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Unapproved "Pussy" Gets Columbia Hockey Club Suspended
By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 30, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 30, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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The men's hockey team at Columbia has been suspended by the school's administration until next January over language used in a flier the team put up on campus. According to the Columbia Spectator
The controversy began when the team distributed fliers in early September with the phrase "Stop being a pussy." On Sept. 21, the presidents of Columbia's four undergraduate councils sent a letter to several administrators asking them to take action regarding the language.
...
The ruling, which also put the club on probation for two years, cited the team's failure to get the fliers approved by the department as the primary reason for the punishment.
The decision to suspend the team has caused concern from some members of the Columbia community. A group called the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education wrote a public letter to University president Lee Bollinger claiming it is an "egregious violation of the rights of the students involved."
Administrators and others quoted in the Spectator article, however, say that free speech was not the heart of this issue. In the school's defense they cited previous problems with the team including illegally driving (and crashing) a van in 2002, drinking in the back of another van in 2004 and improperly using a "logo reserved for varsity teams" on a banner last year. What makes us scratch our heads though is the idea that anybody in college could really be so offended by the word "pussy." Kids these days!
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