Virginia Wesleyan Basketball Players Disciplined for Off-Campus ‘Friendsgiving’ Gathering
“You had a gathering you’re dismissed from the school completely”
This was all because of the school’s COVID policies. These students should have just claimed it was a protest.
WAVY News reports:
Virginia Wesleyan player expelled, 13 others banned from campus housing after off-campus gathering
Until Wednesday afternoon, Makenna McSweeney was a graduate student at Virginia Wesleyan University and a forward for the women’s basketball team. That’s when she found out that her “Friendsgiving” gathering at her home in Ocean View was enough to get her expelled.
It was a case of the domino effect. Fourteen Virginia Wesleyan basketball players gathered at McSweeney’s home Saturday evening, and one of the players got into a physical confrontation with the next-door neighbor over parking. Then, the neighbor called the school early this week.
After that call, the gathering itself became grounds for heavy discipline against the players.
“It was a very quick, short [meeting]: ‘You had a gathering you’re dismissed from the school completely,’” is how McSweeney described the news she got from the university administration.
In a statement, the school said it “has strict COVID-19 safety measures and protocols… and the team members violated these measures with a gathering in an off-campus apartment.” But McSweeney says those guidelines are unclear.
“The COVID guidelines in the student handbook say to follow the CDC guidelines,” she said.
And she says a gathering of 14 her home did not violate those guidelines. But the gathering might never have become an issue if not for a dispute between one of the guest players and the next-door neighbor.
Beverly Zimmerman-Wright, the neighbor, points to a no parking sign on 20th Bay Street outside her home. She says she got into a heated argument with one of the players, Gabrielle Clay, when she asked her to move away from the edge of her driveway.
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