-By Jerry Vachaparambil

There has been a great deal of controversy regarding certain emails that were revealed in a FOIA request at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). For those who haven’t read them, they’re a real treat.

The emails involve a group of administrators, one of whom was forced to resign –joining forces to prevent a student event and misuse taxpayer dollars. The first email tells us about a Chancellor eager to ban all students from using the Assembly Hall that because he didn’t like an event that was supposed to happen there. A few emails later we hear about a Vice Chancellor that ‘appreciates the fact that they have been trying to get in the way of a student event’. As we witness their eagerness to limit our rights to peaceably assemble and free speech, we see a professor that doesn’t care about rules making an outrageous assertion, “What other than genocide is behind the sentiment that it’s good to never see a real Indian?”

For those who do not understand the intricacies of this whole debate, I’m guessing you’re not Illini fans. Well, for starters, a fringe group of vocal ‘minority advocates’ seems to be in bed with the administration here. I doubt that there can ever be a legitimate entity that calls itself the ‘voice of the minority’ and even if one emerges, there is so much diversity even within most minority groups that any minority advocate that takes themselves seriously cannot be excessively partisan.

The prevalence of chief apparel and symbols throughout campus lead me to believe that the amount of people that honor this symbol vastly outnumber those offended by it. In any case, the fact that the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and a Dean of students spent so much time ‘trying to get in the way of student events’ and planning protests to the ‘Next Dance’ make it hard to believe that these people can successfully extricate their political beings from their professional one’s.

Regarding this matter, former candidate for Attorney General and Tazewell County State’s Attorney, Stewart Umholtz, has said, “The responsibility of citizenship demands that citizens defend our liberty. Too many citizens are content to let their government trample on their rights since they don't want to be bothered with such matters … until it is too late. The administration should commend students not attempt to silence them. Allowing free expression of ideas is essential to preserving truth.”

I’ve interacted with the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations twice. The first time was at a student leader’s retreat at Allerton where they showed us a documentary which exposed how bigoted the supporters of Chief Illiniwek really are. The next time was at a T-Shirt exchange that tried to ‘cleanse the campus of racist apparel’.

Carlos Tortolero, a trustee of the Universty, once said, “People say that my problem is that I make people uncomfortable. But how can you talk about racism and race relations and make it sound comfortable? Do you have Kermit the Frog come out and sing a song? We need to be frank if we want to teach.”

Over the last two years that the Chief has not existed, Project 500 has failed at recruiting even 500 African-American and Hispanic students. Our commitment to diversity cannot fixate on issues like the Chief and must include a more comprehensive approach that may not make all the administrators feel comfortable. We need to be frank in allowing students who may not have seen the Chief to have an opportunity to see what the former symbol once represented. We deserve to be allowed to decide for ourselves how uncomfortable the Chief may make minorities feel.

Considering the political and financial situation the University faces, I think that the particular talents of the administrators in question would better serve the world of education by showing us how power corrupts people into thinking that they can do anything they want. Vice Chancellor Renee Romano and Dean Anna Gonzales might want to consider stepping down, especially since they sent paid spies to various student senate meetings to influence the decision-making. As Rep. Bill Black has said, “It is time for a new day in Illinois”. Apparently, the President and Chancellor weren’t the only people that needed to leave to make this happen. It’s time to restore pride in an institution and administration that helps facilitate true inclusiveness.

Most University administrators are probably good people. While we admonish them for actions, we should never question their role in education. After all, most people wouldn’t spend so much of their life in an academic setting if they had no interest in education.

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