Next: Petitions!

I see University of Illinois Board of Trustees Chairman Lawrence Eppley pretty much made a complete ass of himself in response to the NCAA's ruling on hostile and abusive Native American mascots.

In response to the NCAA's actions and statements from NCAA President Myles Brand, Eppley fired off a letter to USA Today! A letter to USA Today? How harsh! How forceful! Next thing you know, he'll arrange a 'Save the Cheef" bake sale to attempt to resurrect the comotose UI mascot. Buy a cookie, save an honored offense.

In today's News-Gazette, Eppley is quoted as saying the NCAA's actions concerning American Indian imagery is "a giant step backward" in the debate over use of such imagery.

He continuerd

Eppley said he was disappointed by the organization's use of the terms "hostile" and "abusive."
"A lot of us locally have seen how unhelpful that has been," he said. "We've spent a lot of time getting that out of our (discussions)."

Right. All the BOT has done for the last few years is stall while attempting to placate the big bucks contributors who demand they retain the sad halftime minstrel show.

Eppley defends the BOT's work, saying,

The board of trustees has been trying to reach a consensus solution to the Chief Illiniwek issue, which Eppley said has moved the discussions from "harsh rhetoric" to "constructive dialogue." But he said the NCAA's use of the terms "hostile" and "abusive" could mean a loss of common ground.

Excuse me? What common ground have they achieved? The common ground of continuing to stall making a decision on a politically sensitive but hostile and abusive issue?

I think Brand said it best:

"This is not about an effort to be politically correct. It is about doing the right thing," Brand wrote. "It is time to bring such practices to an end."

We can only hope.

And so it goes.