Chief Illiniwek, the controversial mascot at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is likely to keep dancing at football and men’s basketball games through the 2006-7 academic year, the Associated Press reported.

Trustees at the university are not expected to decide until next May whether to allow the mascot to stay on. The delay means that the university will not be allowed to play host to NCAA-sponsored postseason events this year.

Last August the NCAA banned Illinois and 17 other colleges from participating in or playing host to NCAA events because they have American Indian mascots or nicknames that the association considers hostile and abusive.

Eight colleges remain on the NCAA’s banned list, and at least one of them, the University of North Dakota, is considering suing the NCAA to retain its nickname (The Chronicle, May 12). A bill in Congress would prevent the NCAA from cracking down on team mascots (The Chronicle, May 8).