I don’t understand the endless fascination with college mascots. Students in college are adults, not children at Disney World. They are old enough to serve in the military (who themselves use real animals as their mascots, not someone in a costume). Grow up. Other major universities (Michigan, Indiana, etc) don’t have them either. As for the Fighting Illini name, it honors Illinois veterans and doesn’t need to change. The school/alumni should lean into that and educate people as to the actual name origin (see attached 1925 Alumni newsletter with first known use of term Fighting Illini). If people are still determined to have a symbolic “mascot”, it should be military related, perhaps a real person (Not a Sparty like costume) dressed as WWI soldier or better yet, an actual soldier or vet from Illinois to be honored at each game as “Fighting Illini”.