Letter to the Editor: NU game day conduct out of line

After the Northwestern-Michigan football game Saturday night, I was saddened to hear a group of Northwestern students chanting that "Detroit sucks." I am a Northwestern alumnus, Evanston resident and former Detroiter. This behavior is not appropriate for Northwestern students or any students: It's bad sportsmanship and just bad in general. I informed the young men as such. I also informed the young men that my interactions with them made me ashamed of Northwestern students for the first time ever. I'm 42 and about to celebrate my 20-year reunion.

I love Northwestern, its students and its athletics programs. I support the University in any way I can, including attending home sporting events, making sure any organization I work for recruits from Northwestern and donating to the annual fund. I attended the football game with my family, and a friend from the Detroit area and Michigan alum. When Northwestern was leading at half time, I heard several Michigan fans being poor sports. I told my Michigan friend that Northwestern students and fans wouldn't behave that way: We were above that. When I heard the rude young men chanting on Central Street, I had to say something to them or else eat my words.

Believe me, Northwestern students: I had my share of college stupidity in Evanston, and I look back on it fondly. I'm not one of those Evanston residents who thinks that college students shouldn't be college students. This is your time to be crazy, and you're part of Evanston. I personally say go for it, as long as you don't vomit on my property, commit a crime and are kind to my two young children, who think the world of Northwestern, Willie the Wildcat and college students in general.

However, when America is in the midst of a recession and I hear young men (have they held a job yet?) chanting that a challenged city sucks, it irritates me. It really irritates me. When I confronted the young men (I also told them they were being worse than the Michigan folks in the stadium), they told me how bad Blackhawks fans were and that they had never been on food stamps. They were stereotyping, so I mentally did the same: They were acting like spoiled children attending a private university on their parents' dime who were upset with a football outcome and having a tantrum. (I have five- and six-year-olds, so I'm familiar with tantrums.)

As an alumnus and Evanston resident, I wanted to share my perceptions with current Northwestern students. Don't act like those boys. I know that you're bigger than that behavior, that you'll speak up if you see that kind of stereotyping and that you're capable of great things. Go Cats!

Bonnie Schindler

Class of '91