I think that the situation that Jennifer Harris had to go through was just ridiculous. Going through a college program with an unethical policy that Rene Portland had just seems unrealistic any more. “No drinking, no drugs, and no lesbians.” I cannot believe that the university would not find out about the policy and do something in order to stop it. It is not right and should have been stopped before this situation came. Not drinking and not doing drugs to be on a team is perfectly fine, but to think that you cannot have a sexual preference and be part of the team seems wrong.
Not only did Portland not allow lesbians, but she also did not allow the girls to look like they are lesbians. I simply cannot believe that this was not an issue prior to when it finally came up in the case of Harris. Forcing players to wear their hair in a feminine style, wear jewelry, make up, and acquire a tan is simply unreal. This sounds to me like something that may have occurred in the 1970’s or 1980’s when these issues seemed relevant, but not in 2007 when all these issues seemed to have already come up in the public eye.
In this situation for Harris, all she wanted to do was wear her hair in corn rows. Harris was kicked off the team during her sophomore year for alleged poor work ethic and attitude. This all occurred after the coach told Harris that she did not want her to wear her hair in corn rows because it is not a feminine type of hair style.
According to Newhall & Buzuvis, this was not the first situation of this occurring, but Harris was the first to file a lawsuit against Portland and the University of Penn State. I personally believe this is incredible that Harris was the first one to file a lawsuit. If something along these lines happened at any university I would believe that a person would want to file a claim almost instantly.
I thought that it was very ironic that Portland stepped down as coach and also settled for an agreement with Harris in 2007 because that is basically showing that Portland knew she was wrong. This really makes me wonder because why would Portland even have this policy if she knew it was wrong? I cannot comprehend the reason for it and I wish there was a little clarification. If Portland was willing to step down and settle on an agreement after a lawsuit was filed, why would she have had that policy in the first place? Wouldn’t she have already known that could happen? It is just really confusing as a whole.
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I actually found this to be really interesting also, and wrote my own post regarding the situation. I would agree that Portland was completely out of line, and it was not her responsibility or right to prevent players from being themselves (to a point), and making them almost appear as something they were not. Her resigning from the head coach position was one of the best things that could have happened for the school, and for the basketball team and athletes she oversaw. I have no respect for her as a coaching authority and otherwise after hearing the ridiculous things she did acting as an extreme homophobic and the horrible comments she made to her players.
ReplyDeleteI just think it is unrealistic for a University to know that this is going on and to not do anything about it. It is not right and obviously unfair to the players if that is what they want to do with their lives.
ReplyDeleteIt is for sure a good thing that Portland left the school and probably is one of the best things that could have happened to the University, but do enough people know about it? I did no know about it until class Tuesday and I think that more people should know that something like this happened at the University of Penn State.
I think more people will come to know about this case if and when the movie is shown. I hope it is made available on a widespread basis. I remember when this issue was first raised--not because a player challenged it, but because people were aware that Rene Portland was using negative recruiting. At the time, Joe Paterno was the Athletic Director at Penn State. He supposedly knew about her policy and did nothing. Many people were appalled. However, one reason this may not have been challenged before is because sexual orientation is not covered under Title IX. Therefore, there have been very few instances where people were willing to challenge the legality of such a ruling. Of course, in most cases, coaches are not as blatant about it as Rene Portland was.
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