<p>For at least 90 minutes, about a dozen Dartmouth students pelted Harvard’s men and women players with obscenity-laced insults that some witnesses described as misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-Semitic. Women on the Harvard team were called “whores’’ and “sluts,’’ witnesses said; the men were taunted with crude comments about their masculinity.</p>
<p>The Dec. 2 incident, which shattered the genteel world of college squash, has prompted a flurry of apologies this week from Dartmouth’s president, athletic director, and students, including soccer players and fraternity members involved in the incident.</p>
<p>The incident also has sparked soul-searching on the secluded Hanover campus that has tried for decades to shed its “Animal House’’ image, and presented a challenge to a new Dartmouth president intent on fostering a climate of tolerance and social responsibility.</p>
<p>“I am extremely disappointed and upset by this behavior,’’ President Jim Yong Kim said in an interview yesterday. “There is no question it was inappropriate. Players and families shouldn’t feel threatened like that.’’</p>
<p>Kim said he apologized to Harvard’s president, Drew Gilpin Faust, during a meeting Tuesday of Ivy League presidents at the Harvard Club in New York City.</p>
<p>How bizarre. Both the nasty behavior–which I’m told is unfortunately routine at college sporting events everywhere–and the public reaction to it. </p>
<p>The comments in the Harvard House Organ, aka the Boston Globe, are interesting reading. According to the article, approximately 12 out of 300 spectators behaved in a rude and unacceptable manner–and IMHO should have been either shut up by their fellow spectators or thrown out, or preferably both–and moreover those individuals were members of a single athletic team and a single frat. This is an excuse to indict the entire Dartmouth student body, including 3,000+ students who not only were not there but have no relationship to said team or frat?? </p>
<p>I’m particularly bemused by some comments by a cadre from my alma mater, Wellesley, who is upset at some unpleasant remarks made by one (1!) Dartmouth exchange student which she interprets as reflecting the views of the entire student body at D. Both male and female, dear?</p>
<p>I encourage President Kim to ensure that such heckling is not allowed on the D campus, even if it has, as it would unfortunately appear, become the norm in college venues.</p>
<p>This behavior really bothers me and the fact that the crowd of 300 allowed a “gang” to go at this for more than an hour is horrible. As a parent of both a Dartmouth student and a Harvard student, I think it is time for Dartmouth to really make these individuals/fraternity pay-in consequence. I love Dartmouth, but this behavior is immature and moronic. Who is admissions accepting? Should these individuals be kicked off their own team ( I think)? They are an embarrassment-and a mere apology isn’t enough. Perhaps the fraternity should be closed for a few months as well. Do the athletic teams and fraternities have codes of conduct? Apparently not.</p>
<p>This is very bad for the Dartmouth community in particular and for college sports in general. Very disappointing that other spectators allowed the behavior to continue. More than an apology is needed - the individuals involved from the soccer team and probably their fraternity as well should be sanctioned in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>IB footballer, of course rowdiness is part of sporting events (although I have to admit I have been to football games at Dartmouth and it doesn’t even seem like the students care enough to go to the games anymore)-this gang, however, by reports was hurtful, crude, and an embarrassment to Dartmouth. They might have well as graffitied obscenities across the front of Baker library with the damage they did to Dartmouth’s reputation. They need to pay with more than an “apology” and a “sensitivity” course. I am thrilled with President Kim and his vision for Dartmouth-poor guy when he goes and tries to “sell” Dartmouth and he has to contend with the image of Dartmouth these jerks have continued.</p>
<p>This forum really is a bunch of mothers concerned about whether their children will get into college. For full disclosure: I am a senior at Dartmouth and I am in a frat (not AD - the one taking the heat for this event). I was not at the squash match, but spoke with many students and Dartmouth squash players who were there.</p>
<p>The Boston Globe article and the Upper Valley News Article really gloss over a ton of the finer points in an attempt to paint Dartmouth students in a poor light. </p>
<p>First of all, the comments were really in no way antisemitic. Chanting “bagels” or “doughnuts” or “zeros” is commonly done at sports events and in now way reflects the fact that he was jewish. For god’s sake, the name of the Dartmouth player in the match (and for whom the Dartmouth fans were cheering) is Mike LEWIS - clearly Jewish as well. Also, his mother insisted that a jeer asserting that her son had “small testicles” was anti-semitic. I’ve never even heard of that semitic stereotype before…</p>
<p>Second, the reason the D fans went after the Harvard freshman (other than the fact the student he was playing against is both well-known and well-liked) is partially a result of the fact that a bunch of students went to high school with him (either Belmont Hill or Groton - can’t remember) and his mother handled student heckling of her son very poorly in high school. Big surprise they decided to pick on him and that his mother made a huge stink out of it. I personally found her response to be hilarious.</p>
<p>The only thing I found slightly disturbing is that the News reporter claimed D students referred to female Harvard squash players as “sluts” and other derogatory terms. I chatted with D female squash players and other people in attendance and they asserted that all of that reporting was either bogus or seriously played up.</p>
<p>I personally think that this kind of rowdy behavior is great for Dartmouth athletics - assuming no actual sexist or anti-semitic jeering occurred. Dartmouth athletics lacks student enthusiasm and it really does help teams perform better. D men’s squash may have lost 6-3, but two of those matches went to 5 games and D very nearly could have won 5-4. Also - when viewed relative to the rowdiness of other schools’ sporting events, this example is relatively tame. When Michigan played Michigan State, the TV broadcasting had no sound for 10 minutes straight because of the deafening roar of “***** State”.</p>
<p>^^If the actions of the frat/soccer boys at the squash match were just normal harmless cheering, President Kim wouldn’t have felt a need to apologize for them to President Faust. If you think this rowdy behavior is good for Dartmouth, you must have a very different view of what a respectable college should be than does Dr. Kim and many others.</p>
<p>And since when is Lewis recognizable as a Jewish name? Every well-known Lewis I can think of is not Jewish:Meriwether Lewis, Sinclair Lewis, C.S. Lewis, etc. In fact, the only Jewish person named Lewis I can think of is Jerry Lewis. And his real last name is Levitch. When he went into show biz he changed it to Lewis so it would sound less Jewish.</p>
<p>“I am shocked that this brazen disrespect and likely alcohol-induced behaviour could take place on a college campus.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA are you serious!?!</p>
<p>I cannot believe that the AD brothers were not being anti-semitic. They were yelling at a squash player whose last name is COHEN, which is a recognizable Jewish last name, if he liked “bagels”. If they really didn’t want to offend anyone, they would’ve used “zeros” or “doughnuts”. They knew it would be perceived as offensive. The response, “The group wasn’t being anti-semitic because they cheered for a Jewish, Dartmouth player” doesn’t fly." It’s possible to make anti-semitic remarks to one person without harboring ill will toward all Jewish people. </p>
<p>I find it disturbing that the Dartmouth community is so apathetic. Nobody cares what really happened, and the frat brothers and their allies simply play it down. </p>
<p>What I don’t understand is why Dartmouth students thought it was okay to make ethnic slurs and call women “sluts” and “whores” in public in the first place. It doesn’t matter if it was “overblown”, they shouldn’t have been doing it anyway. That speaks volumes about the Dartmouth community. We’ve created a community where this kind of behavior seemed acceptable to a group of students. </p>
<p>Also, if it had been any other frat house, they would’ve received more than a public censure. But it’s AD, so let’s sweep it under the rug and forget about it.</p>