Not everyone is happy the NCAA basketball tournament is taking place in Madison this weekend.
Wunk Sheek, the UW-Madison American Indian student organization, will be protesting in front of the Kohl Center before the games Friday, voicing opposition to the Native American mascot of the University of Illinois.
Starlyn Tourtillott, chair of Wunk Sheek, said the mascot is degrading because it takes serious American Indian symbols, such as feathers and dances, lightly.
“Eagle feathers are so sacred to the Indian community,” she said. “They’re religious. What if someone was using a cross like that? It’s upsetting.”
Although the UW Faculty Senate and athletic administrators passed a policy in 1993 that they will not welcome such mascots, Casey Nagy, executive assistant to the chancellor, said the situation is out of their hands.
“We have to recognize we are simply a host site to an NCAA event,” Nagy said.
Aaron Bird Bear of American Indian Student Academic Services said although Illinois has not used Chief Illiniwek lately, administrators are reluctant to retire the mascot for fear alumni will withdraw financial support.
Bird Bear said this issue has been plaguing the Native American community for over a decade.
“The problem is it’s such a small and diverse percentage of America, it’s hard to get a unified voice,” he said.
About three million people in the United States identify themselves as Native American, including about .03 percent of UW.
Prior to the protest, Wunk Sheek will be holding an educational teach-in to raise awareness about the issue. Sociology professor Gary Sandefur, who drafted UW’s mascot policy, will be speaking.
“The problem with Indian mascots is that they promote stereotypes of Indian Americans, so people think real Indians don’t exist because they don’t look like Chief Illiniwek,” Sandefur said.
Nagy agreed and said the university’s policy requests visiting teams to refrain from dances or chants that may be regarded as derogatory. What’s more, the university refuses to schedule games with teams, other than those to which there is a longstanding commitment, that use Indian mascots, images or team names.
“The University of Wisconsin Athletic Department adds its name to those who desire to stop the use of American Indian symbols and names by athletic teams,” Sandefur said. “We are concerned that the use of war chants, American Indian-related mascots and logos by teams both perpetuates a stereotype and causes insult to many Native Americans.”
However, some feel the mascot is complimentary.
“Indian mascots are not meant to be insulting,” Keith Jameson, a UW graduate student, said. “I would be proud if I was Native American.”
Nonetheless, many Native Americans say they will not be satisfied until mascots like this disappear completely.
“I find Indian mascots offensive to my culture and demeaning to my family’s struggles to overcome dispossession, poverty and racism,” said Derek Jennings, member of the Quapaw nation, graduate of Dartmouth College’s American Indian Studies Program.
Bird Bear emphasized the implications of such mascots.
“When people are cheering, ‘Kill the Indians,’ it can have a very negative influence on a child,” Bird Bear said.
