booty

Wisconsin school ending cheerleading awards for 'big boobie' and 'big booty' after ACLU letter

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Feb. 21, 2019, 12:11 AM GMT / Updated Feb. 21, 2019, 5:17 PM GMT

By Elisha Fieldstadt

A Wisconsin high school won't be giving out awards like “big booty” to cheerleaders this year after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the district detailing complaints from multiple parents and staffers.

Tremper High School, part of the Kenosha Unified School District, has been holding an annual award ceremony for cheerleaders for at least five years. In 2017, along with standard honors, such as for "hardest worker," awards for “big boobie” and “big booty” were given, according to the ACLU's letter.

The following year, the “string bean award” for the skinniest cheerleader was added to the lineup, the letter said.

And in prior years, the coaches, at least some of whom are female, made comments about the girls' vaginas during the ceremony, which is held for between 100 and 150 people, including family and friends of the cheerleaders and Kenosha Unified School District staff, the ACLU said

During the 2018 awards, a parent told the ACLU that "coaches 'laughed hysterically' when handing the big boobie award to its recipient and made comments on the microphone about 'what a feat' it was that this student could maneuver through cheer routines with her 'enormous boobs,'" the letter said.

According to the ACLU's letter, the winner of the “big booty” award was greeted with this commentary: “We love her butt. Everybody loves her butt."

After the 2018 ceremony, a female coach for another sport at the school emailed both the principal, Steven Knecht, and one of the cheerleading coaches, according to the ACLU's letter.

"'The last thing these high school girls need is a fellow woman in their lives communicating to them that they are objects or that their appearance is something to be gawked at, demeaned, laughed at, or even awarded for that matter,'" she wrote to the cheerleading coach, the ACLU letter said.

The cheerleading coach responded, "I honestly don’t feel that I need to explain myself about how we ran our banquet. Actually we have ran it this way for years and have never had a problem," according to the ACLU's letter, which did not identify the coach.

The principal afterward told the cheerleading coaches that after complaints from four people, he would be investigating the awards. But he later told a concerned parent that he "could find no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the coaches," according to the ACLU.

When the parent "insisted Mr. Knecht had missed something," he responded that the awards “were meant to be funny” and the coaches were just joking around," recounted the ACLU's letter.

When a parent went to the district with concerns, the district's chief of school eadership reiterated Knecht's response, according to the ACLU.

But later in 2018, a human resources official for the district met with the head cheerleading coach and told her to apologize to each student who received a “gag award" and resign, the ACLU said. The coach apologized, but refused to resign. Knecht had made it clear that she was welcome to continue coaching, according to the ACLU.

Neither Knecht nor the district's chief of student leadership, Susan Valeri, responded to requests for comments from NBC News.

Tanya Ruder, the Kenosha Unified School District chief communications officer, said in a statement that "a clear expectation has been set that awards of this nature are not acceptable and are not to be given at Tremper cheerleading banquets going forward."

Emma Roth, who works for the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, said the school notified the ACLU that the awards in question will not be given out this year. The other change to the ceremony this year is that parents won't be invited, Roth said.

The ACLU's letter, which threatened to "explore all available legal remedies" against the district, said the Tremper cheerleading awards aren't the only issues of gender discrimination against girls on the cheering squad and other female students at the high school and in the district at large.

"In addition to these awards, parents have reported that the Tremper Cheer coaches have regularly engaged in harassing language towards the cheerleaders during practices," the ACLU letter said.

Further, a dress code at the high school that "administrators have selectively enforced" against female students banned yoga pants, leggings and tank tops, according to the ACLU.

At another Kenosha school, Bradford High School, students in a health class were made to watch a movie in which a female college freshman is drugged and raped. "The students were then told to fill out a worksheet that asked, 'What could have Melissa done differently to have avoided her sexual assault (provide at least 4 examples)?'" the ACLU's letter said.

"This question squarely places the blame for a sexual assault on the victim, rather than the perpetrator who drugged and raped her," the letter said.

The ACLU urged the district to discipline staff involved with the cheerleading awards and provide mandatory anti-harassment training for all district employees and written guidelines "prohibiting school officials from commenting on students’ physical appearances."

The civil liberties group is also asking for the district to release a review they conducted regarding the offending health class curriculum.

Roth, with the ACLU, said they had "received a cursory response" from the district.

"The ACLU and ACLU of Wisconsin will continue to press KUSD to respond appropriately to these incidents and to reform and enforce its policies so that all students are treated equally, regardless of gender," Asma Kadri-Keeler, an ACLU of Wisconsin staff attorney, said in a statement released to NBC News Wednesday.

Tremper High School previously made headlines when a U.S. District Court judge ruled in 2017 that a transgender boy could use the boys' restroom after teachers and administrators at the school told him he could not.

The district appealed the decision, and after the ruling was upheld by appeals court judges, school officials petitioned to appeal that ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2018, the school board changed course, and voted 5 to 2 to settle a lawsuit over the matter and withdraw its petition to the high court.

Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

After high school is forced to end its ‘Big Booty’ and ‘Big Boobie’ awards, ACLU demands reform

Deanna Paul

Reporter covering national and breaking news

February 21

When Tremper High School holds its annual cheerleading banquet next month, awards such as “most improved” and “hardest worker” seem likely to reappear.

Other accolades from years past face a less-certain future.

The 2018 “Big Boobie” award, for example, was given to the cheerleader who accomplished “a feat” by maneuvering “through cheer routines with her enormous boobs,” according to a video provided to the American Civil Liberties Union, which became involved in the matter after concerned parents and a former employee of the Kenosha, Wis., high school contacted it.

Another member won the “String Bean” award, for being the thinnest, and another the “Big Booty” award.

“We love her butt. Everybody loves her butt,” the presenting coach said in the video, before the girl accepted the accolade in front of 150 banquet guests.

And a special 2017 award — a blond wig — went to a brunette cheerleader dubbed a “ditsy girl.”

Attorneys for the ACLU sent a letter to the Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD) on Tuesday, notifying them of their concerns over the tradition, which it says dates back at least five years.

The ACLU accused the district of enabling sexual harassment in its school system in violation of federal nondiscrimination and equal protection laws, and threatened to sue if officials fail to take immediate action.

“The incidents described all reveal a culture in which female students are objectified and sexualized,” the ACLU wrote in its demand letter. “The objectifying awards are just one example of a broader culture of body shaming, victim blaming, and harassment throughout KUSD.”

Patti Hupp, a former head coach of the girls’ track team, was among those who had concerns. She told The Washington Post that Tremper was “a difficult culture for women and girls.”

Hupp, who moved away from the district after the 2017-2018 school year, said she endured disrespectful comments during her four-season tenure and that school officials at the highest levels knew of the discriminatory environment.

“Kenosha protects their own,” Hupp said, adding she was shocked that there weren’t more complaints and that coaches weren’t fired immediately.

In April, a month after the 2018 banquet, a parent mentioned the cheer awards to Hupp but did not file a complaint out of fear her daughter would be penalized and banned from the team.

Hupp decided to speak to the principal, Steve Knecht.

”I don’t think it takes much to see that this is extremely degrading to women,” she wrote to Knecht, in a letter dated April 2018 and obtained by the ACLU. “I feel that I need to tell you this for the protection of these girls.”

Hupp also tried to speak to one of the cheer coaches directly but says she was met with a sharp reply.

Knecht, after receiving complaints from “four different people,” launched an investigation. Despite video recordings of the banquet, Knecht reported “he could find no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the coaches” and said he thought the coaches were “just joking around,” according to the ACLU report.

Attempts to reach Knecht were redirected to a district spokeswoman.

The district was made aware of the allegations in April, according to the ACLU, after a Tremper parent met with the chief of student leadership, Sue Valeri, who allegedly echoed Knecht’s sentiment.

Based on records obtained by the ACLU, a district official met with the head cheer coach the following month and told her to write apology letters to all cheerleaders who received mock accolades. She was also directed by the office to submit a resignation letter.

An August memo from Knecht to Valeri and the schools superintendent memorialized the meeting and included a status update: The head coach sent apology letters but “declined to resign.” Knecht welcomed her back as a co-coach.

But, with the ACLU’s involvement, the matter seems far from settled. The group gave the district until March 1 to respond to its demands or risk legal action. Among its requests are disciplining faculty involved in the banquet and administration members who failed to act, anti-harassment training for teachers and students and written guidelines prohibiting officials from commenting on students’ bodies or sexuality.

Tanya Ruder, a spokeswoman for the school district, declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

“In regards to the Tremper incident, a clear expectation has been set that awards of this nature are not acceptable and are not to be given at Tremper cheerleading banquets going forward,” she wrote in an email to The Washington Post.

Tremper has followed this guideline, Hupp said: For now, the only official school mandate is that parents will not be invited to next month’s cheer banquet.

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Wisconsin HS cheerleaders got 'Big Booty' and 'Big Boobie' awards. ACLU is now involved.

For the second time in recent years, the American Civil Liberties Union is accusing the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Unified School District of creating a hostile environment for female students. This comes after parents complained that Tremper High School cheerleading coaches bestowed "Big Boobie" and "Big Booty" awards at their annual banquet, and teachers at Bradford High suggested in a health lesson that sexual assault victims were to blame for their attacks. 

The ACLU of Wisconsin and the national ACLU's Women's Rights Project sent a letter to the district this week demanding officials address the issues or face a federal lawsuit.

"There is a serious indifference to how young girls are being treated within the KUSD system," ACLU Wisconsin attorney Asma Kadri Keeler said.  "And that indifference is creating a toxic culture of perpetuating gender stereotypes that will stay with these girls for the rest of their lives."

District spokeswoman Tanya Ruder said in a statement that "awards of this nature are not acceptable" and will not be presented at future Tremper cheerleading banquets. But she declined to comment further, calling it a personnel matter.

She said the offending health lesson has been removed from the district's curriculum.

The letter follows a months-long investigation by the ACLU, opened after parents complained about the body-shaming gag awards given out at the 2018 awards banquet.

In addition to the traditional "most-improved" and "hardest-worker" honors, it said, coaches doled out the "Big Boobie" award for the cheerleader with the biggest breasts, the "Big Booty" award for the girl with the largest buttocks and the "String Bean" award for the skinniest girl.

The awards were presented in front of more than 150 people, according to the letter. One parent said coaches "laughed hysterically" when handing out the "Big Boobie" award, incredulous that the girl could "maneuver through cheer routines with her 'enormous boobs.' " And it cited video footage of the coaches giving out the "Big Booty" award, telling the crowd, "We love her butt. Everybody loves her butt."

The ACLU said similar awards were handed out at the 2017 banquet, and that one parent alleged coaches in past years had commented on the girls' vaginas. It said the cheerleading coaches had routinely used harassing language with the girls during practices, sending them away in tears about their bodies, and that some girls quit as a result.

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"The objectifying awards are just one example of a broader culture of body shaming, victim blaming, and harassment throughout KUSD," the ACLU said in the letter.

At least one other coach at the school raised concerns about the gag awards, according to emails obtained by the ACLU. 

"I don't think it takes much to see that this is extremely degrading to women," the coach wrote in an April 23, 2018, email to Tremper principal Steve Knecht.

The same coach also emailed one of the cheerleading coaches, writing, "The last thing these high school girls need is a fellow woman in their lives communicating to them that they are objects or that their appearance is something to be gawked at, demeaned, laughed at, or even awarded, for that matter."

The cheerleading coach defended the awards banquet, saying, "we have ran (sic) this way for years and have never had a problem," according to the letter.

The ACLU said Knecht also deflected criticism, saying the awards were "meant to be funny" and the coaches were "just joking around."

It said a Kenosha human resources official directed the head coach to send letters of apology to the recipients of the gag awards and to submit her resignation by June 14, 2018. The coach refused to step down, and Knecht told her she was welcome to return as a co-coach, it said, and she continues to "directly coach" the cheerleading squad.

It's not the first time Kenosha Unified has been accused of discriminating against students.

The ACLU has raised concerns since 2017 that it is enforcing its dress code in ways that discriminate against female students. And last year, the district paid $800,000 to settle a lawsuit with Ash Whitaker, a transgender student, who accused it of discriminating against him.