To the Editor:
In “O Say Must We Stand?” (October 14), Silke-Maria Weineck misstates the narrative and reasoning behind the decision to keep the Eastern Michigan football team and marching band off the field during the playing of the national anthem at a September 23 night home game at Rynearson Stadium.
Weineck, a professor of German studies and comparative literature at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 10 miles down the road from EMU, writes: “Faced with the prospect of student athletes’ displeasing the regents donors loyal fans by engaging in a meaningful act distracting from the beautiful game of football, EMU decided to remove them from the field altogether. Just for the anthem. And their own protection. Seriously.”
The professor then partially quotes me from an article about the game: “EMU spokesman Geoff Larcom said the university became aware of some student discussion regarding a possible protest prior to the game, leading to the decision to play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ earlier than normal. Players and the EMU marching band were kept off the field during that time.”
Adds Weineck: “Let this sink in fully: We are no longer at a point where student-athletes’ decision to express their misgivings about the land of the free and the home of the brave by peaceful, quiet protest is merely controversial. We are now at a point where we remove them from sight altogether, lest they engage in an act that requires the very courage and autonomy the song they refuse to sing claims is America’s hallmark.”
But what the professor fails to quote from the same article, or any other coverage of the game, is that the move was made for a very important reason: To ensure the safety of everybody connected with the football game, including, importantly, the protesters themselves. It was not, as the professor concludes, an effort to stop our student-athletes from making any sort of anthem-related statement, as is happening around the country.
Based on our knowledge of a possibly significant disruption to the start of the game by protesters coming onto the field in some fashion, the teams and marching band stayed off the field during the playing of the anthem — a decision endorsed by all potentially affected groups. Public image and who might or might not sing the national anthem had nothing to do with any decision made.
When EMU student-athletes came out of the tunnel, they were able to either stand or kneel to express their personal beliefs before the start of the game.
Anybody who’s been to a college or pro football game, with its elaborate staging elements, can tell you this: You do not want protesters or anybody without a related game function on the field prior to or during the game.
Above all, it is our responsibility as university employees to preserve the safety of our students and staff when a dangerous situation potentially exists. That’s the real issue in this case.
Geoffrey Larcom
Executive Director
Media Relations
Eastern Michigan University