UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and USC President Steven Sample put an ad in Monday’s Daily Bruin asking students to be good sports and keep their behavior in check this Saturday, regardless of who wins the big game.
“You demonstrate respect for yourself, your team and your university by showing respect toward all of those around you,” the ad read.
Both sides call Los Angeles home, and we need to be responsible in our communities before, during and after the ‘SC game. Bonfires and riots are all wildly inappropriate responses to the outcome of a football game, and we don’t have extra money to have the university police out all night and to repair damages to campus property.
Everyone knows the UCLA-USC rivalry is a storied one, and many of us are personally invested in how we do this weekend. But we should all remember that it is not, in fact, a life-or-death situation, and that bad behavior reflects poorly on us.
Besides, no matter how the game turns out, at the end of the day, they still live in Compton, and we’re still the school next door to Beverly Hills that was the first to achieve 100 NCAA Championships ““ not to mention superior academics all around.