Monmouth-Knox rivalry escalates

By Lela French
Courier Staff

Monmouth and Knox College have had a rivalry for years, but one MC student is regretting taking it too far.

Two weeks ago, Monmouth hosted Knox College in the annual men’s and women’s basketball games.

At the start of the game, the announcer read the “Statement of Spectator Behavior.” The beginning of this statement states “we promote courteous and respectful behavior by student athletes, coaches and spectators.”

Although this statement was read, the words in this statement were not reflected by part of the student body who attended the game.

The stands were filled with students ready to cheer their team on. However, the rivalry thickened at halftime, and the Monmouth College football team was awarded the Turkey Bowl Trophy for beating Knox this past fall in football.

Coach Chad Braun brought the trophy out and handed it to the dozens of football players who came to accept it.

Senior Nick Bush said, “Basically what happened with the game is some of the fans got out of control on both sides. There was a lot of taunting going back and forth, a lot of gestures, name calling and profanity.”

Ultimately, after the game, Bush was banned from all athletic games, both home and away, for the remainder of the semester.

Bush said, “I was banned for some of the things I did. One of which was I took the Turkey Bowl Trophy and walked to their student section and taunted them with it.”

Alumni, coaches and faculty were said to be embarrassed of how the college decided to show their school spirit.

Alumni responded to this incident by writing a letter to the editor which appeared in the Monmouth College’s student publication The Courier one week after the game.

They stated, “We are embarrassed and angered by the actions of the MC football team. The actions mentioned defamed teammates, coaches, the student body and the institution by such mindless and immature behavior.”

All six alumni played MC varsity football.

One week later, Bush wrote a letter to The Courier in response, stating, “I am not going to say that there were no students from Monmouth making these gestures or not using any profane language, but I think it is safe to say that these gestures and profane language were going both ways.”

Bush went on in his article to apologize to students, alumni and MC faculty for his behavior.

Coach Steve Bell said, “I am not proud of this especially after a great season. We’ve won this for seven years and we are waiting till the seventh year to rub it in?”

Dr. Terry Glasgow said that incidents such as this probably happened in the 34 years he has been here and it could have even been worse.

Glasgow said, “We don’t want to stifle school spirit; what makes it so great are the students and the passions and enthusiasm they bring to the game, but we want to conduct in the way that it is not intimidating, harassing, or embarrassing, and it reflects what is best about Monmouth College.”

Coaches and faculty agree school spirit needs to be done in good taste at MC, but as peers, we need to be civil and remind ourselves that this is not good behavior.

Dean of Students, Jackie Condon said, “Unfortunately, this type of behavior is worldwide and is growing in popularity, and it is not something the institution wants to condone in our students.”

Coach Bell as well as other faculty are ready to move on. They said hopefully we can all move on and learn from this.

MC is not commenting on Bush’s punishment.