Bedsheet sparks Senate argument

Deadlines and mistakes over the weekend led to one club’s bedsheet being taken down without warning, and two other clubs’ Homecoming nominees not making the ballot.
The vice president of the Rugby Club, Madison Reece, along with other members of the Rugby Club came to the Senate seeking details as to why the club’s Homecoming bedsheet was taken down from the Student Center Friday afternoon.
The bedsheet which featured a picture of an eagle rucking and read, “Face down, A** up, that’s the way we like to ruck,” according to Reece, was deemed inappropriate by some people. Rucking in rugby is an action to defend the ball when it is on the ground to prevent the other team from gaining possession.
“To ruck, you want your head down toward the ball and your butt up for a good ruck,” Reece said. “If you know rugby and take it the way it should be taken, it’s not inappropriate. So we just wanted to clarify that we weren’t meaning anything bad.”
The club was supposed to have a meeting with someone from the CAB executive board to explain the reasons for taking down the bedsheet, Hurley said.
“Were you not in a meeting that explained that situation?,” Senate Adviser Susan Schaeffer asked. “Were you not in a meeting with someone else that explained why it was taken down and when it was taken down and that it was re-addressed and put back up?”
But, that meeting didn’t happen.
After Reece received texts from her players saying their bedsheet was taken down, Reece sought out and spoke with Aaron Eagle, CAB vice chair of records, Friday afternoon, who said the bedsheet was taken down because of profanity, so the club changed “A**” to “booty” and the sheet was put back up.
Senate President Katrina Hurley apologized for the miscommunication but gave reason for the bedsheet being removed.
“We have policies put in place for student conduct about how we need to act and be perceived as a college and seen as the bedsheet was hanging up in the Student Center and it was representing the college…and that the winners are also paraded on Homecoming at halftime this year, it needs to be respectable,” Hurley said.
Former Senate executive board member Nate Jones, graduate student of Papillion, who plays with the men’s rugby team off-and-on said that he doesn’t see how this “joke” was much different from other events the college puts on every year.
“This is college,” Jones said. “It was just a playful joke and it’s no different than the condom Olympics that you guys put on or the beer pong Olympics.”
Jones also commented on the music that is played in The Pit being inappropriate at times.
“Seeing as that colleges have a rape culture that go on on campuses,” Hurley said, “that is a very, very big sexual innuendo, and we are sorry that you had to take it down, but we did not want that to be the way we represent our college.”
Schaeffer said she was worried about how defensive members of the rugby team were and recommended that the members go to an open forum to discuss some of the other concerns the members brought up.
“Don’t feel defensive about this,” Schaeffer said. “We are not trying to get rid of rugby. We don’t want that. We just need you to follow in those parameters that are expected in the presentation of the college image.”
There were also concerns brought up about a sign in Kent Hall that says “Welcome to Kick Ass Kent Hall,” which Hurley said was the responsibility of the Kent resident director to take down.
Schaeffer also argued that the difference is that the Student Center is an all-campus area. Adviser Mathew Brust also commented that Homecoming generally includes more than just campus because it draws in so much of the community and alumni.
Student Trustee Coy Clark also argued that this bedsheet was more explicit than some of the other things going on on campus.
There were also concerns brought up from rugby members about the blood and guts on the other bedsheets.
“The blood and gore ones did have to get looked at to make sure they were appropriate to go up,” Hurley said. “But the reason why your specific bedsheet was taken down was because of the large sexual innuendo that has to deal with the rape culture that is on our campus. It is a position, but the way it was worded was just a strong sexual innuendo that could be taken as rape, it could be taken as anything else, and that’s something as a college we do not condone.”
Schaeffer said that Student Senate was not the group who took the bedsheet down, which brought questions as to who did take the bedsheet down.
“I received multiple complaints and I forwarded them onto the CAB Chair (Molly O’Connell),” Hurley said.
“It was a Friday afternoon, and Katrina and I were both absent from campus and out of town,” O’Connell said. “Katrina brought some complaints; it was forwarded to me with the directive to take it down and it was taken down. It is a Friday afternoon and her and I were both out of the office officially. And because of the weekend…Unfortunately, the judgment here was Katrina and I never saw the bedsheet, there were multiple complaints, it got taken down, and on a weekend it didn’t get communicated to Rugby because of the time line.”
Near the end of the discussion Slaught joined into the conversation to mention that there are guidelines set in place when the sheets are turned in.
“Every club had to fill out the sheet provided by CAB saying what organization they were, who the contact was, and the number for that contact, and what category they wanted to be entered and on the guidelines on that paper it did say it needed to be appropriate for display and it did say no nudity or profanity,” Slaught said.
The weekend break was also cited as the reason behind people missing from the Homecoming royalty voting ballot.
Hurley said the link for Homecoming royalty voting had to be sent out twice Friday afternoon because it came to Hurley’s attention that there were names left off the original ballot. Those left off included Cody Cooper, Cory Martins, Evan Clark, Chelsea Haynes and Hurley.
Hurley said that CAB is in charge of Homecoming voting, but she said CAB did not know how to fix the first mistake so Hurley contacted Shellie Johns, conferencing coordinator, who contacted the Information Technology Department to fix the problem.
Hurley also said that it was brought to her attention Friday evening that The Pit and the Social Work nominees were also left off the ballot. Hurley said Johns was out of the office by that time. When Hurley talked to Johns Monday morning, Johns said it was too late for coronation to get the ballots in, according to Hurley.
Hurley expressed her apologies about the situation and said to fix that problem the Constitutional Court would handle all of the details of Homecoming nominees and voting next year.
In other news, Foundation Development Officer Jacob Rissler spoke to Senate about asking for cash donations from businesses. Rissler said the Foundation Office has policies that state that clubs are not allowed to ask businesses for cash donations, but they can ask for advertising on T-shirts or material donations.
Various issues brought forth from constituents were referred to committees. Issues included: allowing students to print from laptops, lighting on campus at night, Kent Hall’s elevator, handicap showers and entryway in Kent Hall, Brooks Hall mailboxes, and Edna parking lot.