During the SMU game against Memphis on Saturday, police at the stadium took the extraordinary measure of ejecting the entire student section for the game for not following appropriate social-distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.
The whole section. All of ’em. Booted.
It happened in the first half, with police escorting out the entire group of fans behind one of the end zones.
In a statement, SMU said that it had consulted with local authorities following last week’s game. Apparently, the authorities were none too pleased, because they insisted SMU actually enforce social distancing measures this time.
Did that have something to do with a local TV news report calling them out midweek. Maybe!
“During the game,” the statement read, “some students began to gather and disregard these safety measures. They were asked to spread out and mask when in close contact. After numerous attempts by staff and security to get the students to comply with these safety requirements, it became necessary to clear the area.”
We can all get mad at the kids here and pooh pooh them for not adhering to social distancing guidelines, or we can remember the leaders of our government did the same thing last week, and maybe we shouldn’t be blaming teenagers for behaving like teenagers, but rather questioning why a school like SMU thought it was appropriate to bring students into the stadium in the first place.
