The chief has provoked passionate responses on both sides, particularly since a documentary of the debate -- "In Whose Honor?: American Indian Mascots in Sports" by Jay Rosenstein -- aired on PBS in 1997.

This tradition dates to 1926, when a Caucasian student interested in Indian lore first donned an Indian costume at halftime of a football game to smoke a "peace pipe" as part of a halftime show with the William Penn mascot from the University of Pennsylvania.

"It was a huge hit, and we've had the Chief ever since," said William Murphy, associate chancellor for public affairs at the University of Illinois, Champaign.

"Chief Iliniwek is a representation of our name, which is Illinois. The name of the university and of the state just reflects the indigenous people of the area. He is an embodiment of that name. And we believe he is representative of the qualities of dignity and courage to which our athletics teams aspire," Murphy said.

Chief called inauthentic

The chief's dance also includes what some would call "karate chops." A Caucasian student "plays" the chief for these live performances.

"They're perpetuating anachronistic images and colonial stereotypes," said Cyd Crue, president of the Illinois chapter of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media and a graduate student at Illinois. "And they are using religious images to do it. A chief is the highest religious and political position in a tribe. It would be like putting a Cardinal out to do a dance for the Catholic faith."

Crue points out that the Stanford band was publicly punished and forced to apologize when it paraded out band members dressed as nuns at a University of Notre Dame game a few years ago.

"This is nothing more than a red-face minstrel show. This does not honor Native Americans. It honors the White people. It's 'we won and we conquered this continent and we can use your image as we see fit.' If people cannot understand how this is insulting to us, how can they understand our other societal issues? If you cannot respect our religion, how can you respect our culture?"

Chief Illiniwek has changed over the years as the controversy has mounted. The "I" on his chin has been removed, and he no longer appears in parades or pep rallies. Other schools have banned the chief from appearing on their campuses, so he primarily appears now at Illinois' home games. The university trustees have defended the chief as dignified and honorable, and he is referred to as the school's symbol rather than its mascot.

Those changes have meant little to opponents of the chief.

"We don't use any other race of people as 'mascot symbols,' " Crue said, noting that even the descendants of the Illinois Indians are opposed to the chief.

The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, composed of descendants of the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Piankeshaw and Wea tribes -- known collectively as the Illiniwek or Illinois nations -- formally voted on the issue last summer, issuing a resolution requesting that the university stop using the chief.

On January 13, 2000, the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois passed a resolution affirming the continuation of the Chief Illiniwek performances at its athletics events.