URBANA (AP) — It's been almost six years since Chief Illiniwek last danced at the University of Illinois, but students have placed an item on a campus ballot to make the controversial mascot the official symbol of the campus.

This week's nonbinding vote comes in response to a student-backed contest to suggest a new mascot. University trustees voted to shelve Chief Illiniwek in 2007 under threat of NCAA sanctions.

Josh Good, a student behind the effort to get the item on the ballot, said he wants students who support the mascot to be heard. He also hopes to block any effort to create a new mascot in order to diminish the memory and tradition of the old one.