chief illiniwek. this is some damn kooky world we live in. last nite on the news i caught just a bit of this piece - apparently the board of trustees at U of I has discussed, in the past year, getting rid of the "chief" as the school's mascot. this has been an issue for a number of years from student & native american groups - basically (correctly) arguing it's a racist & disrespectful symbol.
last time this came before the board, there was not a vote, since ya know, the anti-chief folks were gonna lose (so the issue was pulled from the table by the board member who brought it up). and i guess the issue has been tabled indefinitely b/c of other issues at the U. this year (a number of retirements of big administrators).
but to the meat of it - the obsession w/the chief is really FASCINATING. there are undergrads & alumns who are like *up in arms* that they're going to get rid of the chief. they babble on about tradition. so the question that comes up: what is the function of the chief? the one thing that i can think of is, a la benedict anderson's "imagined communities" argument, the chief serves some role in building community, and promoting stability on the campus. it builds a sense of connection between otherwise disparate individuals.
but why does a university campus need this? i mean, sure, community in & of itself is valuable. it makes us feel warm & fuzzy. but community also helps us have stabilty & prompt cooperation - it holds together societies/aggregates of people that really are very different by making us believe that we're really very similar. but how necessary is this for a university? i mean, you have lots of friendly undergrads, who are all members of a dept, all live in a dorm/apt building/in a neighborhood, and can join various student groups to provide them that touchy feely type stuff. plus, are campuses really that divisive that they need "mascots" to pull them together? so while i get the role that the chief plays as a uniter, i'm not sure of the necessity of him - particularly in light of the damage he does to our native american friends. (wouldn't some other symbol - assuming one is absolutely necessary - do the job just as well?) its crazy how our affective sides - which are valuable! - can so override anything reasonable... do we need the return of reason - where the fuck is modernity when you need it?
in other news. it's friday. that's the shit. although my weekends are a lot like my weeks ... i read a lot. but it feels qualitatively different dammit, and i stand by that!
later on
last time this came before the board, there was not a vote, since ya know, the anti-chief folks were gonna lose (so the issue was pulled from the table by the board member who brought it up). and i guess the issue has been tabled indefinitely b/c of other issues at the U. this year (a number of retirements of big administrators).
but to the meat of it - the obsession w/the chief is really FASCINATING. there are undergrads & alumns who are like *up in arms* that they're going to get rid of the chief. they babble on about tradition. so the question that comes up: what is the function of the chief? the one thing that i can think of is, a la benedict anderson's "imagined communities" argument, the chief serves some role in building community, and promoting stability on the campus. it builds a sense of connection between otherwise disparate individuals.
but why does a university campus need this? i mean, sure, community in & of itself is valuable. it makes us feel warm & fuzzy. but community also helps us have stabilty & prompt cooperation - it holds together societies/aggregates of people that really are very different by making us believe that we're really very similar. but how necessary is this for a university? i mean, you have lots of friendly undergrads, who are all members of a dept, all live in a dorm/apt building/in a neighborhood, and can join various student groups to provide them that touchy feely type stuff. plus, are campuses really that divisive that they need "mascots" to pull them together? so while i get the role that the chief plays as a uniter, i'm not sure of the necessity of him - particularly in light of the damage he does to our native american friends. (wouldn't some other symbol - assuming one is absolutely necessary - do the job just as well?) its crazy how our affective sides - which are valuable! - can so override anything reasonable... do we need the return of reason - where the fuck is modernity when you need it?
in other news. it's friday. that's the shit. although my weekends are a lot like my weeks ... i read a lot. but it feels qualitatively different dammit, and i stand by that!
later on
*shakes head*
also: yay reading on weekends, it does just feel yummier