and further galvanize the pro-Chief camp. By meddling in what should be a local decision, the NCAA may well turn out to be hurting the cause of the anti-Chief movement and postponing any kind of meaningful action on the part of the UI.
Ironically enough, this policy has no impact on the two sports which bring in the money, and which involve the Chief: football and men's basketball. There isn't a Division I football tournament., and Champaign doesn't have the facilities or the hotel rooms to host an Division I men's basketball regional. Instead the penalty will fall on women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, tennis, and the other "non-revenue" sports. I don't recall seeing the Chief dancing at a tennis match.
And all this assumes that the policy stands up. It's a lock that Florida State University will sue, and the fact that the NCAA has more or less arbitrarily exempted some schools from the policy doesn't give it much of a leg to stand on.
So it's an interesting development but I wouldn't get too excited about it. |