CHICAGO — The Oglala Sioux Tribe presented a resolution to the University of Illinois administration Thursday demanding the return of the Lakota regalia worn by Chief Illiniwek, the school mascot.

Presented to the Board of Trustees, the university president and the chancellor, the resolution calls for the university to "cease use of this mascot."

The "Oglala regalia is being misused to represent 'Chief Illiniwek'" and is a "disrespectful representation of the people of the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Piankeshuw, and Wea nations," according to resolution. "The antics of persons playing 'Chief Illiniwek' perpetuates a degrading racial stereotype that reflects negatively on all American Indian people."

The regalia itself was not even worn by the tribe Chief Illiniwek is supposed to have come from, said Malvin Young Bear, cultural liaison to vice president William Brewer of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The use of the regalia by the university mascot is insulting to the tribe, particularly because the ceremonial dress "was a significant honor to wear," Young Bear added. "That's something you earn, as a provider and a protector. There's a lot of spiritualism and a lot of traditional value by the people who actually wore it at that time."

The use of the mascot in general is "a slap in the face" to American Indians, Young Bear added.

In September 1982, Sioux Chief Frank Fools Crow presented the university with the regalia, which had been hand-crafted by the chief's wife, during a halftime ceremony, according to the Chief Illiniwek Educational Foundation, an organization founded by four students in 1998.

According to the resolution, Mel Lone Hill, a descendant of Fools Crow, asks that the regalia be returned to his family.

The American Indian Studies faculty and the staff at the Native American House at the university said they welcomed the resolution.

Faculty member Stephen Kaufman, who has spoken out against the use of the mascot, said he hoped this would prompt the Board of Trustees and the governor to replace the Chief.