Dartmouth prez apologizes for students' offensive heckling at Harvard game

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<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>Dartmouth</a> heckling at squash meet prompts apologies - The Boston Globe</p>

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<p>I heard about this on the news this morning. To find more specifics, this is the article that I came across:</p>

<p>[Dartmouth</a> to apologize to Harvard for squash heckling incident: Rutland Herald Online](<a href=“http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20091210/NEWS02/912100380/1003/NEWS02]Dartmouth”>http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20091210/NEWS02/912100380/1003/NEWS02)</p>

<p>What poor form for these Dartmouth spectators. I certainly understand the excitement that happens at competitive events, but there is a line that should not be crossed.</p>

<p>Thanks for the Boston Globe link.</p>

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<p>Dartmouth has the reputation of a frat house for a reason, it seems…</p>

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<p>As a parent of one Dartmouth student and one Harvard student, I am so sad to hear this. The Dartmouth students I know are very polite and respectful-but then again they aren’t members of sports teams or frats. I always remember the most obnoxious chant I have heard came from the Harvard crowd years ago. HArvard was losing to the University of Massachusetts in football and the cry went out, “We might be losing, but someday we’ll be your boss”.</p>

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<p>^ Wow! Ugh! totally obnoxious. I hope the Harvard team got told off good and proper.</p>

<p>I’m curious as to why the soccer team captain apologized to the coach rather than to the Harvard team? Is there some sort of protocol?</p>