Security review ordered after Chief Illiniwek protest

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees has ordered a review of policies on responding to student protests less than a week after a 32-hour sit-in by students opposed to the Chief Illiniwek mascot and Indian-head symbol.

The review will begin at the Urbana-Champaign campus, site of the protest, but will also include campuses at Chicago and Springfield, the university said. It will be conducted by Thomas Bearrows, the university's legal counsel.

"We need to understand whether there are adequate procedures in place and to make sure we have a policy of adherence to those procedures," chairman Lawrence C. Eppley said in a statement issued late Tuesday. "We need to make sure our procedures allow our employees access to their places of employment so they have an opportunity to perform free of harassment."

Wednesday, Eppley said he wanted last week's protest to serve as a lesson.

Eppley has directed Bearrows to determine whether procedures exist at each campus for responding to demonstrations, whether they were followed when the Swanlund Administration Building in Champaign was occupied, whether there are circumstances that allow noncompliance and whether any changes should be made.

A group of about 40 demonstrators occupied Swanlund beginning the morning of April 15 to protest the continued use of the Illiniwek image. They left Friday afternoon after securing an agreement to meet with several state legislators.