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Environmental macroaggressions often are packaged in symbols. From 1926 to 2007, Chief Illiniwek was the official symbol of the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign sports teams. During university sporting events, Chief Illiniwek would perform a dance routine before fans during games, at halftimes, and after victories. For two decades, Native American students, staff, and faculty and their allies deplored the choice of mascot as being demeaning, hostile, and abusive toward them, their cultures, and their lifestyles. They claimed that the symbol/mascot of Chief Illiniwek misappropriated, disrespected, and dehumanized Native Americans and perpetuated harmful racial and ethnic stereotypes (Garippo, 2000).

In general, Chief Illiniwek, portrayed by a White student in Sioux regalia, was said to create a hostile environment toward diversity, hinder development of a positive learning community, promote an inaccurate image of Native Americans, and assail the integrity of indigenous peoples. Numerous organizations, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Education Association, Amnesty International, and the National Congress of American Indians, supported the retirement of Chief Illiniwek (Guiliano, 2015; Spindel, 2000).

For years the university, the majority of the student body, and even the Illinois state legislature supported the mascot because it was meant to honor Native Americans and was a beloved symbol of the spirit of a great university. Native Americans, however, often asked, “Why don't we feel honored?” In February 2007, after decades of controversy, Chief Illiniwek was retired. In their research study of weblog comments offered in response to the chief’s discontinuation, Clark, Spanierman, Reed, Soble, and Cabana (2011) found seven microaggressive themes that target Native Americans. For example, online contributors expressed “adoration” and “honor” for Native Americans via a caricature. Notably, related posts also referred to Native Americans as “extinct” or “vanishing” and claimed that without Chief Illiniwek, non‐Native Americans would soon forget about actual Native American peoples. These sentiments create an unwelcoming and even hostile environment for actual Native American students, faculty, and staff on campus. This example demonstrates how macroaggressions may be delivered environmentally and shows the interplay bewteen microaggressions (when an individual wears a “Chief” t‐shirt) and macroaggressions (a racist mascot represents to represent an institution). As an epilogue, it is sad to note that, although not in the role of an official mascot, Chief Illiniwek reappeared on the University of Illinois campus in 2008 under the banner of “free speech” and continues unofficially in 2019.