Empty stands, early start to greet 'Cats at Cornell
Written: Oct 13, 2016
  By Clayton Sauertieg
New Castle News
The stands will be empty — or close to it — when the Shenango High football team travels to Cornell on Friday.
Due to safety concerns, the Cornell administration has decided to play the game without fans, cheerleaders or bands. Only the teams, officials and school personnel will be permitted inside the stadium. In addition, each member of the two teams was given two tickets to accommodate family members.
The game time has been moved up to 4:30 p.m.
The controversy began on Sept. 30, when 12 of the 15 members of the Cornell High cheerleading squad took a knee as the National Anthem played prior to the school’s home football game with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Standing adjacent to the cheerleaders were local veterans who were serving as the color guard for the game.
The district and administrators since have been the object of widespread backlash, with the district receiving an estimated 500 threatening voicemails and emails from across the country, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Budai said that the decision to move the game was done to avoid any protests or violence from outside groups as a result of the cheerleaders’ actions.
“About two weeks ago, they had some issues at Cornell over the playing of the National Anthem,” Shenango athletic director Jan Budai said. “Outside groups got involved and it sort of a spiraled into a ‘he said, she said’ kind of a thing. A protest was supposed to be scheduled for Friday evening at the football game, so Cornell’s administration thought it best to play the game during the day and close it to the public.”
The cheerleaders’ protest followed that of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has expressed that his protests reflect his concern over what he feels is the unequal treatment of African-Americans in the United States. Kaepernick, whose actions have been met with a divided response, was named the starting quarterback for San Francisco ahead of Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills. He has been joined in protest by a handful of players nationwide, both on the professional and scholastic levels. Veterans and non-veterans alike have spoken out in the weeks since the initial protest to express their dismay over what some feel is a slight to military members both past and present.
(Email: csauertieg@ncnewsonline.com)
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