Chief Illiniwek, the controversial American Indian mascot at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will dance for the last time next week, the university announced today.

Illinois’ Board of Trustees chose to discontinue the 81-year-old tradition, ending a long-simmering dispute that had splintered the campus and led the NCAA to ban Illini teams from playing host to postseason sporting events.

The Chief will perform for the last time at a men’s basketball home game next Wednesday. After that, Illinois will be removed from the NCAA’s list of institutions barred from playing host to or participating in postseason events because of mascots the association deems offensive to American Indians, Bernard W. Franklin, an NCAA senior vice president, said in a letter faxed to the university on Thursday.

With a dispute that dates back more than 15 years, and that featured appeals to the courts, Congress, and the NCAA, Illinois officials seem relieved to put the Chief chapter behind them.

“While people differed on their opinions of the Chief, the overwhelming majority of those voices put their love for the university ahead of their opinion on the Chief,” said Lawrence C. Eppley, chairman of the university’s board, in a written statement. “Now we have the responsibility to work together to maintain other great traditions that will unite our community for decades to come.”

The mascot will not perform at any future university-sponsored athletics events, but the Chief’s image could live on. In another written statement, the university said it was reviewing trademark laws to decide what to do with the trademark rights to the Chief name and logo. Last year, news reports suggested that a group of some 30 alumni who had performed as the Chief would assume control of the tradition, presumably promoting the Chief’s appearance off the playing field.