As a fourth-year member of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band, I have personally attended a great number of sporting events, from football games to basketball games to gymnastics meets. I have seen UCLA win a national championship, break records and set new standards for achievement. I have also seen UCLA lose dismally to USC and miss out on a national championship.
For almost all of those events, the UCLA teams exit almost immediately following the game. Only the band, cheer squad, yell crew and a dismal smattering of leftover students in the Den remain to sing the alma mater, a very important piece of UCLA culture, to an almost empty arena. I have witnessed this occur, for example, at games held at the Rose Bowl, Pauley Pavilion and at a number of places UCLA teams compete.
It is disheartening to support an athletics team for an entire game or match, only for the teams to themselves disparage such a significant tradition at the end of some games. The actions of our teams and coaches must align with their words. Win or lose, honoring UCLA should be important to the athletes and to the coaches.
Many other Pac-12 teams, and even teams across the country, stay for their schools’ alma maters. Both Stanford’s and USC’s school spirits and camaraderie take precedent over celebrating victories or licking wounds. UCLA, however, cannot say the same.
Perhaps after this article, the responsibility of instilling a respect for the alma mater song will be pawned off to the Den. But if athletes were to stay, a majority of the student audience section would likely stay, much like USC and Stanford students do at their games. A positive domino effect of further commitment to the UCLA spirit can be started with the athletes simply staying to join in on a very important tradition – win or lose.
It is my personal belief that when presenting a problem, one should also propose a solution. Thus, I would like to invite every athletic coach at UCLA to emphasize reviewing the alma mater. Learning “Hail to the Hills of Westwood” should take no longer than 30 minutes of the teams’ time.
Community is imperative to the creation of a good educational environment. Fostering a community starts with simple displays of solidarity and support, and learning and singing the alma mater is a simple and effective way to begin doing so.
McCreary is a fourth-year political science, German and international development studies student. The opinions reflected in this piece are personal, and not affiliated with any group McCreary is a part of.
As a spectator I have noticed the same thing Joy. I am proud of you for your call to bring back school spirit and unity. It is so sad to watch the team and students walk off after a game and show zero interest in the community they belong to. I hope your call is answered.