A Facebook group coupled with an online petition has been circulating recently that is attempting to "petition the directors of the Cavalier Marching Band to reinstate Rugby Road as an integral part of the college football experience effective immediately."
Supporters of this song point to the fun, altogether light-hearted nature of the song and its long-standing history as a fight song at Virginia football games. Current fourth-year students and alumni reminisce about going to home football games, hearing the Cavalier Marching Band play Rugby Road right before kickoff and watching the student body interact, sing the song and get energized.
I have to admit that I was not present at any of these games to experience this phenomenon, so maybe I am missing some aspect of the greater experience that these fans have shared, but I have had the displeasure of having to hear the song preformed by my peers at parties and have trouble understanding the merits of such a vulgar song.
For those who are not familiar with the song, the first verse is a cheery appeal to the fact that "we're gonna get drunk tonight," and is followed with the oh-so-eloquent chorus "I think we need another drink." If this were the entirety of the song, it would be easily accepted that the song fits in with the numerous other pub-style drinking songs that can be heard at college campuses around the country.
The kicker comes with the supposed "extra verses" that almost always accompany the song, all of which seem to carry some sort of hateful message against one group or another, ranging from "a fat dumb slut from Hokieland" to "Those f---ing pretentious pricks from Duke" to "Those f--s from FSU." The worst part comes in the hateful threats against female University students: "If I were to see a U-bag [coed] / A-walkin' down the Lawn, / I'd build myself a gallows / And string her up at dawn."
Many (if not most) of these verses also include disgusting details about rape, including one of the most well-known verses: "He'll take you to his fraternity house / he'll fill you full of beer / and soon you'll be the mother of / A bastard cavalier." And the song doesn't discriminate, there are verses explicitly written about raping first-year girls, virgin girls, girls from specific sororities and girls from almost every college in the ACC.
Although supporters of the petition acknowledge that these verses exist, and go out of their way to quote the most vulgar of them, the supporters do not seem to recognize the harm. When approached online about these concerns, supporters of the song responded with statements like "Maybe not appropriate for children of all ages, but I do not see any Rugby Road lyrics that are appropriate that are funny. The point is they're crude and funny," or the less-eloquent, more consistent response: "stop being so god---- sensitive."
Much of this hits close to home, too. Less than a year ago, a well-loved fraternity member died at his chapter's house on Rugby Road, and so far this year we have already had numerous incidents of sexual assault, racially charged hate speech, gay-bashing and rape.
At a school that has battled alcohol abuse for as long as it has existed, and has a reputably terrible history with acceptance and tolerance of racial and gender diversity, the last thing we need is to institutionally encourage the perpetuation of such values.
I understand that the Rugby Road song has a history as being a well-known fight song around the University, but it was completely appropriate that it was retired - and retirement is where it should stay. If the signers of this petition honestly believe that the most successful way to "pump up" our students is by appealing to their glutinous, sadistic, racist and masochistic ethos, then maybe it is time for the University to rethink its values.
Chris Jones is a second-year Engineering student.
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