15 Comments
It’s not looking good, Dianne.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a national free speech watchdog, has just issued a statement condemning the suspension of men’s club hockey. Not that Bollinger typically listens to rights groups; but it’s probably a good idea to avoid bad press on the eve of a four billion dollar fundraising push.
And then there’s the online petition that’s reached 454 signatures, and the Facebook group (“Bring Back Columbia Hockey”) that has 460 members. The situation is bad for the Columbia hockey team–according to communications manager Zach Phillips, the suspension will put them out of commission for three years while they rebuild their league standing–but disregarding reason, warning, and due process in making consequential decisions isn’t the best way to make friends, either. Student council members are baffled, and Bwog is struggling to fathom just how an administrator could screw up quite so badly.
Nope, it’s not looking good at all. Start backpedaling, honey.
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15 Comments
@precisely !!!
@1st Amendment my ass!!! I sincerely doubt the founding fathers had “PUSSY” in mind when they wrote the constitution..or maybe they did…but that’s not the point.
@um. free speech was precisely intended to cover unsavory and unpopular terms. either way. there’s no constitutional issue here, its really more the spirit of free speech. university are allowed to have ‘speech codes’
@private ones are but certainly not public ones.
@whatthe OK, I’m pretty leftist, but seriously here…CUMB can put up posters whose sole purpose is to offend people as much as possible and nothing happens…yet the Hockey team uses the word ‘pussy’ which is so common its often not even considered vulgar and they get suspended? Weird priorities Columbia…
@baffled Wanna talk “weird priorities”? Searles & Brown, walking free. Enough said.
@Anonymous Seems kind of hypocritical of the class councils who originally condemned the hockey team…along the lines of, “We wanted you punished, but not that much!”
@interesting A google search of Murphy turns up her bio, the main paragraph of which names a main reason for Bollinger hiring her–hockey! “In her six years at the University of Denver, Murphy transformed the University’s athletics program from Division II status into one of the top Division I programs in the country, winning four NCAA Division I titles, including the 2004 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship. Recording its best NCAA Division I season in 2003-2004, Denver finished 58 th in the annual United States Sports Academy (USSA) Directors’ Cup as well.”
@actually its clearly a first amendment issue. it protects obscenities and low value speech just as much as political speech.
@not coach wilson guys and gals, the football team comes back to reality this saturday. you can bet the house on it.
@Yes & No There probably should be a punishment, but not to the team as a whole, but to those who created and to a lesser exent distributed the ads. The “Pussy” slogan was not clever or witty, but crude and vulgar. However, it certainly was NOT chauvenistic or offensive. And lets be clear, this is not a first ammendment issue, common sense dictates you don’t post flyers laced with obscenities. Nevertheless cancelling the 1st half of the hockey season is too dranconian for such a stupid offense. Perhaps some form of community service would be more beneficial.
@murpy has been an absolute disaster. but the football team’s winning. maybe the country’s foremost anti-sports atheletic director is onto something?
@Zach Or maybe Norries Wilson is awesome.
http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/sep_oct06/features1.php
Is anyone in favor of this, out of curiosity? I’ve yet to hear a single person speak in favor of this punishment. Heartening.
@i highly doubt that this suspension will stand, especially with the increasing publicity, coupled with the aggressive alumni drive
if anything, dianne murphy will go first
@Anonymous Damn, and the hockey team was starting to get good again. They even had a real coach.