Some things need to be clear. Fighting Illini gained "Fighting" after WWI, but we were Illini amost from the beginning. The student newspaper was the Illini from about 1870, later becoming Daily Illini when it started publishing, well, daily. Students, faculty and staff were known as Illini well back into the 19th century. And make no mistake, the connection to the Illini Nation was intentional from the start. We were Illini when the Indian Wars were still being fought. Take that for what you will.
Yes, the War Chant does have Native overtones, and intentionally so. So does the "2" in the 3-in-1, written for Chief Illiniwek's dance. The word "Oskee-wow-wow" is a made up word that supposed to sound Indian. The "Cha-he, cha-ha" in Illinois Loyalty is supposed to sound Indian as well.
We've had a brand that goes back to our founding, and it has grown incrementally over 150 years. That's a lot to throw away, and throwing money at Nike isn't going to make it happen.
As to why the university didn't do something earlier, it has. There was a competition for a new mascot, and somehow, Chief supporters got a referendum of sorts on Chief Illiniwek along with student government elections. And it turned out that "Chief or Nothing" won by 80/20. That was just current students, the youngest of which were in junior high during the Chief's last dance. But YouTube has allowed them to see what they've missed, and they've kept the spirit alive with the "CHIEF" during the appropriate times during the 3-in-1. The current students haven't forgotten.
The administration has repeatedly tried to ease and or force the Chief and related imagery out. But everything it tries blows back only harder, stiffening resolve of students and alumni--and I might add, the general population of the state...except those who wear purple.
So now they're attacking music. They're starting small, with incidental music, the War Chant. It's not central to the heritage, so the thought was, get rid of it. That's the start. Next is taking the "Cha-he" chant out of Illinois Loyalty. It's another chip. Then next, "Oskee-wow-wow," which would be cast as an offensive made-up Native American word. The fight song has to go. Someone will write something else for the students to sing. They'll hand out lyric sheets and the entrance to the stadium. And finally, the 3-in-1 will be gutted. The dance music will be gone. The decision to dump the War Chant was made at the end of the last football season. They just decided to tell us about it now.
This is inevitable. It will happen, just as much as the Assembly Hall was renamed. Nobody is going to ask your permission. They're just going to do it whether you like it or not, no matter how many letters you write to administrators, trustees, governors, whoever.
What they're not going to get is support of students or alumni. Do you think U of I students are going to go gently into that bad night? If they trot out a new mascot now, the effect will be the same as it was in 1982 when they tried to foist the O-B Bird off in students and fans at a basketball game. You hadn't heard about that? Of course not. The university covered it up; the poor O-B Bird was booed off the court, never to be seen again. Try to find even a picture.
I would like to think that Josh Whitman had nothing to do with this. But if he was in on it, talk about flushing your political capital down the drain.
But here's the deal. There will come a time when everything is stripped away but the name Fighting Illini, and then that too will be gone. They're going to grind it out, bit by bit. Heritage? It's just another word for bigotry.
More on the O-B Bird and some Chief history:
Push for new mascot
And why this was announced just now:
http://tinyurl.com/no-war-chant