News
3 February 2005
Volume 118, Number 11
Letter to the Editor
Fans: helping or hurting MC sports?
Letter to Pertinent Members of the Student Body:
We write to register our dismay at the actions of certain members of the student body at the recent Knox-Monmouth basketball game. In particular, we were embarrassed and angered by the actions of the alleged members of the MC football team. The signatories to this letter all played MC varsity football. The actions mentioned defamed teammates, coaches, the student body and the institution by such mindless and immature behavior. You tarnished the outstanding achievements of the team and its nationally recognized individuals. You should recognize by now that manhood does not come out of bottles or by profane utterances and T-shirt slogans but from your brain and heart.
Monmouth College is on the ascendancy in the eyes of the public, peer institutions, prospective donors and students and our own student body. This has been accomplished over a considerable period of time by hard work and personal commitment by many people. In a matter of minutes, your actions seriously jeopardized much that has been accomplished.
We have a new administration under the leadership of Dr. Ditzler that is committed to continuing that ascendancy but thoughtless acts such as these make the image of quality and academically viable programs very difficult to maintain, let alone improve. Monmouth College must devote its collective energies to positive pursuits, not to damage control trying to live down such an inconsiderate display of immaturity and poor sportsmanship.
This criticism is limited only to the offending members of the student body and [MC football] team (we commend those member who did not join the mob mentality group), but it is also intended for the small group of notorious and profane fans that obnoxiously deride and insult opposing teams and fans.
As former athletes, we shared a wholesome rivalry between Knox and Monmouth, but we never witnessed Knox in its darkest days meeting or exceeding the recent display by MC! Let Monmouth College take the high road!
