As a member of this University, I am ashamed of how we havetreated the situation with men’s basketball. Not only did these menwho were chosen to represent us both on the court and off fail ushorribly but also our own President, Father Harrington, madecomments that made some feel alienated. In response to all of thecontroversy, we make sexist remarks about the woman involved andcharge our leader as being racist for his misuse of the word”culture.”
I am not a minority. I don’t know what it feels to bediscriminated against because of the color of my skin. Instead, Ihave asked my friends who would be in this position about thePresident’s offensive comments and all have responded in differentways. However you personally feel about what was said, it in no wayshould be a main focus of the situation that has plagued ouruniversity of late.
Shouldn’t we be pointing fingers at the basketball players whofelt that going to a strip club for Elijah Ingram’s 20th birthdaythen having sex with the same woman and offering to pay her $6 forthe act?
How is this not the most appalling matter at hand? I sat througha three-hour plus SGI meeting and the only topic addressed was thePresident’s comments and his lack of presence on campus.
A woman was dehumanized on Wednesday night and we as a communityhad no qualms to show for it.
I’ve heard remarks like “A 38-year-old hooker, we can’t everwin” or “she is 38, so she was probably only worth $6 anyway.”Clever, but it speaks volumes as a community that we could careless about a women’s dignity.
We all know the woman was no saint, far from it. Not even withall of her recent damage control, there is hardly a redeemingquality to be found. She offered sex in exchange for money and thenwent to great means to try to extort the money from the players.But did anyone know that before they made these comments?
In the breaking news of the event, one student immediatelydenounced the woman’s credibility and said that we couldn’t be surewhat happened. He even pointed out the Kobe Bryant issue and howthat incident had been “exaggerated.”
We are all so ready to draw a line in the sand when it comes torace, but you really can’t compare the words of Father Harringtonto the actions of the three men on Wednesday night, regardless ofhow you personally feel about either party.
Having made my point, I am still going to go out and be proud ofmy University. I’ll still be the loudest member of the studentsection, don my red pride and encourage my fellow classmates to dothe same. Nothing has changed. All we can do now is hope that thiswill all blow over by midterms, and next year will be a return totradition.
