What The Hell Do I Do? Injustice Maybe?

[ctenah]

I was ejected from the game, escorted out by a cop, JA'd, and had my season tickets invalidated.  Why?  I said the word asshole. I'll explain the story amidst my uncontrollable anger and confusion.

The 90 year old usher between A and B was standing in row 1 in the A/B aisle.  A rowdy fan in front of me went into an attack on the opposite sieve that he was "bent over like his father did for his grandfather, and like he does for his father" or something of that nature.  Basically, the Faithful member used some pretty heavy and crude sexual references.  Old usher dude (hereby referred to as Dick) went over and chastised the fan for language.  He walked back over to the aisle.

Six or seven minutes later, I participated, along with about 1500 other fans, in the "See you asshole, you goon" bit.  The usher walked up three rows, then went all the way from the aisle and came up to me and told me to follow him.  After repeatedly asking him "What did I do, what did I say", he continued to refuse me the right to know what my crime was on the basis that it was too offensive.  Finally, in the athletic office, he admitted I said "asshole".   This guy Dennis came in, mentioned something about a zero tolerance policy being enacted yesterday, and how I'll lose my season tickets and I'll be JA'd.   ::twitch::



I'm absolutely hysterically angry.  The usher said he saw me cup my mouth and point at the penalty box and yell that.  Yet if he was on my left, and I cupped my mouth, he couldn't have seen what I mouthed.  What do I do? What the hell do I do when the athletic department makes such an unfair example out of me?

Any suggestions, ideas, thoughts?    ::help::

[Legal Aid]

If you've really got the time and they actually send you to the JA, request a hearing in front of the Campus Hearing Board.  At that point you can request documentation of the 'policy', although Athletics does have the right to revoke your license to see the game.  You can also demand that the usher show up and prove to the board exactly what he heard amongst the 3,000 people and of course the exact time and place it happened.  I don't think there is much in the Campus Code that prohibits such behavior, maybe disorderly conduct.  The JA will most likely seek to settle the case with some sort of summary agreement.  The Hearing Board can't impose a penalty higher than what the JA requests so, if its worth your time you can fight the JA part of it.  In the future, if anything should happen, you should request the names of the people who kicked you out and act as nicely as possible to the pricks.  If all else fails, claim your due process was violated and never give a dime to CU Athletics.  

[daredevilcu]

Geez, and I thought the Lynah staff was only that mean to VISITING fans...

Hope you can get your season tickets back, that really sounds crappy.

[cmoberg]

It has been a while since I have heard George Carlin do his 7 dirty word routine, but as memory serves, ASSHOLE is not among the seven. FCC regulates on air communications and does not forbid the word.  Seems like you have a Free Speech argument.  

Chris

[Ben Rocky '04]

Unfortunately, there isn't such a thing as 'free speech' on private property.

[cmoberg]

I find it ironic that our left leaning university would define "profane" language more stringently than the right leaning FCC.  Also, what is "profane" to a 90 year old usher may not be to a 20 year old student.   How can you hold someone accountable to a standard that lacks specificity?

As far as Free Speech, sure it is private property but look at the history of the University.  Not much in the way of past censorship.  

Chris  

[French Rage]

How do they invalidate your tickets?  Is every octogenerian security person at the game supposed to memorize your seat number?

[redhair34]

Last year at the Colgate game the atheltics officials let some inbred moron from Colgate walk around the lobby with a novelty foam finger that said "big red ass" AND he was yelling it as he walked--not a single athletics official a) attempted to kick him out of the game and b) said anything to him, not even a warning.  


They seem particularly eager this year to kick people out of the student section...I never remember them being so proactive with enforcing the policy.

[Drew]

Can you switch tickets with someone from another section?

[Trotsky]

It's not a civil liberties issue.

Or to put it another way, here's a simple test.  Would you be willing to burn your ticket in protest over the student's loss of his ticket?  If it's a civil liberties issue, you ought to be.

The university can throw you out and cancel your ticket if you look at them sideways.  About the only reason they can't is if they stated, in print, that they were doing it because you were in a protected category like race, gender, ethnicity, disability.  (Not orientation, though, since apparently we're still a little too Dark Ages for that.)  So, on the face of it, you really don't have a case unless you can prove to their satisfaction that you didn't do what you are accused of doing, or that the punishment is excessive.

[jtwcornell91]

Enforcement has been very uneven.  It seems like if you spew f-bombs, you will get a lecture, but if you particpate in a group "asshole" they may randomly select you as an example.

[Lauren '06]

[Q]Drew Wrote:

 Can you switch tickets with someone from another section?[/q]
Good idea.  Switch tickets with someone in E or something and enter through the other door.

[ben03]

[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:

 Enforcement has been very uneven.  It seems like if you spew f-bombs, you will get a lecture, but if you particpate in a group "asshole" they may randomly select you as an example.[/q]
which is all the more reason not to get caught. the whole enforcement policy started in earnest when i was on the hill l and every single person in the student sections knew not to let the ushers see you say the word asshole. it was pretty simple really. look down, cover your mouth, hide behind a friend, just don't let them see you say it. i use to  talk with the ushers in my section and know for a fact they played by these rules too. they would tell me how they were "supposed" to keep an eye out for swearing but only had to enforce it with people who were not very discrete in doing so. don't get me wrong, i feel for those who've been picked out of the crowd for swearing and had to endure the process that ensued, but you can't stand there and tell me they didn't know better.

btw ctenah, you never mentioned if you actually said the word asshole? is this your first year as a student season ticket holder? not there's anything wrong with this, maybe you could use it to your advantage and play the ignorance card if/when you get to your JA ... just a thought. hope you get your ticket back.

[Cactus12]

Ctenah... you still have your tickets I assume... so just enter at another entrance, and paint your face or wear a hat or something... wear a red mask and make yourself "red man", whatever. I've seen people get booted and then come back in 5 min later... the ushers' memories aren't what they were back in the roaring 20's.

As for the JA, tell them the truth- you actually said "flagpole" , make them prove otherwise (which they obviously can't considering the 1500 or so other voices... even bring a recording from the next game of that cheer just to give an idea of the volume), tell them that while the intention is to make it "sound" like profanity en masse, it is in fact completely harmless rhetoric.

And if any athletics dept. people read this forum... honestly... disappointing

[RazzBaronZ]

I'm betting the athletics dept. does read this forum, and I have to agree that this is very disappointing.

I can understand kicking someone out of one game for coming in drunk and ruining everyone else's enjoyment of the game; making an example of one person in the crowd for a chant everyone is doing is just wrong.

The cheers won't change.  Making a fan's life miserable is not worth it, especially when I barely know what's going on 3 seats away from me most of the time.

-Alex Barash '07