Columbia University has suspended its entire menâs wrestling team over a series of âracist, misogynistic, and homophobicâ texts, The New York Times reports.
Administrators are currently investigating the texts, which date as far back as 2014 and were sent back and forth between members.
Student news website BWOG was the first to reveal the scandal after publishing screenshots of the offending texts.
One of the texts refers to a student as a âgay fuck,â while another reads, âWe got a missing fa*got no Jews back at Claremont.â
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After a social event was canceled over fears of sexual assault, one person wrote, âI hope someone gets sexually assaulted.â
Several messages refer to black staffers at a UPS store and Black Lives Matter protestors as ânigsâ or âni*gers.â
Misogynistic texts included one that reads âColumbia bitches feel entitled to something when in reality they are all ugly socially awkward cunts.â
The schoolâs athletic department has âdecided that Columbia wrestlers will not compete until we have a full understanding of the facts on which to base the official response to this disturbing matter,â according to a statement.
Many think the suspension isnât sufficient enough punishment, and nearly a thousand have signed a petition requesting that everyone be expelled. Protesters have been congregating outside Kappa Delta Rho, the team membersâ fraternity house.
Related:Â PHOTOS: What We Wouldnât Give To Be Wrestler Jordan Burroughsâ Singlet For A Day
According to The Times, the team didnât compete on Sunday, but they did practice Monday, presumably squeezing into their skin-tight lycra singlets before spending the afternoon tumbling around on the floor to frottage each other.
Mark
To me those outfits, the grabbing of each others privates and ass seems so gay anyway. Shame on them I am glad they got suspended. Sadly, it won’t change their behavior except maybe on social media.
blackout_boycott
It’s my understanding that this is homophobic, racist, and more.
Seems to me the issue has turned into a babies game, and the proper treatment for the players is to be suspended.
Now it’s not the fault of the offended students that’s being treated this way, but for the bullies to be used as a example for their rude, and life threatening matter.
Opine2
I don’t do the wrestling thing being British, but can I join for the hazing?
Goforit
Oh the irony. On the one hand a team of dumb jocks gets suspended, on the other hand we allow someone with the same mindset to become president. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION AT CHANGE.ORG.
mike_feldman
If the 1st amendment is going to survive, private speech between consenting adults should not be subject to regulation or punishment, regardless of whether the communication is oral or electronic, and regardless of how odious it is.
Popular speech requires no protection.
Jefferson wrote, I may hate what you say, but I must defend your right to say it.
Still true.
Jaroslaw
I have never been an organized sports enthusiast. I remember having a delivery job when I was first employed, where I would get to know people by seeing them often and we would have mini discussions sometimes. They would always defend sports as vehicles for learning good sportsmanship, teamwork, fair play etc. Yet over and over it seems the opposite occurs, especially when big money at universities is involved. The point of a college or university is to educate students. Sports, presumably, are secondary.
On one hand, I wonder how a university or employer can punish an individual for private speech, but if there is a good conduct clause requirement for being a team member, and it is legal, then they need to be expelled.
Pete
I’m going to go First Amendment on you all and defend these’ guys free speech and right to privacy.
This kind of nanny-state censorship is precisely why Trump prevailed.
nmharleyrider
and yet Trump expressed all of those opinions and still got elected president. I imagine everyone feels they can spew all their hateful comments since he in a sense legitimized them.
Kangol
@Pete: Free speech ONLY APPLIES TO GOVERNMENT SPEECH. Why is this so hard for people to grasp! Columbia is a private institution. It can punish people for what they say. It’s not public. If they were at SUNY or standing in front of the White House, it would be a different issue. They should man up, and take responsibility for being r@cist, sexist pigs. If they can dish it, don’t be PC, and take the blowback!
BigJohnSF
It’s important that I see photos of these wrestlers before I can come to any conclusions.
AJBray
@mike_feldman: It has been found time and time again that “Free Speech” does NOT apply to “Hate Speech,” nor does it apply to obscenity. These are the limits of the law, full stop. This is why pornography is perfectly legal (“free speech”), but there ARE limits to what is legal to involve (“obscenity”). The basic rule is the “Miller Test,” as in “Miller v. California,” but here’s some other history…
1. Obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment. Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, reaffirmed. A work may be subject to state regulation where that work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in sex; portrays, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and, taken as a whole, does not have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Pp. 23-24.
Furthermore, as for “hate speech,” SCOTUS upheld, in Beauharnais v. Illinois âgroup libelâ law that outlawed statements that expose racial or religious groups to contempt or hatred. Sound familiar?
There are also other limits to “Freedom of Speech.” We all know you can’t yell “BOMB!” in a movie theatre, and all that, but that’s the most basic. FoS isn’t the Blank Cheque that hate-mongers would like to believe it is for them; they’re going to have to learn some basic human restraint, manners, and common consideration for their fellow humans.
Oh…how horrid.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
So? It was text to one another. Same as a private conversation. If someone nosy hadn’t stuck their nose in the private conversation or told what was said, no one would have ever known it was said and no one would have gotten their feelings hurt.
highestbidder
I’m always uneasy about these types of situations where someone reveals private speech and gets a person or persons in trouble. I don’t think it’s right. And all the holier than thou people condemning these boys in their comments had better hope that nobody has or ever will secretly record them or release their existing texts or emails because there’s noone on earth that could escape unscathed from that situation.
highestbidder
@AJBray: no, private texts do not expose anyone to contempt or hatred and anyone that spells check ‘cheque’ really has no business commenting on this American issue anyway.
CaliKyle
@Pete: Agree and quite frankly the wrestling team’s blunt assessment of Columbia’s female students is dead on, generally speaking. This is the university that gave us the likes of Mattress Girl and her pathological supporters.
Brian
If these were private texts, what’s the problem? I’ve heard gay-identifying men say worse things. I’ve heard black men say worse things. Get over it, snowflake generation.
jdboston617
I’m confused. The article says “texts”. From what source? Is this personal devices or school/public forums?
Juanjo
Once again we need to remind people that the First Amendment Right of Free Speech only applies to a government action to supress or punish a private citizen exercising the right to free speech. Nor does the 1st Amendment protect all speech in all circumstances.
Columbia is not the government and they can punish students, faculty and other employees for their speech anywhere and at any time. Just like a shop owner could refuse to sell Bannon a ham sandwich because he is a fascist douche bag.
everybodywinsyay
@nmharleyrider: Trump never expressed these opinions and if you actually thought for moment you’d realize that these texts go back to 2014 before Trump was even in the picture. Dumb comment.
Chris
I guess some high priced lawyers are going to make a bundle of money on this case.
Mo Bro
Such.
Infantile.
Horseshit.
Had this private—PRIVATE—conversation occurred among a black group disparaging whites, or a women’s group disparaging men, it wouldn’t have seen the light of day.
I live at a university and I see this childishness every day. No one wants to be an adult anymore, they just want to be coddled gently from childhood into old age.
bcarter3
@mike_feldman: This has absolutely nothing to do with the First Amendment, which concerns GOVERNMENT actions, not those of private institutions.
Furthermore, there’s nothing in the First Amendment that say that speech can’t lead to negative consequences for the speaker.
What’s more, Jefferson never wrote, “I may hate what you say, but I must defend your right to say it.” The quote, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is usually attributed to Voltaire, but even that attribution is questionable.
dwes09
@Kangol: Thanks. Saved me the time of responding. Folks don’t understand that, nor that speech has consequences.
Pete
College jocks engaging in sexist and homophobic banter –I’M SHOCKED!!!
dwes09
@IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou: “no one would have ever known it was said and no one would have gotten their feelings hurt.”
Spoken like a child about childish speech! And children can’t keep secrets so they must (though children find it hard to) accept the consequences of their actions.
Pete
@Juanjo: “. . . Just like a shop owner could refuse to sell Bannon a ham sandwich because he is a fascist douche bag.”
Or for that matter a Christian baker refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding because it’s against his/her beliefs.
You can’t have it both ways
dwes09
@highestbidder: ” anyone that spells check âchequeâ really has no business commenting on this American issue anyway.”
Last time I looked, decency, maturity, empathy and propriety were universal human values, not the purview of ‘amuricans’ like you, regardless of there the lame texts originated. A Brit has every right to not the immaturity of said texts, just as I (as a natural born US citizen) have every right to note the lameness of you supporting boorish behavior.
dwes09
@dwes09: “…where the lame texts originated…”
dwes09
@Mo Bro: “Had this privateâPRIVATEâconversation occurred among a black group disparaging whites, or a womenâs group disparaging men, it wouldnât have seen the light of day.
I live at a university and I see this childishness every day. No one wants to be an adult anymore, they just want to be coddled gently from childhood into old age”
It is the speech itself that reveals childishness. It is a weak mind indeed that considers the values of respect, maturity, empathy, propriety and decency as childish. It is a child that defends it as valid, it is the mature person that decries its nature and intent, in a likely vain attempt to nudge someone towards adulthood.
Mo Bro
@dwes09:
I suspect you’d feel much differently had the demographics been reversed.
highestbidder
@Juanjo: gee thanks for copying what that other guy said nearly word for word and repeating it for us. You could save yourself some trouble next time and just blatantly cut and paste
highestbidder
@dwes09: You can’t form a coherent argument so you resort to name-calling. Funny thing is my 8th grade teacher told me that when someone calls names they’re actually telling the world what they are. How appropriate in your case!
highestbidder
@dwes09: Funny you mention spellcheck because you could definitely benefit from turning it on.
Mkiel
@Very well said.
:
Ken A.
Its just talk and nothing more, many of those texts are old. Is nothing private anymore. Freedom of speech and all that. Suspend or expel over calling someone bitches or faggot are we so sensitive–which I doubt, I just think they use things like this to make themselves feel powerful–that texts between a group of people affects the entire world.
Get over it.
Goforit
@Pete: So sorry to inform you Pete but yes we can have it both ways. “Fascist douche bag” is not a legally protected group. We gays are.
jhon_siders
Its jocks what can you expect I wrestled in high school same trash talk back in the early 70s I just ignored it .
AJBray
@highestbidder: 1) Apparently you think all “Americans” are the natural-born kind, and that NO ONE ever comes to your country to become a legal immigrant, EVER. *sigh*
2) You apparently also think all “Americans” speak “American,” and none of us speak proper English. Well, here’s little secret: there are all kinds of “Americans”! Neat, eh?!
3) You were apparently so fascinated by my spelling of “cheque” that you missed my entire legal argument; my argument based on *AMERICAN* caselaw, to be exact.
The First Amendment is NOT a “Blank Cheque” (translation for you “Blank CHECK”) for the so-called Freedom of Speech that most Americans erroneous think it is. As many other posters have already commented, yes, there are protected classes of people that now qualify for the “group libel” exemption in Beauharnais v. Illinois, which is frequently thought of as the “hate speech” exemption, as it can protects people against language that promote animus, contempt, or even violence (in most extreme cases) against a qualified group.
Also, obscenity is NEVER covered by the First Amendment. Please see my previous post for a careful explanation of the history of obscenity laws in America, including the “Miller Test.”
Furthermore, Evelyn Beatrice Hall said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” She wrote it about Voltaire’s attitude toward writing and the French government’s interference when they incinerated one of his books. The quote is from Hall’s book (under her nom de plume) “Friends of Voltaire.”
The quote you mistake for Jefferson was actually from a British woman, written about a Frenchman.
However, if you want some good Jeffersonian quotes, these are a few of my personal favourites:
“I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance”
“…the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.”
“Be polite to all, but intimate with few. ”
I’ve always loved that last one…because there just aren’t enough people championing politeness anymore. Online commenting quickly devolves into name-calling, hate speech, and rudeness — all of which do nothing but weaken one’s actual point (if there’s a point to be made at all)!
He BGB
I can see the problem with fa**ot, and n*g, n***er, but cu*t? The British throw that word around like nothing. Actually it was kinda funny saying the girls were ugly c*nts. Guess I’m misogynist now, Hunty.
seanzy1219
Hi everyone I have read everything on here I am handicapped and I now what i see and hear. I don’t useally comment on this but I will it is not about politics or the goverment or anything else. They made rules in all schools even collages or University’s for a reason. What they did was wrong and they should be punshed and matter a fact they should be suspended and kicked out of all Unversity. The text they sent is the same things as bulling in school and everyone nows once you are a bully you may never change. Some bullys take it to far enough some one hurts them and even end up getting hurt or even death. I Want everyone on here to think about this. Think about you being that guy that had that done to him and then think of you as him and think about him as your son and just think how you would feel about it.
ShowMeGuy
They were just quoting Donald Trump. What’s the problem?
jeff_bowles
@AJBray: It has been found time and time again that âFree Speechâ does NOT apply to âHate Speech,â nor does it apply to obscenity.
Where? The case you cite in your response, says that there are limits to libel. Nothing mentioned at all about hate speech.
Do the reading.
scotshot
@mike_feldman: I agree that people have the right to say anything they wish, they (and you) forget that speech can have consequences – good and bad.
demetreus
The trolls on the site are putting in overtime today.
Hey trolls, these brainless jocks got caught. Somebody found out about what they did and called them out!
People are so “gangster” hiding behind a computer, phone or “private” text.
Freedom of speech?! Use your freedom of speech to speech to call someone a f**gott or a n**ger to their face and see what happens.
Juanjo
@highestbidder: I am sorry your feelings were hurt. I hope you have recovered by now. Have a great week.
captainburrito
Even without formal punishment, just naming and shaming them would have dire consequences for them socially.
maxdadmark
@Juanjo: BRAVO, sweetie. Well said.
maxdadmark
@Juanjo: Awww, you are trying to be clever. How nice.
maxdadmark
@jeff_bowles: These dimwits are not limited to misinterpreting the Second Amendment either.
Captain Obvious
Wrestling teams always have closeted self-hating bigots. They love the rolling around, grabbing, getting up with mystery wet spots, and being pinned. They hate the idea of anyone realizing they’re gay in public.
Even the creepy wrestling coaches are often gay and try to recruit random boys with certain body types. Brings back awful high school memories… essh.
They’re basically just saying anything they can to add a “no homo” to their chosen “sport”. No one seems to notice the nearly entire audience made up of older men at those kinds of events. The same with those little girl pageants.
David Myers
@Goforit: Unfortunately that is only partially true. Employers can still fire you or refuse to hire you in most states.
Daggerman
..for crying out loud—HOMOPHOBIA IS GAY! I believe, that especially these days anyone who protests so ‘violently’ has to be hiding something????
highestbidder
@AJBray: 1/2 my family’s English, my mum’s from Manchester. They all had a good laugh at you writing “cheque” too. I won’t repeat what they called you because you’re a snowflake đ oh and I never mentioned Jefferson, I have no clue what you were going on about there. But I can tell you that everything you’re talking about is meaningless to me because these were private conversations. Let me look through all your text messages and see how holy you are.
highestbidder
@Juanjo: how were my feelings hurt by you being revealed as a plagiarist?
highestbidder
@Captain Obvious: what awful high school memory does it bring back, you not being recruited because you’ve never had that “certain body type”?