Hoofer Sailing Not Found

A scary thought, isn't it. We have heard some of the rumors about the club's future, but we question whether they could disband HSC and make it student-only. Then what, UW faculty/staff couldn't join either..? That would seem to violate the UW's mission. Not to mention taking a great sailing club and turning into a joke.

But check out this eerie foreshadowing of what Union management is trying to do.

The next BOC meeting should be Monday, Nov 21, but knowing Mills, he might very well use Thxgiving as an excuse to move it to a different day. No one is even bothering to announce them on the web any more, nor is there an up-to-date list of BOC members. Just lots of "404" errors. Perhaps a foreshadowing of where HSC itself is headed..? Lists and up-to-date info make it too easy to contact people or to show up at BOC meetings--where we ALL should be--and complain.

The BOC prefers to do things under the table, not out in the open. For those who aren't aware, the "approved BOC minutes" are not the actual minutes. The juicy stuff, and anything that's borderline illegal, gets "cleaned" before the minutes are approved.

With regard to this blog, we don't know how much use it can really be in averting the out-of-control freighter that is crooked Union management. It can at least be used as a forum, and to post BOC emails or other potentially useful info (or they can be forwarded here. Like a newspaper or other publication, we need evidence before being able to say much that is concrete.

Xenophobia

We leave a lot of leeway for comments on this blog, one exception being the use of personal names. Civility is not required, although hopefully each comment will contribute something. Jeff put his name out there himself, which was big of him, but we are still uncomfortable with it. The simple fact is that Jeff got the shaft, mainly as the result of general dysfunction within the club, but he is not the only one. The lack of empathy and of any interest in trying to understand sure doesn't help.

This is to be expected, though, when those in charge are 21 year old white boys who never even saw a black guy (except on TV) until they got to college. Discrimination is nothing new for Hoofer "leaders" or for the UW in general. The further you fall outside the 18-22 year old frat boy/girl demographic, the more trouble you're going to have. Recent comments have helped to reveal the seething xenophobia in Hoofers/the UW. For instance:

It is the job of an older man to be friendly, fatherly, and NOT engage at any other level with college age women than they would with their own daughter. That is sick, twisted, and SO wrong.

It is unclear whether that commenter is just trying to stir things up or if there's been a lot of incest in his family. And what does he mean by "older"..? If I'm 28, can I pursue a 21 year old? What if I'm 35--but don't look a day over 25? Our President-elect was 52 when he met his then-28-year old wife-to-be. Michael Douglas was 56 when he met the very hot 29 year old Catherine Zeta Jones circa 1999. Our commenter would call that "sick". I'd probably call it a good catch by MD--or maybe by CZJ. Things may be different for movie stars and billionaires, or maybe not.

According to that commenter, if you're over 40, sitting under the canopy, and not averting your eyes while female undergrads rig their boards, you're stalking them. That's absurd, of course, and it sounds a lot like age discrimination too. I personally don't think most men join HSC to meet women. They join to sail. On the other hand, the club is advertised as a social organization, and lots of people have met their future spouses in the club. Former commodores Chris Frye and Mike Larsen, for instance. It would be interesting to examine whether or not general club members are just as likely to meet their future spouses in Hoofers. If not, that would suggest some misbehaviour by those at the top.

Unfortunately HSC is run mostly by those spoiled white frat boys who enjoy bullying others--especially people who are different--just as they haze and abuse underclassmen pledging their fraternities. It's why there are virtually no mechanisms for mediation within the club, in Hoofers, or at the UW. Once you get a taste of being the abuser, it's a high that you come to crave. Mediation only helps the abusee, not the abuser.

Nor can the abusers be expected to correct themselves. They must be forced, by more decent people, to stop abusing and discriminating against others.