Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to the recently published “T-Shirts come under scrutiny” and “T-shirt snafu” articles. Our organization, the Cherry Crusade, is a registered student organization that represents the student fans of Temple athletics. The mission of the Crusade is to positively support Temple athletics and to create an environment amongst Temple fans that promotes winning. In our experience, interacting with other student bases and the media, Temple’s fan base has often been called classless and vulgar. It is one of our organization’s goals to change that reputation.
By Temple students wearing those shirts on a nationally televised game, it is only furthering what we believe to be the wrong image of “trashy” Temple student fans. These shirts and actions directly erode the fun and positive environment of a college sporting event. Successful athletics and a diehard, respected fan-base, lead to more opportunities for Temple athletics, students and the community.
We, as an organization, have been working hard to foster a fan base that is driven by both creativity and passion. The Cherry Crusade strongly disagrees with the sentiment that by disapproving of these shirts, Temple and TSG are “striking at the core of Temple’s inspiring school spirit … and creative sense of Temple pride.” Profanity is not clever or unique, nor is it representative of Temple pride. We believe that there are other ways to express creativity and be a dedicated fan, whether it be by the free body paint we supply, humorous roll-outs for Big-5 games or even events such as our “Funeral of the Hawk” at last year’s St. Joseph’s vs. Temple game.
The Penn State game set a record for the most student attendance at a football game and it is our aspiration that our fellow students will continue to show such great enthusiasm for Temple. We just hope that we as students can show the nation that we can express our passion without resulting to vulgarity.
Sincerely,
The Cherry Crusade Executive Board
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