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UI faculty senate on board with chancellor's post-Chief initiative

URBANA — Chancellor Robert Jones' effort to bring some resolution to the decades-long Chief Illiniwek debate won the support of a somewhat divided campus senate Monday — but not without a lengthy discussion.

The senate voted 64-29, with eight abstentions, to support a resolution offered by education Professor Nick Burbules that supports Jones' "Critical Conversations" initiative, calling it a "good-faith effort to heal campus divisions over the issue and to seek a sustainable way forward."

"The Chancellor's initiative has brought key parties and constituencies together from all sides of this issue for a respectful exchange of views, in a spirit of positive commitment toward finding a resolution," the resolution stated.