Dear Easterner Editor,
This letter has been drafted to address a few inaccuracies in the article entitled, “No Salvaging ‘Savages'” posted on March 7, 2013.
We are a few of the original students involved in the “throwback jersey scandal” of 2004 and upon reading this latest article we were disappointed to learn of the several inaccuracies as none of us were contacted to verify the validity of certain statements.
The following are the inaccuracies in question:
- • There were five students who originated the jersey, not two.
- • We were never directed by university officials to stop wearing the jerseys (something we did of our own accord) due to copyright infringement.
- • They were never sold at games nor were they confiscated. Each jersey currently resides with the member that paid for its creation save the one donated by one of us to the archives.
- • At no point in time did any of us ever ‘chant,’ ‘scream’ or ‘yell’ any sort of racially disparaging remarks at anyone during any sporting event.
We hope that these inaccuracies will be properly addressed and that in the future The Easterner will take great care in ‘fact-checking’ future articles.
This letter was not drafted to dispute the validity of the mascot change or to dispute the offensiveness of the term ‘savage’ to certain members of the student body. This letter has been drafted to dispute the aforementioned statements and nothing more.
We have been, are and will continue to be proud Eagle Alumni and hope that others in the EWU community never forget our rich heritage when looking towards a brighter future.
Sincerely,
Seth Dryden, Class of ’05
Christian Hartz, Class of ’05
Albert Pjosek, Class of ’06
Nate Weaver, Class of ’06
