February 2018: Protestors and supporters show up at final home basketball game

There were about 100 protestors that stood outside the main entrance of the State Farm Center chanting, "Down with the Chief," and held signs demanding a new university mascot before Illinois' final home basketball game.

There were also fans who wore symbols of Chief Illiniwek and some had the logo on their jackets or waved an orange flag with the image of the Native American wearing a headdress. Many fans designated the game "Paint the Hall Chief" in hopes that they would inspire the crowd to wear clothing with the chief logo on it. Some people did wear the chief's logo and held up printed orange signs with the Chief's image.

The goal of the protestors was to provide a dissenting voice to the fans who want to bring back the Chief, as well as to urge the university to select a mascot and ban fans from dressing up as the Chief at sporting events.

Protestors stood outside the State Farm Center before tipoff and chanted and offered cards to fans that explained the NCAA ruling and why it is said that the Chief exploits Native Americans. Many of the protestors chanted "the Chief is racist" or "No Chief in our town. Shut it down. Shut it down." Many of them also held signs that said, "New mascot now" or "Let the Chief go."

There were also fans that walked around the State Farm Stadium chanting, "Long live the Chief" or "Make America great again." A former student from the university stated that the protestors are naive and don't know what's going on. He also stated that Native Americans are only looking to get something out of the whole situation.

Many believe that it is time to take action, rip the band-aid off, and have constructive dialogue about the issue.

October 2017: Homecoming Protest

In October, the homecoming parade came to a standstill for 10 minutes because a group of anti-Chief protestors blocked a car carrying Chancellor Robert Jones. These people protested the entry in the parade of the Honor the Chief Society, which included a student dressed up as Chief Illiniwek.

The protest was organized by the Illinois Student Government and joined by other student organization caused disruptions in the 2017 Homecoming Parade that was held on the Friday before the homecoming football game. The parade came to a stop when the protestors blocked them at the corner of Wright and Green Street.

The university police officers had to separate Chancellor Robert Jones and Dr. Lynn Hassan Jones from the protestors, who were chanting "not our mascot" and held signs demanding "no more Chief" and a new mascot for the next 150 years.