CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois Board of Trustees today announced that Louis B. Garippo, a former circuit court judge in Cook County, has been retained to assist the board in conducting the dialogue on Chief Illiniwek.
The board also announced the time and location of its Special Intake Session on Chief Illiniwek. The session will take place in Foellinger Auditorium on the Urbana campus from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 14.
Garippo will preside over the session. The trustees will be present. A transcript will be made and will become part of the dialogue.
Doors will open April 14 at 7:30 a.m. The first part of the session will be allotted to groups, who will have eight minutes each to state their positions. Later in the day, individuals will have four minutes each to state their positions. (Only those with assigned times - see below - will be able to speak.) Speakers for and against the current policy on Chief Illiniwek will alternate, following parliamentary procedure. The presider will ensure that parliamentary procedure is followed and that a civil, courteous tone is maintained.
The session will be recorded on videotape. UI7, the campus's cable TV station, intends to broadcast the session. Details will be announced before April 14.
Potential participants should call the trustees' office at (217) 333-1920 or e-mail intake@uillinois.edu to obtain a registration form. Forms also may be picked up and/or dropped off at the Illini Union information desk.
As many speakers as possible will be accommodated. Assigned speakers will be notified. Lists of assigned speakers also will appear in the April 12 Daily Illini and Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette and on the Web.
Parking will be available in the Stadium Terrace lot on Kirby Avenue between First and Oak streets, west of Memorial Stadium. Free shuttles will run between the parking lot and Foellinger Auditorium.
Written statements are still being accepted until May 31 at dialogue@uillinois.edu or at Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek, P.O. Box 5052, Champaign, IL 61825. The dialogue will conclude with a Special Response Session in the fall. At that session, trustees will address points raised by participants.
"I am delighted that Judge Garippo has agreed to assist us in conducting the dialogue on Chief Illiniwek," said board chair William D. Engelbrecht. "His extensive experience, sound judgment and unquestioned integrity will be a great asset as we go through this process."
Garippo will review and compile communications on the issue, and prepare a report to the board.
The report will consist of an executive summary of the various arguments advanced, a distillation of those arguments into particular points the board will address at the Special Response Session, and an appendix containing the intake session transcript and other communications received.
Garippo may advise the board on procedural questions but will not make a recommendation on the status of Chief Illiniwek. His task will be to convey respondents' opinions to the board.
Garippo is in private practice with Cahill, Christian & Kunkle, Ltd. He has been in private practice since 1980. He was a circuit court judge in Cook County from 1968 through 1980. He began his career as a prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office from 1958 to 1968.
Garippo earned his law degree at DePaul University and a bachelor's degree at University of Notre Dame.