In 2005 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) distributed a "self evaluation" to its member institutions for teams to examine the use of potentially offensive imagery with their mascot choice.
[2][3] Subsequently, 19 teams were cited as having potentially "hostile or abusive" names, mascots, or images, that would be banned from displaying them during post-season play, and prohibited from hosting tournaments.
[7] An SDSU professor of American Indian Studies states that among other problems the mascot teaches the mistaken idea that the Aztecs were a local tribe rather than living in Mexico 1,000 miles away.
[8] However, in February 2017 the SDSU Native American Student Alliance (NASA) supports removal of the mascot, calling its continue use "institutional racism" in its official statement to the Committee on Diversity, Equity and Outreach.
[14] The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) kept the Fighting Illini nickname as referring to the state, not Native Americans, but officially stopped using the Chief Illiniwek image and mascot in 2007, although an attachment remains among many students and alumni;[15][16][17][18] but not all.
In 2011, the State Legislature voted that the university should retain the name but in a 2012 referendum the voters decided to proceed with the change, which has been completed but no alternative nickname or logo has been selected.
[34][35] The NCAA has granted waivers from their mascot policy to five university teams originally on the "hostile and abusive" list that obtained official support from individual tribes for the use of their names and images, based upon the principle of Tribal Sovereignty.