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| An unacceptable game dress code |
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| Written by AR for the Editorial Board | ||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 18 September 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Jaws dropped at the Vandal football game on Sept. 6, and it wasn’t because the football team finally won a game. It was because of the dress of the cheerleaders. There was an uproar about the taste level of the Vandal spirit squad’s uniforms with laced-up details and low cut halter-tops that didn’t seem to provide much support. The Dean of Students Office, the athletic department and the president’s office all received complaints. The real problem is who oversees the decisions the team makes. The spirit squad isn’t under athletics. It is a student group funded by student fees and presided over by the Dean of Students Office. A coach who had no affiliation with the school except for her position supervised them. Whether the athletics department realizes it or not, the spirit squad is lumped in with athletes because it is involved in the same events. The members of the squad consider themselves athletes. Spectators assume the spirit squad is a part of the athletic department because that’s where it makes the most sense. The athletic department benefits from the support of the spirit squad. They should be concerned with their manner of dress and the way they conduct themselves, because sporting events bring in money for the university. Athletics has one of the only growing budgets on campus — and therefore the money to make adjustments. If they agree a change in uniform is necessary because of the negative image, athletics should pay, or at least help pay, the bill. If someone in the athletic department had been looking over the decisions of the spirit squad, the uniform fiasco may have been avoided. Someone with more experience could have had the eye to say “This isn’t going to work at this level.” Then again, these are the people who thought it would be a good idea to put the Vandal logo on the butt of the football players two weeks ago. That bad decision made national news and the logo was removed. Alas, the athletic department perceives itself as the front door of the university and the spirit squad is perceived as part of that process and should be taken under the department’s umbrella.
— AR
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