Amherst Cross Country Team Suspended Following Email Chain

Can someone tell me the 'racist' parts of this story? The only part I saw involving race was a comment about a horizontal vagina. I assumed this to be a dig on the ignorance of the team member not understanding basic anatomy. But, racism...

There you go. That one was pretty racist. There were plenty more racist remarks made in those emails. If you don't know why those emails were racist, your college education failed you.

Context Clues wrote:

There you go. That one was pretty racist. There were plenty more racist remarks made in those emails. If you don't know why those emails were racist, your college education failed you.

Sounds like you know all about it, anonymous internet enthusiast. Care to share? Or did you just digest the sensationalist headlines like everyone else?

Other than that one comment I don't recall anything racist either. I ran for a NESCAC program back in the late 80's and we never engaged in this sort of conversation......at all.

Context Cloose wrote:

Context Clues wrote:

There you go. That one was pretty racist. There were plenty more racist remarks made in those emails. If you don't know why those emails were racist, your college education failed you.

Sounds like you know all about it, anonymous internet enthusiast. Care to share? Or did you just digest the sensationalist headlines like everyone else?

I don't even have the emails in front of me and I can recall one other email about someone's "fetish for the Orient". That's racist. Granted, the racism was superseded by the misogyny, but still, it's not like the emails weren't racist.

To assume that I'm somehow being mislead by sensationalist headlines is ignorant. I came up with my own conclusions after reading the emails, just like you did. To wave off the blatant racism in some of these emails is just ignorant. I wasn't even offended by the emails themselves, just the lack of awareness posters on this thread seem to have.

Perhaps it wasn't right to insult you. Look back on the emails again and see what you find. The Amherst XC team insulted more than just women.

So you have read the actual emails in their entirety? Are you on the team or were you involved in the investigation?

If you answer is "neither", then I would stop writing that you "have read the emails," as it automatically discredits your subsequent points. You have not read the emails, you have instead read the same pseudo-journalistic, cherry-picked narrative woven by a seemingly disgruntled former team member that I have.

How is it racist to be attracted to another race? Maybe you are the racist....

coachww wrote:

Oh, and two wrongs don't make a right. .

How many wrongs does it take?

“Many debate what’s more disturbing: his fetish for the an*s or his fetish for the Orient.”

That "pseudo-journalistic, cherry-picked narrative" was constructed using direct quotes from the emails. I don't know what you make of the above quote, but I think it's kinda f***ed up.

To the point about cherrypicking: These were once yearly emails, not daily correspondences. It's not like the students who brought this story forward rummaged through thousands of emails to find only the most incriminating material.

Also, what skin do you have in the game to defend these guys? Why are you and many others so resistant to accepting that this sort of behavior is harmful?

If I had a tape recorder on me during the years I was in college/the times I run with current collegiate runners, I could have/still could get 6+ teams suspended for saying stuff much worse than that quote in particular. Not saying this behavior isn't harmful, but I've never been around a team (including when I was in high school and when I coached high school a few years) that doesn't talk like this, or at least in the same ballpark. I've always found that guys/girls between the ages of 15-25 have mostly had immature conversations like these Amherst guys did and to say this Amherst team is any different than what a good deal of people in this age population bracket say is not being truthful. In fact, some of the things the girls teams said when I was in high school/college were far cruder than what the guys team said.

I know a lot of people on here have said that their teams never talk/ed like this but I've run with quite a few guys from various teams from the past/present that told me something along the lines of "thank god we never put anything on email or else we would have been screwed". My dad agreed with me that what these guys said was stupid and wrong, but said if these guys got suspended then his team back in the day would have had guys arrested for some of the things idiots on his team did/said.

In summary, I'm not sure how you really combat this type of behavior. It's been a part of every team/school I've ever been on/observed since I entered high school in 2006 and is certainly not restricted to any one social group or sports team or time period. People I know that have been caught for saying bad stuff like this ordinarily are just more careful of saying stuff publically but will do it still privately.

it's pretty simple...if you're gonna be a jerk, do it in private, and never electronically.

were these guys ever let back on the team?

One of their men in a purple Amherst hoodie was talking on the phone saying "we are gonna take a picture with f-ing chez". I stopped my interview. looked at him and walked away.

The individuals competing at BU aren't members of the team.

First Hand Witness wrote:

If I had a tape recorder on me during the years I was in college/the times I run with current collegiate runners, I could have/still could get 6+ teams suspended for saying stuff much worse than that quote in particular. Not saying this behavior isn't harmful, but I've never been around a team (including when I was in high school and when I coached high school a few years) that doesn't talk like this, or at least in the same ballpark..

That's right, because this kind of boorish behavior WAS accepted and expected to some degree by likeminded boorish (male) coaches and administrators. The recent effort to expose student athletes who choose to demean, humiliate and degrade their peers should hopefully put a damper on this deplorable behavior.

Have a good night!

Get off your high horse

quote]Derek has a... wrote:

Get off your high horse[/quote]

I can't because that's the winning horse. Always should stick with the winners, not the losers.

Who's the president again?