Putterman: When is cheering no longer harmless?
February 3, 2013
On Nov. 27, Northwestern’s basketball team lost to Maryland 77-57 at Welsh-Ryan Arena as Terrapins guard Dez Wells scored 23 points on 9-11 shooting. Wells’s success came in spite of (or maybe because of) considerable negative attention from the Wildcats’ student section.
When Wells stepped to the foul line, NU faithful showered him with chants alluding to a sexual assault allegation that resulted in his expulsion from Xavier University. When Wells was done shooting (he made all four of his free throws in that game), he chuckled and touched his index finger to his closed lips, playfully suggesting the students keep it down. After the game, he didn’t seem offended, telling the Baltimore Sun, “You have to embrace the hate you get on the road.”
Some on social media labeled the chants as inappropriate and a poor reflection on the university. A participant in the jeering myself, I was surprised reasonable people were offended. The yelling seemed harmless to me, and Wells himself laughed about it on the court. That kind of crowd behavior was exactly what I expected from a student body that presumably boasts a degree of wit.
My high school’s home fans were fairly ruthless. We would sneak in tawdry jokes about opposing players or referees, make fun of the education provided at rival schools, remind players of air balls until our throats were dry, and mock players’ appearance and on-field accessories. All in all, mostly innocent, and just occasionally over-the-line.
So the Wells situation seemed standard. That others saw it differently seemed odd. Of course, I understood the arguments. We’re representing an elite university and don’t want to represent it as a house of obnoxious wise-ass lunatics with no regard for the feelings of people wearing different colors. Maybe mocking someone for a serious legal and moral crime was too much, a point which students should have considered before engaging. But where exactly is that line?
On Saturday, my friends and I arrived at Welsh-Ryan early enough to secure prime seating (“Mom, I’m gonna be on ESPN2!”). From our front row perch, we did our best to influence the game with words. At first, we had little material cleverer than bird calls for Purdue guard/forward D.J. Byrd. Then, at halftime, Twitter informed us Boilermakers star freshman A.J. Hammons started the game on the bench as punishment for being late for the team bus.
And so we were off.
“Hey Hammons, you missed that shot like you missed the bus!”
“Hey Hammons, don’t be late on defense!”
“Hey Hammons, we know you missed the bus, and now we’re making fun of you for it!”
So we’re not that clever, but by a liberal definition we were a bit mean. Oh, and Hammons scored 19 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and showed no evidence of actually hearing a word we yelled at him. Still, it was fun, and I rationalized that such an innocent offense was deserving of a little derision. Some people associated with Purdue may now think NU students are childish and immature, and some people at NU may think the same.
But we’re in college, and what’s that about if not light-hearted fun?
If you don’t want to be mocked, don’t be late for the bus.
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This article completely misses the point. It's the latest in a very ill-thought-out series of Daily pieces that I won't get into, but are you really going to equate sexual assault charges to missing the bus? Never is it ever funny to joke about sexual assault under any circumstances. You were "surprised reasonable people were offended?" Grow up. "Harmless" is far from accurate. You think Dez Wells was happy about what happened? If you had done your research, you'd also note that he was NOT GUILTY, and was expelled from Xavier before he ever had a chance to be proven innocent. The system largely screwed him over and exactly how it went down is pretty murky, but the bottom line is, regardless of the fact he got cleared, Wells has to work to get his own name out of the mud now. His reputation is marred, and certainly a group of ignorant college students reminding everyone about it is going to be harmless. Wells dealt with the jeers well, but that doesn't make the fact they happened any worse. So give the full story if you want to even try and make that point.
On a larger scale, to even insinuate that what happened with Wells is remotely similar to making fun of a player for missing the bus is incredibly shortsighted and I expect much better from the Daily to catch something like that before it hits the internet. "Where is the line?" The author has, by failing to understand that concept, made that line fairly clear, ironically. Yep, we're representing an elite university here. Yes, the Daily again fails to help. I'm just blown away by the disconnect between the Wells situation and every single other trivial anecdote in this column.
It's never okay to make a joke about sexual assault. So figuratively, you missed the bus.
Information on the Dezmine Wells situation:
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/63416/the-strange-case-of-dezmine-wells
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I think you're not understanding the source of the anger. It's not that people think jeering at a player isn't okay, it's that you're making light of sexual assault, and it comes off as "rape, haha!". It'd be one thing if you decided you hated him because he was accused of rape, but instead you're treating it into a light-hearted joke, akin to missing a free throw.
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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN: NORTHWESTERN AND EVANSTON'S ONLY DAILY SOURCE OF IGNORANCE SINCE 1881
is what it should say on the top of the page because this is terrible and offensive.
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So you're saying this is all a bit of banter on a sensitive issue, all in good fun since the players are going about their business?
This is the exact same attitude of hooligans at say, Scottish soccer games: what's wrong with a little sectarian hatred? Why not call protestants Huns? Nothing wrong with some monkey chants for non-white players, right? The players on the field ignore it and keep playing, so why not?
It seems harmless to them. And then I guess the line is crossed in their point of view when they get banned from stadiums and arrested for their antics. But any sensible person would know that the behavior is unacceptable at any time.
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I see the relationship between sexual assault and racism as loose at best. Sexual assault is an accusation of an action that that player took and is dealing with the consequences, regardless of guilt or innocence. Race, meanwhile, is completely outside of the control of any player or person. I'm not saying sexual assault is funny by any means but rather that equating sexual assault and racism is a bit ridiculous.
Should sexual assault be a topic for heckling? Frankly, I don't think so but it is not nearly as offensive as racism. I guess I am having trouble getting worked up about this article. Although I seem to be in the minority.
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This joke is at the expense of an alleged sexual assault. If there is an alleged sexual assault, there is also an alleged victim. One in six women and one in 33 men in the US are victims of sexual assault (www.rainn.org). Chances are, there were victims of sexual assault in Welsh-Ryan that day. There were, more likely than not, victims of sexual assault in the Northwestern student section. To make light of sexual assault and chalk it up to "crowd behavior" is to belittle the struggle of every victim of sexual assault. To write and publish this article is to further the hurtful commentary about a serious and prevalent issue.
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There are arguably funny ways to joke about sexual assault: http://kateharding.info/2012/07/13/15-rape-jokes-that-work/
This is not one of them.
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Rich Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 1:45 pm
It's a little unfair to put the student section hivemind up against the professional comedian big boys but thx for the rape-related laughs anyway :-)
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Seb Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 1:48 pm
At no point did the auther personally make a joke about sexual assault.
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So what's the controversy, I mean all students did is make fun of Hammons for missing a bus and Wells for getting thrown under the bus! haha SWISH nailed it booyah #1 best joke high five everybody *holds up both hands, patiently waiting for some high fives*
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Trust me, whether you like it or not, Welsh Ryan and Ryan Field are the TAMEST visiting atmospheres in the Big Ten. I am definitely not condoning the first chant, but I have heard far-worse. I consider the chant @ Wells in poor taste and classless, but seriously, other schools have field days for stories like that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a761RZrecNs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1XBHKOizLU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyjO1ZDPg6c
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I agree with many of these comments, just becasue some girls at XU SAID Wells raped them or sexual assaulted or whatever doesn't mean anything and so it's not right to trivialize the man's feelings after a traumatic occurrence like a rape accusation
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This above comment was not Danny Heller, it was Parag Dharmavarapu, just to clarify. Also as far as this article goes, I think it in no way shape or form was intended to be offensive or make light of rape or sexual assault.
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This article is ridiculous on multiple levels. First, shame on the Daily editorial board for publishing this poorly thought through and pointless article. Second, shame on the writer for thinking he was making anything close to a valid point with this drivel. Third, shame on the students for being bad sports, for making light of rape, and making NU look bad. I thought this school was supposed to be comprised of people with brains.
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How about this to our own kind?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVdoA0zIm0c
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The fact that you "missed the bus when you were little and people made fun of you a lot" doesn't really have any bearing on the trivialization made here.
The fact that he is "actually pretty liberal" and "likes Obama" does not mean that the connection he made wasn't ignorant.
Literally nothing about your argument makes sense and actually comes off as ignorant as the article with assumptions such as the fact that he likes Obama must mean that he is sensitive and that he didn't make a ludicrous and ignorant connection.
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Bit rude, and not as funny as Miri's rape jokes linked above, but I support you Connor :-)
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Once again, the Daily doesn't fail in embarrassing me as a Northwestern student. This newspaper truly needs new writers, new editors, and new management. I have no idea how the Daily consistently manages to outdo itself in creating mediocre and offensive material. It would be impressive if it weren't so pathetic.
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I would love for everyone on here to stand in another school's student section. You'll happily take back NU
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Adam Reply:
February 5th, 2013 at 9:40 pm
This argument that we should be happy with our student section because they aren't as bad as other student sections is, to say the least, a weak one. The severity of our student sections sexual assault related cheers isn't the issue. The issue is that any cheer like this makes light of sexual assault. Just because our sexual assault chants aren't as bad as Duke's, doesn't mean ours are okay.
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Peace peace man. Cool beans.
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