U of Illinois had some really great band pregame and halftime centered around iirc the first marching band west of the Mississippi and mascot Chief Illiniwick. I was at two hawk games at Illinois back in the 1980s and the mascot with the band was a very good halftime. The school dropped the mascot about 20 years ago.
Of course, times changed and even the grouping of tribes changed their idea of the mascot. The elders and many who used to be proud
As someone with heavy Native American influence in my life thru family I can confirm about 95% of Native American uproar/protests comes from mainly bored white people.That was a great tradition at games. Not sure about the tribal elders stuff, that tribe has been extinct for a long time. You sure you're thinking about Illinois?
I recall going to a football game in champaign in the late 90's or early 2000s and walking by the protesters on the way into the stadium. It was about 4 white hippies and 2 college students with signs about how the university was offending their religion...in any case, societal pressures are societal pressures and as is custom, Illinois decided ignoring the native american influence was the safer route to go, and they're probably right.