I have attended several of this year’s football and basketball games. However, I was very disturbed by something that I saw committed Saturday at the Oregon/Arizona basketball game. I have seen the Duck mascot use the “Noise Machine” to excite the crowd in the past. However, this time the Duck played with the crowd by having the noise machine lid move on its own. At the end of the display a female cheerleader popped out of the noise machine, which is a garbage bin. The Duck then pushed her head back down, closed the lid and wheeled her off the court in the glorified garbage dumpster.
I realize it was supposed to be funny, but putting women in garbage cans like trash is not funny. When sexual assault is such a prevalent problem on college campuses across the U.S., it seems incredibly inappropriate to have an official University representative devalue women in such a blatant, disrespectful manner. These types of subconscious messages should be taken very seriously and the University should not tolerate a mascot who has repeatedly embarrassed the campus by beating up other mascots, humping the head of other mascots, groping cheerleaders and placing women in trash cans.
Autumn Johnson
University Law student