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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The students have spoken.
In a referendum on the student body’s spring 2020 ballots at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a vote to make the ‘Belted Kingfisher’ the official mascot of the University passed 4,222 to 3,597.
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The referendum’s explanatory text said the Kingfisher will now be sent to the University Administration, who would still have to decide whether or not to adopt the non-binding referendum.
The Belted Kingfisher would not replace the name ‘Fighting Illini,’ but would be a replacement mascot after the NCAA banned Chief Illiniwek in 2005. Many consider Chief Illiniwek a symbol of the University, rather than a mascot.
The kingfisher logo was designed by a current University of Illinois student.
It would be the first female mascot in the Big Ten and is uniquely orange and blue, according to the explanatory text.
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