Veronika Bateman

URBANA — A national endorsement may give the most recent push to introduce a new University of Illinois mascot some air beneath its wings.

On Dec. 1, the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest representative organization for tribal governments and communities in the country, urged UI administrators and the board of trustees “to take prompt and decisive action to replace and rebrand the University’s mascot.”

“When harmful Native ‘themed’ mascots are retired but not replaced, harmful imagery persists as the community fails to come together around a new identity that is truly representative of them,” reads the letter signed by Larry Wright Jr., the NCAI’s executive director.

“To that end, we understand a mascot replacement proposal has garnered significant support, including passing a campuswide referendum and faculty vote,” Wright said. “NCAI is supportive of the democratic process employed to select a replacement mascot for the University, and sees such a selection as a positive step forward for the University of Illinois community.”

The proposal the NCAI is referring to is the belted kingfisher, a mascot concept designed by UI alumna Spencer Wilken (nee Hulsey) while she was still a student.

Two years after her proposal rallied support through nonbinding votes in Illinois Student Government and the UI faculty senate, the university “has not moved forward on any proposal regarding the kingfisher, and there is no timetable” UI spokeswoman Robin Kaler said.

“We appreciate the input and perspective from the National Congress of American Indians regarding the harm Native imagery causes, and we continue to engage our campus community around new traditions that will help our university heal and move forward,” Kaler said.

Today, a growing number of University of Illinois students, alumni, even professors are wearing unofficial merchandise depicting the orange-and-blue belted kingfisher.

“They’re designing their own; they’re asking us for designs; we’re getting donations to make some,” Wilken said. “You’ll start seeing more and more kingfisher gear appear on campus — it’s definitely growing, but it’s growing organically.”

When Wilken mocked-up her vision of the belted kingfisher as a UI mascot, she based it off the birds she saw flocking to a pond near her family’s farm in Kinmundy.

To her, the case was clear. Female belted kingfishers sport bright orange-and-blue plumage. The bird is common to rivers and streams of the Midwest, and is an aggressive hunter, dive-bombing to snatch its prey. No school has adopted the species as a mascot.

In Spring of 2020, supportive allies in the Illinois Student Government put the kingfisher mascot on the ballot in a nonbinding referendum. Students voted in favor of the bird 4,222 to 3,597. (Previous mascot ideas, like ‘Alma Otter,’ weren’t as successful.)

The UI faculty senate held an advisory vote of its own in the fall, endorsing the kingfisher 105-2, with four abstentions.

In the wake of campus endorsements, Wilken and other supporters of her design formed an organization — Illinois Alumni for the Kingfisher — to generate hype and merchandise around the idea.

Wilken helps design the items, while students of the “Kingfisher Task Force” on campus handle donations, production and free giveaways.

To date, their cause has gathered nearly $1,500 in donations. The group expects to fulfill an order of more than 60 custom-made sweaters later this winter.

“That’s what a mascot is supposed to do; it’s supposed to give students something to rally around and use as a symbol for school spirit. And that’s exactly what it’s doing,” Wilken said.

The kingfisher has rallied more support than any other bid to fill the vacancy left by the 2007 “retirement” of the 81-year Chief Illiniwek tradition. The Chief, portrayed by UI students, was one of 19 mascots or symbols termed “hostile or abusive” in a 2005 NCAA ruling, which banned teams from full postseason play unless the figures were removed from the sidelines.

The UI “retired” Chief Illiniwek in 2007, after decades of controversy and debate over whether the symbol’s halftime dances and regalia culturally appropriated Native American traditions.

Sophomore Ethan Cooper joined the kingfisher’s advocacy group after visiting its table on Quad Day.

For him, supporting the bird was a no-brainer. His high school, Waubonsie Valley, has faced its own 21st-century critiques for the Native American imagery associated with its “warrior” mascot. Plus, Cooper wants something on the sidelines to keep up with conference peers.

“This is a school that officially doesn’t have a mascot, which is jarring compared to other Big Ten and Power Five schools,” Cooper said. “Getting something to essentially transition away from Chief Illiniwek into something more modern and representative of the student body is better for both college campuses and society as a whole.”

A few reputable organizations have written formal endorsements for the kingfisher: The American Indian Center of Chicago in 2020, the Chicago Tribune editorial board and the Champaign Audubon Society. (The News-Gazette’s editorial board did not approve.)

The kingfisher has also found its way into two independent murals around campus, on South Third Street and in the corner of the Skyline Tower on Green Street.

Wilken reached out to the National Congress of American Indians earlier this year, noticing their 2007 statement commending Illinois’ retirement of Chief Illiniwek.

“Since this is the clearest next step, it made sense to bring (NCAI) back into this conversation,” Wilken said.

The NCAI letter stops short of fully endorsing the kingfisher as a replacement, something Wilken thought was appropriate, even if she’s partial to her creation.

“I absolutely agreed,” Wilken said. “I am more supportive of students getting something than nothing at all.

“There will be some people in the incoming freshmen classes who were born after the Chief was already gone,” Wilken said. “Why can’t they have a mascot? They should be able to have something to rally around, to have fun with. Something goofy on the sidelines, something they could put on a shirt embroidered by their grandma.”

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