Some Virginia Tech football players reportedly acted inappropriately at a campus Take Back the Night event on March 26.
Per Roanoke.com, witnesses said the disruptive players were laughing, arriving late, leaving early and checking their phones at the event which has a goal of ending sexual violence and included speakers who are survivors of sexual assault. The organized events began in the 1970s and the March 26 event was coordinated by Womanspace, a VT campus organization.
Players were required to attend the event if they didn't have a class conflict and some were reportedly even called out from the stage for leaving early.
Sahai said she sat the front of the Haymarket Theatre in Squires Student Center, where the event was held, while most of the players sat in the back. She said even from a distance it was clear the people wearing “football gear” were laughing during speakers’ accounts of sexual assaults.
Sheree Jean, a 2013 Tech graduate who is a volunteer with Raft Crisis Hotline, one of the night’s sponsors, said she sat among the players in the back of the venue.
“They would text each other and then yell across the room to each other to check their phones,” Jean said.
She said she tried not to look at them for the majority of the event, but couldn’t avoid it when a player beside her turned around to his teammates following a presentation from a gender nonconforming individual.
“He was just like, ‘We do not clap for this,’ ” Jean said.
The conduct of some of the unidentified players in attendance even elicited a Tuesday night meeting that involved coach Frank Beamer and athletic director Whit Babcock that included students and faculty. No football players were involved in the meeting.
Babcock issued a statement about the event that said “We have implemented multiple educational sessions with all of our teams and student-athletes this academic year regarding sexual assault, sexual harassment, diversity and inclusion, gender equity and more. Having our football team attend this speech was actually an aspect of this initiative."
Beamer said in a statement that he met with players immediately after the event.
According to an attendee at the meeting, Babcock answered "I don't know" to a lot of questions but seemed willing to work with those who were there.
There is no indication of what, if any, possible punishments football players could face.
While we all have had to force ourselves to go to events we haven't wanted to attend, we all should know that there's a level of decorum expected despite your attitude. And the reports of some Hokie players behavior sadly recalls the actions of Ole Miss players at a school play in 2013. The players were required to attend "The Laramie Project" as part of a class.
“I was hoping VT football would be above the stereotype, but I was proven wrong,” Thomas Friss, a former member of Womanspace said.
For more Virginia Tech news, visit HokieHaven.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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