Administrators said yesterday that Friday’s attack on four Whitman students was a result of poor sportsmanship and code of conduct. To prevent further incidents from happening again, both schools have talked to their students to remind them of the guidelines that they are expected to follow at sporting events. Additionally, principal Alan Goodwin has sent home a letter regarding expectations for conduct at sporting events.
Four Whitman students were verbally harassed and physically attacked by a crowd of B-CC students at the boys basketball game last Friday. After the Vikings defeated the Barons 52-45 in a heated game, five B-CC fans began to provoke Whitman students as they walked through the B-CC parking lot.
The group of five B-CC students soon turned into a crowd of over 20, which began to shove the Whitman students into each other and parked cars, trying to get them to fight back.
A security guard tried to control the crowd, but, according to one of the students, he was pushed aside by the mass of B-CC students cheering on their classmates.
As another Whitman student began to drive away, the attackers hit the car’s body and windows.
A third Whitman student tried to help separate his friend from the B-CC crowd but was swarmed by three B-CC students and was also punched in the face, leaving him with a bloodied chin and lip.
No students required follow up medical care.
The attackers, who have been suspended, claim the fight was started in reaction to offensive comments made by Whitman fans during the game. Whitman assistant principal Kathlyn Carroll said that while it is okay to be competitive, some comments students believe to be okay are offensive to the opposing team.
“I have found that students are usually well-behaved at our sporting events. It is important to think about what is acceptable and to keep others in mind when chanting or yelling at sporting events,” Carroll says.
Carroll explained that B-CC administrators said that the incident resulted from students not knowing their boundaries.
However, the students who were attacked say they were appalled by the delayed action of security. The guards did not intervene until the B-CC crowd had already surrounded the students and hit them numerous times.
“We were surrounded by a crowd of about 20 B-CC kids and they started punching us in the lot,” one of the students said. “Security did not show up until we were already hurt. It is pathetic that they could not control their students outside of their own school.”
Ruth Etiquette • Feb 7, 2010 at 2:10 pm
My advise to everyone; keep you comments and opinions to yourself in order to ensure your safety.
In today’s world it would be no surprise to find that someone at a high school sporting event has a firearm in their possession and is demented enough to use it. Many youth of today are not into reasoning with each other to resolve conflict. Instead, it’s let me go get my gun so that my voice will be heard.
anonymous • Jan 18, 2010 at 2:41 pm
What we pampered kids want is for the security staff to be able to recognize potentially dangerous situations. After a rivalry game that got heated, it would seem to make sense that the guards follow the student fans into the parking lot instead of staying inside an emptying gym.
Jay • Jan 15, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Do you pampered kids at Whitman expect security to be everywhere? If you want security to cover every ten feet of property then maybe you should chip in and pay for their overtime.
rick neumann class of '70 • Jan 14, 2010 at 10:26 pm
As a Whitman Graduate from the Class of 1970, and a Whitman parent of a 2007 graduate, I’ve witnessed disturbing chants and behavior in both my era and my son’s, especially during the brilliant Whitman ’68 runs to the Md. State Basketball Finals, and the superb Md. Sate Championship Viking Hoops run of 2006. Most from our opponents, but some from Vikings, too. Times change, but losers and jerks, don’t, and never will. During a heated basketball contest for the Montgomery County title in ’69 at Blair, Richard Montgomery toughs beat up a few innocnet Viking fans and produced a knife in a scuffle after the game. In another incident, I was co-captain of the Whitman Golf Team in 1970. My partner and I were beating the hell out of our opponents. These guys were twice as big a we were, but nowhere near as talented as we were, and they knew it. They got in our face and said: “If you don’t let us win, we will beat the S— out of you! Well, we beat the S— out of them on the golf course, and that was that!
Losers will always be angry at winners! (Look at al-Queda, for example!) It’s the way of life! Vikings are proven winners: past, present, and future. Pride, Determination, and Success will win out in the end. I promise.