Stop Being a Pussy

The Stop Being a Pussy controversy involved a flyer posted by the men's club hockey team in September of 2006. The flyer, which advertised the men's club hockey team, featured the athletics mascot on the left with the phrase, "STOP BEING A PUSSY" on the right, along with contact information below. The university, which prides itself on free speech, took offense to the sign and sought to suspend the program from competing for the entire 2006 season, including a loss of funding and a follow-up 2-year probationary period. Ironically, the university's response to the t-shirts was pussy in and of itself. M. Diane Murphy, athletics director, wrote in a press release that "[t]his disciplinary action is not related to free speech, but rather the abdication of leadership responsibilities by senior members of the Club, and not working within established Club Sports policies and procedures."

From the outset, it seemed that most students disagreed with the university's decision in banning such witty, innocuous speech. The Spec revealed that the university had recently sponsored a shirt during homecoming that read, "We eat PUSSYCATS like you for breakfast," in reference to Princeton, with "PUSSY" displayed in orange, unlike the rest of the shirt's black text. Picture of front of shirt Picture of back of shirt Shortly thereafter, the university reinstated the hockey team. Oops.