News From the Homefront Hits National Review:
Dave Kopel writes about the University of Wisconsin forbidding the WVU mascot (a Mountaineer, complete with an evil, oppressive rifle) being forbidden to bring his rifle into Wisconsin’s stadium, letalone firing it. They have come to their senses and relented.
he University of Wisconsin has demonstrated that it is not inclined to celebrate diversity, practice tolerance, or remember its own history. But it is capable of feeling embarrassment.
The Wisconsin football team plays the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday. Ever since 1936, West Virginia athletic teams have been accompanied by a student who is chosen as the “Mountaineer.”
He or she wears a tailored buckskin outfit and coonskin cap. The Mountaineer traditionally fires a musket before the game begins, and whenever West Virginia scores; the musket contains only powder, and no ammunition. It is no more dangerous than a starter’s pistol.
On Tuesday, the peckish administration at Wisconsin not only forbade the Mountaineer to fire a gun; the Mountaineer was forbidden even to bring the musket into Camp Randall Stadium. Supposedly, the school was enforcing a policy against weapons in the stadium, although the athletic department explained that the gun would have been barred even if there were no general policy on weapons.
One personal note- I know the Mountaineer. I had him in class two years ago and I just spoke with him at a University sponsored tailgate at the home opener last Saturday.