Before you skim through this column to get to my thesis, I want to explain a bit about why I decided to write this piece.
During the fall semester of 2015, I was a junior at the University of Illinois and a member of the Illinois Student Senate (now the Illinois Student Government). A friend, who is also fellow senator, approached me at the first meeting that fall and asked me a simple question: “What if we had a new mascot? We’re never getting Chief back, and I feel like it might be time.”
I thought it was a pretty intriguing idea.