At the most recent Hall-Conard basketball game towards the end of February, the bleachers on both sides of the court were packed. With a sea of blue on one side and a red sea of equal magnitude on the other, not much differed between the opposing schools. While one particular side may be ~superior~ in all aspects of student life, the students comprising each section shared similar ambitions, attitudes, and sentiments towards the opposing side. The biggest difference, however, was how each side’s members were allowed to express themselves. 

Snide remarks and petty insults echoed from the Conard side, inundating Gym A with immaturity and fierce negativity. Though some of the remarks made were definitely out of hand, many were simply characteristic of a high school sporting event between rivals. Of course, degrading comments about players’ physical appearances and their significant others shouldn’t be accepted. However, I believe a certain degree of chanting is harmless and ends up fueling a positive sense of school pride, rather than allowing for the bottling up of anger and frustration, such as that which occurred during the basketball game in question. 

Conard students continuously hurled insults directed at the players, their families, and the Hall student body itself with no regulation or repercussion. When Hall kids attempted the same, they were immediately shut down. So, Hall students digressed, changing the tune of their chants to harmless ones. Even the statement “Red is an ugly color” was deemed inappropriate by the several administrative members and security guards domineering Hall’s one side of the gym. Even more connotatively positive cheers (Our town, Hall is better) were criticized. Meanwhile, our rivals were shouting actual obscenities and pejorative statements without any kind of backlash. 

So, the question I ask the Hall student body is, do you think we, as students, athletes, and fan section members, are being held to a higher standard than Conard students? The basketball game, a season-ender for both teams, is by far not the first example of this kind of discrepancy. At the Hall-Conard football game this past fall, tensions were already high as remarks from both schools had been exchanged in the weeks and days leading up to the big event. Per usual, many of the chants Hall fan section leaders attempted to organize, no matter how innocuous, were shut down.                                                            

At both of these games, security concerns have resulted in each school being dismissed from the grounds separately. On both occasions, home and away, Hall students have waited upwards of 10 minutes for the Conard side to shuffle out first. We’ve been hit by traffic cones, demeaned with cruel names, and even physically threatened while being told to basically endure it and not respond. Taking the high road is admirable, don’t get me wrong. Being the bigger person is always a useful and humbling lesson. 

But there is something to be said about respect for Hall students. We aren’t allowed to say the words “shut up” at a game, but it is expected that we do just that while being laughed at on our way back to our cars. As teenagers, much of our focus is on perception. The issue of being held to a different standard than students in the same school district as us is one that goes beyond the idea of being perceived as voiceless; without anyone, adult or otherwise, vocally advocating for us on the spot, we truly are voiceless. 

All I’m asking for is some consistency. We’ve grown up in the same school system — we can and should be held to the same standards for behavior. If the Hall administration wishes to continue regulating the school spirit chants as they’ve been doing, that’s fine with me; just as long as our peers on the other side of town are subject to the same limitations.