-- Rennard Strickland, retired dean of law at the University of Oregon, and a Native American.

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Much "media image" was at stake when the Oregon Ducks played basketball against a highly ranked Illinois team in Portland December 10. For Native Americans and their supporters on the Oregon campus, media image of the game was but a metaphor for a minority's ongoing pursuit of ethnic justice through the NCAA.

The game's implications went beyond the final score, relating to an expanding national controversy over team nicknames and mascots of Native American origins.

As a native of Illinois, I was captivated as a youngster by halftime performances of Chief Illiniwek, the Illini symbol in war bonnet who gyrated to the beat of drums. It was part of the color of the event, and had no other implications -- or so I thought. That changed when the start of NCAA game telecasts in the 1950s made Native Americans nationwide aware of Chief Illiniwek. It helped feed their developing opposition to mascots that demeaned them, even if unintentionally. Now, half a century later, computerized data inform us the Illini name is among 179 college team "tokens" in the context of the American Indian. Most of the others (103) use the name " Indians." Illinois ranked third nationally in number of teams having Native American designations.

The issue was reviewed at the highest levels within the University of Illinois after it heard concerns of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1999. Teams of Bradley University of Peoria, near my Illinois hometown, have been known as the Braves. The NCAA recently denied the university's appeal to remove the name from the list of nicknames that are considered hostile and abusive.

Among the institutions that have moved away from Indian names are Stanford, Marquette, Miami (Ohio), Colgate, St. John's (New York), Syracuse, St. Bonaventure, Oklahoma City and Seattle Universities. Many high schools also have dropped Indian names.

Student objections have strong support among the Oregon faculty. Journalism professor Debra Merskin is an authority on race, gender and media. She believes the university's inconsistency on the issue contradicts its stated plan to recognize and act upon important issues of diversity.

There is historical context. The Illinois Indian nation was made up of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankeshaw and Wea tribes that moved to Oklahoma. As a collective known as "Illiniwek," the Oklahoma tribes issued a resolution in 2000 asking the University of Illinois to stop using the chief as mascot. As one member said, because the chief is the highest religious and political position in a tribe, the way he performs at Illinois games is equivalent to having a Catholic Cardinal in his robes do a halftime dance at the University of Notre Dame.

That comparison is not far-fetched. At a game in South Bend, the Stanford band had some of its members parade in nuns' robes. Complaints came, and the band apologized and was punished by its university.

I remember at one time feeling there was nothing wrong with my high school's (Pekin, Illinois) use of the Chink as mascot. Not knowing its negative meaning, I saw it as a symbol of honor. But I fully understood sensitivities of Chinese by the time the name was changed to Dragons in 1981. I learned of the broader meaning of Chink when I was with the Army in Korea, facing Chinese armies across the demilitarized zone. It didn't take long for the derogatory nature of the name to become obvious.

Last February, an Illinois student group bought a full-page ad in the Oregon school newspaper, asking Oregon not to object to Chief Illiniwek. That feeling is sincere. It also is mistaken, failing to understand deeper meanings of some borrowed symbols.

It would help to have better understanding of foreign and Native American words and culture. More important is the way involved ethnic groups feel. Because its nickname and mascot show insensitivity to Native Americans, Illinois has no choice.

It must do what my high school did with honor: change its symbol. It won't change unless schools such as Oregon make it clear that Illinois is a welcome opponent -- but that its nickname is unacceptable in this state.

George Beres, who is retired and lives in Eugene, Oregon, was the sports information director at Northwestern University, which plays Illinois every year, before moving to the same position at the University of Oregon.