Rough on the RUF/NEKS
Should the Sooner Schooner ride again? Listen to my video commentary or read here:
The RUF/NEKS as we’ve long known them are gone.
I say, “Hoorah.”
But I’m also happy that the Oklahoma spirit group that has been around since 1915 isn’t going away entirely.
No doubt you’ve heard the news: earlier this week, the University of Oklahoma banned current members of the RUF/NEKS from official university events. An investigation determined that members had abused alcohol and hazed pledges this semester.
Alcohol abuse.
Pledge hazing.
In my mind, those are two of the biggest problems facing college campuses today. Of course, I’ve never understood what it proves to publicly humiliate a freshman or to do a keg stand. Does that make the tormentor or the guzzler more of a man?
I’d say the opposite.
The sad truth is, drinking and hazing are not going away on college campuses. Not even the ban on the RUF/NEKS at OU will change that. But that doesn’t mean the university should’ve just stood by and allowed it to happen. It had to take action.
Frankly, I think it did right by banning the members but not the group.
The RUF/NEKS will now be under the direction of the athletic department, something that frankly should’ve happened years ago. Maybe that would’ve kept the group from recent embarrassment.
The RUF/NEKS were harassing Nebraska players before a game three years ago at OU. A Cornhusker lineman ran into one of the RUF/NEKS, knocking out his teeth. A trial ensued. The lineman was cleared, but the damage was done.
Damage to the RUF/NEKS.
They need to be held to the same standards as every other on-field representative of the school. And even though they’ve shown themselves incapable of that in recent times, they can change. They can drive the Sooner Schooner and fire their shotguns and even carry their paddles without acting like a bunch of knuckleheads.
While some people would rather do without the shotguns and the paddles, I say the RUF/NEKS are one of the things that makes Saturdays at OU unique. They make the stadium feel more like a Wild West corral. They add to the environment.
I wouldn’t want to see the Schooner go away. Heck, I wouldn’t even want to go without those shotguns, even though they still scare the bejesus out of me.
I’m glad the RUF/NEKS have been given a second chance, a chance to clean up their act and remain a part of game day.
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