A Beaver Stadium nightmare
November 14, 2010 5:17pm EST
Centre Daily Times / centredaily.com
On Oct. 30 my husband and I attended the Penn State-Michigan football game. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, while my husband is from Benton Harbor, Mich., and a huge Michigan fan. Being retired military, we have lived all over the United States, however, recently we resided in Michigan for the past 10 years. We were thrilled to attend the game in the Beaver Stadium. Yes, we were dressed in blue and maize. Little did we know what we were about to endure.
It was the first time in my life that I was truly ashamed and embarrassed to be from Pennsylvania. From the moment we parked our car and began walking to the stadium, we were astounded to find people (assumedly students) wearing white T-shirts with offensive slogans and language toward Michigan. The verbal assaults were even more rude, degrading and demeaning. We were prepared for the “normal, high-spirited fun” that goes along with being the opposing team. This was far beyond what any fan should have to endure.
It was our intention to walk around and enjoy the festivities, but after being called names we decided to enter the stadium early. Our seats were excellent, row 25, seats 16 and 18, on the 40-yard line. We were informed by two polite gentlemen in front of us that our seats were in the middle of the “older alumni” section. We expected a reasonable amount of decorum and respect. We couldn’t have been more incorrect.
The three gentlemen in the row behind to my left verbally attacked me throughout the entire game. It began with the man directly behind me intentionally hitting me in the back of the head with a pompom. The first time, I turned around and looked at him. That was obviously the wrong thing to do… from that point forward, he NEVER stopped making comments about my husband and me.
I wish I could say that I thought that this man was drunk, but he did not seem to be drunk at all. He repeatedly called me names. I finally turned around and politely asked him to “please stop hitting me in the head with the pompom.” That just made things worse. He and his friends decided to hit me in the back of the head with their hands instead of the pompom. I ignored them, but they did it repeatedly.
The icing on the cake was halftime. My husband went to use the restroom. I opted to stay in my seat to avoid any further drama. I should have left too, because that was when racial comments began. (I am Caucasian and my husband is African-American). I was called names laced with racial slurs. I am not naïve, but I never expected this on Penn State’s campus.
The two seats directly behind my husband were occupied by elder alumni. The older lady, who was sitting beside the man who made the majority of the racial comments, told me that when she becomes the “president of the board” she is going to make it a rule that people can only leave their seats during halftime. There was no way she could have avoided overhearing the discriminative comments made by the man beside her, but she never said a word to him. Instead, she chose to worry about the crowded seating and people going in and out.
Upon my husband’s return, he told me that a gentleman who was sitting about four rows in front of us (he was dressed like a huge ninja turtle) attempted to refuse to allow my husband to use the restroom. He even went as far as to put his arm across the doorframe to block my husband’s path. My husband told the man, an adult fan, that if he didn’t move his arm he was going to urinate on him. My husband moved the man’s arm and went into the bathroom. For the remainder of the game, the man kept looking back and taunting my husband.
I did not tell my husband about the racial slurs and comments during halftime. Not only was I embarrassed that people from my home state are still so ignorant, but my husband was a Marine for over 15 years and he would have firmly believed in handling the situation on the spot. It deeply saddens me that for the first time in my life, I had to experience blatant racial discrimination in my own home state.
Penn State’s website touts how “Penn State African-American graduates have helped shaped and molded our wonderful country.” I have to wonder what those successful African-Americans would feel about how their “prestigious alumni” treat fans that they think should not be welcome at Penn State sporting events.
We are parents of five children and we are fair. If someone does something remarkable, impressive or just plain good, we cheer. During this game, we didn’t clap for anyone. The comments were overwhelming. We were repeatedly told to leave that we were NOT welcome there. From the minute we sat down until the five minute time mark in the fourth quarter, when we decided that we had had enough, we were continuously harassed.
The comments we heard while exiting the Beaver Stadium were equally horrendous. The racial comments were mixed right in along with racially demeaning comments. Unfortunately, we will never return to State College. I will pass this letter along to many people, including the president of the Penn State alumni board. It is my sincerest hope that when you read this that you take it to heart and share it with your colleagues. Accept it as a learning experience and make positive changes to make Penn State the university that it “claims” to be.
Linda L. Baker
Greensburg
Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2010/11/14/v-print/2339293/a-beaver-stadium-nightmare.html#ixzz1EB5eNhUt
Welcome to Engaging State
WELCOME,
We the class of CAS 222 Foundations of Civic and Community Engagement have come together to create a public webpage/forum for the Penn State community. Over the course of the semester we have discussed many aspects concerning why civic and community engagement is so important when it comes to getting the public involved. Without informed citizens partaking in community involvement; rights such as, voting, free assembly, and free speech would be useless. It has become very evident to our class since reading A Beaver Stadium Nightmare that we needed to apply our knowledge and passion so that we can help better the Penn State community as a whole. Not only by making a public space for the students, but also for the community of State College including teachers, parents and residents. We have provided a space where all of State College can visit and participate in events and activities as well as share their thoughts on each subject. We feel this forum will add a since of unity, pride and gratefulness.
Included in this web space is information on a wide range of events, projects and blogs for the community to get involved with.
These different aspects include a community garden, a public awareness blog, and public interviews to raise awareness of sportsmanship.
We also wanted to enhance our public with knowledge about sportsmanship in the Penn State community after we read the letter published in
the Centre Daily Times as an article entitled “A Beaver Stadium Nightmare." We also learned that Penn State fans were ranked the 7th worst fans
in a recent issue of GQ magazine. We felt this didn't reflect the best of Penn State, and we wanted to change things around. Therefore, some of
our classmates thought it would be a good idea to video record students and athletes while asking them about their experiences (on and off the field)
dealing with sportsmanship and what Penn State pride meant to them. We also had the great opportunity to speak with Coach Russ Rose and Coach
Joe Paterno to get their ideas as well. The video enriches its viewers with a sense of sportsmanship that the entire Penn State Community deserves to see.
The Civic and Community Engagement class forum includes a letter written to Mrs. Baker to express our reactions to the Centre Daily Times' article, our desires to encourage student discourse, and our sincere apologies to Mrs. Baker. While writing this letter, we found it difficult to accurately put our thoughts and intentions into words, partly because we did not know how Mrs. Baker would react. Currently, after many hours of deliberation, the letter exists in a final form and has been sent to her. It begins by addressing Mrs. Baker and mentions her letter to the CDT. Next, the letter links Mrs. Baker's experience and our reaction to public discourse, applying what we had learned in the class. The letter mentions what we have been doing as a class, such as our video and web space. We hope this letter will find her well.
Our class encourages all individuals to read the letter and discuss with other students on campus how we can work together to help better the Penn State Community."As a class, we would like to work forward and we ask that others contribute ideas to assist us in working forward to uphold our name “HAPPY VALLEY”. We hope to sustain our efforts through this web space and video.
As you can see there is a wide variety of activities that are accessible to the State College community that will not only benefit you for becoming an informed and active citizen, but also will benefit the community for the common good.
For more information about, CAS 222 Foundations of Civic and Community Engagement, please visit the Penn State webpage at http://bulletins.psu.edu/bulletins/bluebook/university_course_descriptions.cfm?letter=C&courselong=CAS%7c222%7c201011FA
Please take the time to explore our webpage and feel free to add your own community involvement because every step forward helps to make a better Future! Thank you for visiting our web space!
Sincerely,
The spring 2011 class of CAS 222
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