Crue v. Aiken
| Decision Date | 01 June 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-2951.,No. 03-2281.,No. 02-3627.,02-3627.,03-2281.,03-2951. |
| Citation | 370 F.3d 668 |
| Parties | Cydney A. CRUE, John M. McKinn, Debbie A. Reese, Brenda M. Farnell, Frederick E. Hoxie, Stephen Kaufman, and Philip W. Phillips, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Michael AIKEN, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Harvey M. Grossman (argued), Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU, Inc., Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Timothy S. Bishop (argued), Nicola Jackson, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Man, Chicago, IL, Michael R. Cornyn, Thomas, Mamer & Haughey, Champaign, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.
Ann D. Springer, American Association of University Professors, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae, American Association of University Professors.
Matthew W. Finkin, University of Illinois College of Law, Champaign, IL, for Amicus Curiae, University of Illinios.
Before BAUER, MANION, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.
This case, raising First Amendment issues involving the University of Illinois, concerns "Chief Illiniwek," who, depending on one's point of view, is either a mascot or a symbol of the university. More on this distinction later but first, before getting to the issue at hand, we detour for a brief look at college nicknames and their embodiment as mascots.
In the Seventh Circuit, some large schools — Wisconsin (Badgers), Purdue (Boilermakers), Indiana (Hoosiers), Notre Dame (The Fighting Irish), DePaul (the Blue Demons), the University of Evansville (Purple Aces), and Southern Illinois (Salukis) — have nicknames that would make any list of ones that are pretty cool. And small schools in this circuit are no slouches in the cool nickname department. One would have a hard time beating the Hustlin' Quakers of Earlham College (Richmond, Indiana), the Little Giants of Wabash College (Crawfordsville, Indiana), the Mastodons of Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne, Indiana), and the Scarlet Hawks of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
But most schools have mundane nicknames. How can one feel unique when your school's nickname is Tigers (43 different colleges or universities),1 Bulldogs (40 schools), Wildcats (33), Lions (32), Pioneers (31), Panthers or Cougars (30 each), Crusaders (28), or Knights (25)? Or how about Eagles (56 schools)? The mascots for these schools, who we assume do their best to fire up the home crowd, are pretty generic — and pretty boring.
Some schools adorn their nicknames with adjectives — like "Golden," for instance. Thus, we see Golden Bears, Golden Bobcats, Golden Buffaloes, Golden Bulls, Golden Eagles (15 of them alone!), Golden Flashes, Golden Flyers, Golden Gophers, Golden Griffins, Golden Grizzlies, Golden Gusties, Golden Hurricanes, Golden Knights, Golden Lions, Golden Panthers, Golden Rams, Golden Seals, Golden Suns, Golden Tigers, and Golden Tornados cheering on their teams.
All this makes it quite obvious that, when considering college nicknames, one must kiss a lot of frogs to get a prince. But there are a few princes. For major universities, one would be hard pressed to beat gems like The Crimson Tide (Alabama), Razorbacks (Arkansas), Billikens2 (St.Louis), Horned Frogs (TCU), and Tarheels (North Carolina). But as we see it, some small schools take the cake when it comes to nickname ingenuity. Can anyone top the Anteaters of the University of California-Irvine; the Hardrockers of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City; the Humpback Whales of the University of Alaska-Southeast; the Judges (we are particularly partial to this one) of Brandeis University; the Poets of Whittier College; the Stormy Petrels of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta; the Zips of the University of Akron; or the Vixens (will this nickname be changed if the school goes coed?) of Sweet Briar College in Virginia? As wonderful as all these are, however, we give the best college nickname nod to the University of California-Santa Cruz. Imagine the fear in the hearts of opponents who travel there to face the imaginatively named "Banana Slugs"?3
From this brief overview of school nicknames, we can see that they cover a lot of territory, from the very clever to the rather unimaginative. But one thing is fairly clear — although most are not at all controversial, some are. Even the Banana Slug was born out of controversy. For many years, a banana slug (ariolomax dolichophalus to the work of science) was only the unofficial mascot at UC-Santa Cruz.4 In 1981, the chancellor named the "Sea Lion" as the school's official mascot. But some students would have none of that. Arguing that the slug represented some of the strongest elements of the campus, like flexibility and nonaggressiveness, the students pushed for and funded a referendum which resulted in a landslide win for the Banana Slug over the Sea Lion. And so it became the official mascot.
Not all mascot controversies are "fought" out as simply as was the dispute over the Banana Slug. Which brings us to the University of Illinois where its nickname is the "Fighting Illini," a reference to a loose confederation of Algonquin Indian Tribes that inhabited the upper Mississippi Valley area when French explorers first journeyed there from Canada in the early seventeenth century. The university's mascot, to mirror its nickname — or to some its symbol — is "Chief Illiniwek." Chief Illiniwek is controversial. And the controversy remains unresolved today.
Chief Illiniwek does not participate in traditional cheerleading activities, but he does "perform" at athletic events. Whether his presence, and what he does, makes him more mascot than symbol, or vice versa, is really for others to decide. Suffice to say that opponents consider him to be a mascot, while supporters often refer to him as a symbol. The "debate," however, over the use of Native-American names whether as logos, mascots, or symbols is not unique to the University of Illinois.
Forty years ago, Marquette University used a mascot named "Willie Wampum" — a crude Indian caricature with a huge papier-mâché head (about 4 feet high!) — to whip up the crowd at its basketball games in support of its nickname — Warriors. Marquette is now the Golden Eagles. Similarly, the Stanford Indians became the "Cardinal," St. John's transformed from "Red Men" to "Red Storm," Miami of Ohio moved from "Redskins" to "Redhawks," and Eastern Michigan went from "Hurons" to "Eagles." Some schools, most notably Florida State ("Seminoles") and the University of North Dakota5 (the Fighting Sioux), have resisted change. And so has the University of Illinois.
Chief Illiniwek traces his existence to 1926 when, according to the University of Illinois web site, as assistant band director "conceived the idea of having a Native American war dance performed at half-time at the Illinois-Pennsylvania game." A student, wearing "a homemade costume complete with a war bonnet made of turkey feathers," performed a dance at half-time, which "was a big hit." According to NCAA News (April 23, 2001), the student mascot also smoked a "peace pipe" at halftime with Pennsylvania's mascot, "William Penn."
From the home page of the UIUC web site, we are informed as to how the chief was named:
The expression "Illiniwek" was first used in conjunction with the University of Illinois by football coach Bob Zuppke in the mid 1920's. Zup was a philosopher and historian by training and inclination, and he was intrigued by the concept the Illini peoples held about their identity and aspirations. They spoke a dialect of the Algonquin language and used the term "Illiniwek" to refer to the complete human being — the strong, agile human body; the unfettered human intellect; the indomitable human spirit.
Chief Illiniwek's "costume" underwent several revisions before settling on its present incarnation in 1982. Similarly, the chief's dance, involving intricate footwork and fast, spinning movements with split jumps and high kicks, has changed over the years. While these changes were taking place, some opposition to the presence of the chief began to percolate around Urbana-Champaign, beginning around 1975.
The earliest signs of protest we could find appear in the university's 1975 yearbook, where this appears:
A CHALLENGE TO THE CHIEF
Chief Illiniwek has been hailed as a symbol of University spirit since 1926. But while thousands have cheered his acrobatic gyrations during halftime, others look upon him with disgust.
"Chief Illiniwek is a mockery not only of Indian customs but also of white people's culture," said Bonnie Fultz, Citizens for the American Indian Movement (AIM) executive board member. According to Fultz, the continued use of Indian history as entertainment degrades the Indian and disgraces the white race by revealing an ignorance of tribal cultures.
"The Illiniwek exhibition is tantamount to someone putting on a parody of a Catholic Mass," Norma Linton, Citizens for AIM member and visiting anthropology lecturer at the University said. She continued by saying that Chief Illiniwek is an inaccurate composite.
she added. "They do not want their individual tribal customs combined and distorted, but want their traditions to remain separate and unique."
Mike Gonzalez, the current Chief, said that the only requirement in being considered for the position is an eagle spread jump. However, Gonzalez felt that Illiniwek is "majestic" and a symbol of fighting spirit. "In no way does it degrade the American Indian," Gonzalez said. "I think Illiniwek honors the Indian."
John Bitzer, Illiniwek from 1970-73, also defended the role. "Other university mascots are just caricatures but Illiniwek portrays the Indians as they would want to be portrayed."
Rep. A. Webber Borchers, R-Decatur, the originator...
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