URBANA, Ill. -- The University of Illinois swept aside the last vestiges of Chief Illiniwek Tuesday, voting to retire the mascot's name, regalia and image.

The resolution lets Chancellor Richard Herman decide how and when the Chief Illiniwek name and image would stop being used and licensed to apparel makers and others.

The school would continue to call its sports teams the Fighting Illini under the resolution.

Activists and some American Indians have long complained that the chief is offensive and demeaning, while backers defend him as an honorable tradition.

In February, the school decided to end the performances of the Chief without a vote, which Board Chairman Lawrence Eppley has said wasn't needed. Nonetheless, board spokesman Thomas Hardy said voting now could blunt any legal action claiming there should have been a vote.

"This certainly would count as formal action by the board," Hardy said.

A state lawmaker asked the Attorney General's office whether making the decision without a vote was legal.

The decision to do away with the chief ended 81 years of performances at sports events by students wearing American Indian regalia. It also freed the University of Illinois from a sanction by the NCAA -- which deemed Illiniwek and his dance a "hostile and abusive" use of American Indian imagery -- that barred the Illini from hosting postseason sports for the past two years.

Board members also are to consider Trustee David Dorris' resolution that would direct the university to join a lawsuit filed by the last two students to portray the chief. The suit asks a judge to determine whether the NCAA could sanction Illinois over the mascot.