A DU hockey fan and lifelong season ticket holder emailed me over the weekend:
[I]"My wife and I were walking into Magness Saturday night. I was wearing my “CC sucks” sweatshirt that I have worn for the past five or six years. I was stopped by an usher who said that the language on the shirt was offensive and that I would have to remove the sweatshirt. I told him that I had worn the shirt numerous times and that I was not going to remove it. He then proceeded to tell me that we would have to speak to his supervisor. The three of us walked down the arena and spoke with his supervisor. She started our conversation sounding as if she agreed with the usher. I told her that I was a DU alum, had been a season ticket holder for many years and that if was asked to remove the shirt I would never darken the doorsteps of Magness again. She began to back down from her position and finally said that I could keep the shirt on.
Needless to say, this was an embarrassing situation for both of us. The manager of security came by later and apologized and said that the ushers were out of line."[/I]
To be completely fair to all involved here, the instruction that the manager of security and the ushers are given by the University regarding clothing is essentially, "no dangerous or overtly profane, sexual, or offensive clothing is allowed" - full stop.
There is no particular mention of "shirts that say such-and-such aren't allowed."
This leaves a tremendous amount of latitude in the hands of the ushers (whom, incidentally, are not university employees).
Honestly, without concrete information to the contrary, I suspect this PARTICULAR situation is one of a rogue usher getting drunk on power and a supervisor that didn't know how to handle the situation.
Should it have happened in the first place? No. But, in the end, it was resolved appropriately, the shirt stayed on, AND and an apology was issued by someone up the chain of command.
Normally I agree with Ring 100% of the time, but unless the rules are posted over every entrance and on the back of every ticket, the rules are not legally binding. And what good does it do to have rules that aren't conveyed to the fanbase?
Unless the rules prohibit specific words [Carlin's 7 words for instance-BTW "Sucks" is not one of them] DU runs the risk of getting sued.
But worse than the risk being sued, treating DU's "customers" like crap on game night isn't good business practice.
I'm glad this particular situation was resolved, but I've received another email from a season ticket holder about Saturday night and people are tired of being hassled by the ushers/security.
Besides, turning loose an army of Barney Fifes, left to their own devices to interpret and enforce vague "guidelines" about what is and is not permitted seems par for he course. Perhaps this confusion could be eliminated if DU hired some of those Third World students so offended by Boone to goose step around Magness on game night confiscating gear they find "offensive." At least that would get some of 'em to actually GO to a game.
7 comments:
I'll tell you what's "offensive." And it damn sure isn't that friggin' shirt.
A DU hockey fan and lifelong season ticket holder emailed me over the weekend:
[I]"My wife and I were walking into Magness Saturday night. I was wearing my “CC sucks” sweatshirt that I have worn for the past five or six years. I was stopped by an usher who said that the language on the shirt was offensive and that I would have to remove the sweatshirt. I told him that I had worn the shirt numerous times and that I was not going to remove it. He then proceeded to tell me that we would have to speak to his supervisor. The three of us walked down the arena and spoke with his supervisor. She started our conversation sounding as if she agreed with the usher. I told her that I was a DU alum, had been a season ticket holder for many years and that if was asked to remove the shirt I would never darken the doorsteps of Magness again. She began to back down from her position and finally said that I could keep the shirt on.
Needless to say, this was an embarrassing situation for both of us. The manager of security came by later and apologized and said that the ushers were out of line."[/I]
To be completely fair to all involved here, the instruction that the manager of security and the ushers are given by the University regarding clothing is essentially, "no dangerous or overtly profane, sexual, or offensive clothing is allowed" - full stop.
There is no particular mention of "shirts that say such-and-such aren't allowed."
This leaves a tremendous amount of latitude in the hands of the ushers (whom, incidentally, are not university employees).
Honestly, without concrete information to the contrary, I suspect this PARTICULAR situation is one of a rogue usher getting drunk on power and a supervisor that didn't know how to handle the situation.
Should it have happened in the first place? No. But, in the end, it was resolved appropriately, the shirt stayed on, AND and an apology was issued by someone up the chain of command.
Normally I agree with Ring 100% of the time, but unless the rules are posted over every entrance and on the back of every ticket, the rules are not legally binding. And what good does it do to have rules that aren't conveyed to the fanbase?
Unless the rules prohibit specific words [Carlin's 7 words for instance-BTW "Sucks" is not one of them] DU runs the risk of getting sued.
But worse than the risk being sued, treating DU's "customers" like crap on game night isn't good business practice.
I'm glad this particular situation was resolved, but I've received another email from a season ticket holder about Saturday night and people are tired of being hassled by the ushers/security.
Besides, turning loose an army of Barney Fifes, left to their own devices to interpret and enforce vague "guidelines" about what is and is not permitted seems par for he course. Perhaps this confusion could be eliminated if DU hired some of those Third World students so offended by Boone to goose step around Magness on game night confiscating gear they find "offensive." At least that would get some of 'em to actually GO to a game.
Perhaps the ushers should be instructed that CC sux/sucks is not offensive, but rather a statement of fact.
FUCC
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