SEE BELOW..the University of Illinois "...challenges the NCAA's
power..."

Who has the power?
   The NCAA?       The University of Illinois?       Anti-racism and
ethics?        Money and capitalism?



>>> <[log in to unmask]> 01/31/06 2:45 PM >>>
Illinois 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