Mascot IssueTuesday, January 31, 2006Illinois appeals Illiniwek decision to NCAA executive committee .c The Associated Press CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - The University of Illinois filed its second appeal of an NCAA decision that would require the school to drop its Chief Illiniwek athletic mascot and logo before it could host any postseason competition. The latest appeal, filed Tuesday, seeks to persuade the NCAA to reverse a decision by its executive committee last August that concluded Chief Illiniwek was an example of ``hostile and abusive'' American Indian imagery. The university appealed and a staff review committee in November upheld the ``hostile and abusive'' classification of Illiniwek, but allowed the school to keep its Illini and Fighting Illini nicknames. The new appeal, to the same committee that approved the original policy, challenges the NCAA's power to impose it. ``This appeal is about the institutional autonomy of NCAA member schools,'' board of trustees chairman Lawrence C. Eppley said in a 15-page appeal letter. ``It is about flawed rules and process.'' NCAA spokesman Bob Williams did not immediately return a telephone message Tuesday. Illinois was one of 18 schools deemed by the NCAA executive committee last August to be using improper imagery or mascots. The organization decreed that any school continuing to use the images after Feb. 1, 2006, would be barred from hosting postseason competition and could not display the image at any postseason tournament. 01/31/06 13:33 EST posted by: Webmaster@ 5:06 PM
|
