Native American House/American Indian Studies
Statement on the Mascot

The Native American House at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides a place where students, faculty, staff, and community members may increase their knowledge and understanding of the histories of American Indian peoples and their cultures, both past and present.  Part of this understanding rests on the ability to critique and set aside images that confine the perception of an entire people to a limited and narrow existence.  Stereotypical images, negative or positive, are barriers to understanding and seriously miseducate the public about Native Americans.  Therefore, the Native American House and American Indian Studies faculty insist that the University of Illinois Board of Trustees discontinue the use of 'chief illiniwek' in name, performance, and symbol.