Native American rights groups last week petitioned Bradley University to change its nickname because they view it as a racist depiction of American Indians.

The Peoria-based Bradley Braves use the “Braves” symbol, a red letter B with feathers, as a temporary logo. Bradley officials are holding a competition to find a permanent logo.

Bradley is the second Illinois university in the past year to be called upon by United Indian Nations, a group of 26 tribes based in Oklahoma, to review the appropriateness of their school’s mascot.

School officials do plan to discuss the issue with its alumni and students. Bradley officials were unavailable for comment.

Trustees at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in October will hear both sides of a year-old controversy over the school’s long-standing symbol, Chief Illiniwek. The trustees will make a decision concerning the mascot.

Terry Shepherd, director the the U of I news bureau, said the school views the Chief, a student dressed in Indian warfare costume, with respect because he does not “clown around” on the sidelines with the school’s cheerleaders. Rather, he performs cerimonial dances and gymnastics only during halftime festivities.

Opposing groups say Chief Illiniwek and similar symbols promote “negative images of American Indians and racism.”

The Associated Press quoted United Indian Nation’s spokesman Michael Haney as saying, “You don’t see the New Jersey Jews, with a caricature of a man with a big nose and a suitcase full of money. You don’t see the Atlanta Negroes or the Chicago Caucasians. No, because those things are racist and everyone knows it.”

Chief Illiniwek has undergone changes since criticisms began last fall.