Spring Break
Letter to the editor
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Editor's note: The following letter is in response to "Unify athletics teams under same name" by Eddie Rybarski, which appeared in the Nov. 7 issue of the WC.
Regardless of whether you favor keeping the Westerwind and Leatherneck names or calling all WIU athletic teams the Leathernecks, I think it is important to realize that the women did not move away from being called Leathernecks when they took on the Westerwinds moniker 30 years ago.
Rather the women's teams became the Westerwinds because they weren't allowed to be called Leathernecks, not by the Marines, as Col. Cumbie pointed out, but by the WIU men's athletic administrators of the time who felt that calling the "girls' teams," as they were simply known, the Leathernecks would have been demeaning to WIU athletics. The women wanted a nickname, and so the Westerwinds were born.
Had the men not denied the women the Leatherneck name some 30 years ago, today's battle would not have occurred. I think the heated debate today is a remnant of hard feelings that remain from the segregated past. For example, only a recent effort by Dr. Van Alstine resulted in female varsity athletes from the 1980s and prior receiving letters, something they had previously been denied.
Perhaps if the current athletic administration would offer up an apology regarding the past slight of women's athletics, the healing could begin, e.g., something on the order of "We realize you should have been honored with the Leatherneck name 30+ years ago, and we apologize for the oversight. We would like to extend an invitation to welcome you fully into the proud Western Leatherneck tradition."
-Tere North
Regardless of whether you favor keeping the Westerwind and Leatherneck names or calling all WIU athletic teams the Leathernecks, I think it is important to realize that the women did not move away from being called Leathernecks when they took on the Westerwinds moniker 30 years ago.
Rather the women's teams became the Westerwinds because they weren't allowed to be called Leathernecks, not by the Marines, as Col. Cumbie pointed out, but by the WIU men's athletic administrators of the time who felt that calling the "girls' teams," as they were simply known, the Leathernecks would have been demeaning to WIU athletics. The women wanted a nickname, and so the Westerwinds were born.
Had the men not denied the women the Leatherneck name some 30 years ago, today's battle would not have occurred. I think the heated debate today is a remnant of hard feelings that remain from the segregated past. For example, only a recent effort by Dr. Van Alstine resulted in female varsity athletes from the 1980s and prior receiving letters, something they had previously been denied.
Perhaps if the current athletic administration would offer up an apology regarding the past slight of women's athletics, the healing could begin, e.g., something on the order of "We realize you should have been honored with the Leatherneck name 30+ years ago, and we apologize for the oversight. We would like to extend an invitation to welcome you fully into the proud Western Leatherneck tradition."
-Tere North
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