This is so shitty I can't even. I don't even know where to begin; I legit hate people right now. How can you possibly justify petitioning the National Congress of American Indians and other minority groups and university officials for having removed a racist mascot by saying it's denying your school it's traditions and pride? So like...should slavery not have been abolished because it was a European tradition for hundreds of years? Kind of insanely happy I didn't go to U of I just for this.
http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=938&Itemid=115
http://www.aics.org/mascot/mascot.html
http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/illiniwik.html
http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/indian-mascots.aspx
http://www.nativecircle.com/mascots.htm