After almost two decades of protests, my alma mater, the University of Illinois, has decided to retire its mascot "Chief Illiniwek". They will retain the name "Fighting Illini", desipite the fact that tribe that gives the state, and the Chief, and the sports teams their name, the Illiniwek tribe, were a peaceful tribe that didn't fight - which probably helped account for the fact that they were completely wiped out in earlier centuries.

I'm taking the time to write about this because it is in part, the culmination of years of effort that I was a part of back in the early 1990s when I was a student at UofI. As a freshman and later I marched against the Chief, I met with the off-campus protesters. Somewhere I have the Daily Illini photo, not online, alas, of my sophomore year roomate and I holding up a banner bearing the admonishion - "What if the Pope were our mascot?", complete with little pope mugs and t-shirts. I think I still have the mug cut out somewhere as well.

Robert Novak and his ilk are up in arms about the PC police and caving in to political pressure. But what this really should be about is basic respect. Respect for the people around you. Respect for Native Americans on campus and for the tribes who are portrayed in the Illiniwek dance.

It's about time. And it's overdue.