A couple of co-workers and I decided we were going to spend about five minutes or so watching a little bit of the basketball game going on during open gym. For whatever reason, some lady -- who failed to identify herself -- Asked us for our I.D.'s
Now, I totally understand the need for security in the gym, but my biggest problem was the fact that we got carded after we were already inside. I mean, don't you think this person would have realized that we were students if we made it past the front gate? (By the way, the person doing the strip search was rather gentle).
We reached for our I.D.'s, and the lady eventually got the picture that we were students. We then told her that we worked for the school, and this is where things got a little messy.
The lady, who also neglected to ask us our names, solicited our opinion on the guys we were watching. Basically, we told her that we really didn't have an opinion, and I began to wonder why she asked.
We quickly got the reason. She stated, in plain English, that she was trying to have this group of guys on the court removed from open gym. She said that they weren't "portraying a positive image of Cleveland State." Has she seen the rest of cleveland State? What kind of statement is that?
She proceeded to tell us that since this particular group of people have been playing, there has been a rash of vandalism and theft. That didn't strikea nice chord in me. How can you possibly blame one group for everything that has been going on inside the building? That just didn't sound right.
I asked her if these folks were students. She said no, but I have to disagree. First of all, I have seen several members of this particular group on campus on a regular basis, and I knowe for a fact that CSU is not a hotbed of social activity for non-students.
Secondly, how did they get tyhrough the front gate without a CSU I.D.? The people in the department take this sort of thing pretty seriously. I've tried to get in without an I.D. to no avail.
Then she told us that if worse came to worst, that the entire open gym session would be canceled. That is a little extreme, because even if there were problems with some of the peopl, such a measure would be rather unfair for the rest of us who play in open gym.
True, the group of men playing in the gym did a lot of trash-talking, but when you're playing a competitive game, who doesn't? And as for presenting a "positive image" of CSU, this is the same school that lets me be Sports Editor of its newspaper, so don't tell me about image.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one more little detail: This lady was white, and the entire group that was playing basketball was black. Coincidence? You be the judge.
From what I've ascertained, this isn't the first time this has happened. Several unnamed individuals have come down to the Cauldron office with similar complaints, so this is, by no stretch, an isolated incident.
One thing I can't stand is racism, and for the first time on this campus, I have witnessed it first-hand. Why? Who knows? I have been told not to tolerate ignorance, and yet here it is, staring me in the face. what the hell is going on here?
One thing's for sure, I'm not going to sit back and let it go unnoticed. Yes, thanks to "Teed Off," I', bringing it to the forefront. If anybody -- and I don't care if you're black, white, Latino, or what-not -- has been in a similar situation, I implore you to come down to the Cauldron office and tell me about it.
Oh, and one more thing: Always ask the name of who you're talking to. I wish I had, and right about now, so does that lady.
Follow-up: It figures that as soon as this was printed, I never saw that lady in the gym ever again. I still don't even know for sure that she was even a member of the PE staff. One thing I do know, I'm glad I never ran into her again.