It's hard to believe a group representing the bastions of free speech across the country doesn't have the guts to tell some people to "bug off" or "get lost, this is a non-issue."

No, the NCAA Executive Committee chose to be a toady for political correctness among many whose recognition of freedom of speech is limited to what they have to say.

Acting as judge, jury and appeals court, the NCAA Executive Committee ignored the words of its own president, who said, "This is a membership based association where institutional autonomy is valued." That isn't the case anymore. The Executive Committee said the University of Illinois can no longer host NCAA post-season events if it keeps Chief Illiniwek.

The same committee that said last August that the Chief and the nickname Fighting Illini created a "hostile or abusive" environment also rejected the U of I's recent appeal to retain the Chief at sporting events. "Our decision is final," said Walter Harrison, chairman of the committee.

The committee trampled on the First Amendment to the Constitution that universities hold so dear to defend extreme, divergent views. So some people complained about the Chief! Stand up to them, trustees! Quit apologizing for a revered tradition and symbol that has been a positive figure for the university for 80 years.

If there are professors or students who don't like the Chief, they have options - ignore him, accept him or leave. The Chief was there before they were.

We'd like to see this freedom-of-speech issue played out in a real courtroom, where the jurists aren't pressured by people with the loudest voices or by those who can disrupt a campus because their jobs are protected by a thing called tenure.

A tradition as sacred as Chief Illiniwek should not be shelved by a bunch of mealy-mouthed college administrators who think they must bow to the demands of those who want to make the Chief a racial issue.

It's too bad U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, a Republican from Urbana, and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert felt compelled to introduce legislation that would allow Illinois to sue the NCAA for lost revenue if the U of I is barred from hosting a championship game. The NCAA's bad decisions should not become a federal issue.

The NCAA insists it isn't getting rid of the Chief. That's up to the U of I Board of Trustees.

Nice try NCAA, but without your threat, trustees probably wouldn't change. You've given them an out. And it sounds like trustees are throwing the issue in the lap of the Athletics Department because Athletic Director Ron Guenther has said he is worried about the impact on recruiting if post-season tournaments are not held at the U of I. In the past five years, the U of I has hosted 11 NCAA events attracting about 17,000 people.

And most of those NCAA events have been in non-revenue sports, which is key to the entire Chief Illiniwek issue.

The U of I is afraid that discontinuing the Chief will tick off some major donors who have come to revere the Chief because of his appearances at football and basketball games.

Revenue from those two sports virtually supports all other sports programs for men and women at the university. And the ruckus is coming to a head at a time when Guenther is planning major fund-raising to renovate athletic facilities.

These Fighting Illini trustees aren't worthy of their moniker if they let professors, students or the NCAA infringe on freedom of speech on their campus.