A group of University of Illinois faculty members, which seeks to force the retirement of the university's controversial mascot, Chief Illiniwek, plans to move forward on its threat to dissuade recruits from attending the school.

	"Chief Illiniwek'' jumps high, but many do not jump for joy when the subject is the Fighting Illini's controversial mascot.

The state's Board of Trustees announced Wednesday that it would organize a committee to examine the future of the mascot, which has been the focus of two public hearings, a 270-page report and more than 18,000 phone calls, letters and e-mails to the university over the past 14 months. Chief Illiniwek, which is a student clad in headdress, war paint and Indian costume who performs at Illinois football and basketball home games, originally was created to honor the Native American heritage of the state.

But it also has been called racially insensitive and offensive by some.

"I think it was a lot more smoke, mirrors and obfuscation of the issue," Illinois professor Stephen Kaufman said after the trustees' meeting. "It sucked. It's quite unfortunate that the board has dug in their heels and is not willing to move on."

Kaufman leads the group of university faculty members who say they hope to discourage potential athletic recruits from attending the school should the Chief not be removed.

Similar tactics were used last summer, Kaufman said, when Illinois considered hiring Oklahoma basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, of partially Native American descent, to replace the departed Lon Kruger.

Each of the Board's 12 members addressed the issue during Wednesday's meeting, with all but the three student representatives voicing pro-Chief views. Trustee William Engelbrecht compared retiring the Chief to imploding a famous Native American statue that rests along the state's Rock River.

"It's important to show respect and honor for those that came here before us," Engelbrecht said. "Like the statue, Chief Illiniwek is a respectful remembrance of those people. Nobody has meant anything but respect to Native Americans in creation of the Chief.

"For those who say you can't honor culture, before you get rid of the Chief, I ask you to go up and implode that statue that overlooks the Rock River, too."

Illinois-Chicago economics student Arun Reddy was among the minority that spoke against the Chief. He called for the university to act "progressively" and not rest on the intentions of the mascot.

"Because the university uses an image with the intent to honor does not change the fact that such representation reduces a culture to a one-dimensional stereotype," Reddy said. "Just because the intent is to honor does not make it automatically appropriate. We need to recognize this is part of our past and must be responsive to change."

Kaufman said after the meeting that he is leery of any committee created by the Board of Trustees on the issue.

In addition to contacting potential recruits, Kaufman added that his group is considering legal action and said he expects the U.S. Department of Justice and Commission on Civil Rights to become involved.

"This committee that (the board) would define and control and prolong what is eventually inevitable does not meet the enthusiasm or hope we had that this was anything more than another charade," Kaufman said.