Friday, March 2, 2007 9:44 PM CST
Letter: University of Illinois might get a chicken for a mascot
By JOHN PHIPPS, Mattoon
Dear u OF i President White
I know you do not need any negative letters: However, I feel this story needs to be told.
I hold you, the Board of Trustees, your complete staff, and the Alumni Association responsible as the decision makers for the University of Illinois.
You have meekly surrendered the pride of the university to a tiny group (perhaps, a half dozen) of activists (with no apparent motive other than a desire for publicity) in opposition to the expressed feelings of hundreds of thousands of loyal alumni.
Where is the old Illini fighting spirit? This abject capitulation to this minuscule minority and to the NCAA, a dictatorial organization that needs to be cut down to size, is ridiculous and totally unrepresentative of great institution.
As I understand it, other universities have fought the NCAA decisions successfully. If we need to go to court, Let’s go!
I am convinced this type of subservient wind blowing throughout the country is a major contributor to our falling cultural and family values. Our majorities are overly anxious to bow to minorities, whether justified or not.
In your case, as the decision-makers, whatever your legacy might have been to date, hereafter, you will be remembered as the ones who spinelessly gave away the Illini’s richest and most cherished tradition, Chief Illiniwek.
As for myself? Raised in Champaign, I have been an Illini fan all my life back to the days of Red Grange and Bob Zuppke when we used to crawl under the fence to see the ball game -- and the Chief! Later of course came Dike Eddleman and all the other great Illini. We attend all home football and basketball games.
Including my brothers and my children, my immediate family holds eight degrees from the University of Illinois. Now it is disheartening that just as the university and the Alumni Association are widely soliciting funds -- and just at the time I and other old alumni are considering preparations for a, perhaps, longer journey, you pull this trick.
My wife, Pauline, suggests the University might get a chicken for a mascot.
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