This past Saturday afternoon, students, parents and alumni were treated to a halftime performance by a group of cheerleaders quite different from those traditionally present at football games. Called the Wes Radical Cheer Squad, this group of about seven students had a mission greater than wishing the home team luck.
“We want to counter the impression of Wesleyan as a place to watch a football game,” said Zach Strassburger ’06, a member of the squad. “Our aim is to provide a space where more radical viewpoints can be presented to parents and alumni on homecoming.”
Formerly known as the Queer Leaders, the Wes Radical Cheer Squad recently changed their name in order to include some of the new issues they cheered about this year. In the past, they focused mostly on radical sex matters, but this year they expanded their cheers to a wide variety of concerns.
“This year, we did cheers about labor issues, student of color issues, and student representation,” said Gretchen Krebs ’04. “We also cheer about transparency- lots of decisions are made quickly by the administration that students don’t have access to, whether it be to voice opinions or to have a meaningful say.”
By performing at halftime of the football game, the cheerleaders knew that they were guaranteed a big audience. In such a situation, they could be sure that there would be many ears willing to listen to their opinions.
“I think that radical cheerleading is important because it addresses issues that need to be addressed,” said squad member Paige Kruza ’07. “It publicizes issues in a unique way that gets people’s attention, especially those people not involved. Also, it’s important to ask questions and find out what is going on with the administration.”
While the cheerleaders broadcast their views on many different issues in a constructive manner, they also have fun in the process.
“We put the ”ra“ in ‘radical!’” said Zil Jaeger ’04. “We challenge broad structural issues in a fun and exciting way.”
Not only do football fans report enjoying the cheers, but a number of people went to the game same solely to see the cheerleaders.
“My dad and mom were here for parent’s weekend and weren’t interested in going to the game but really wanted to see the radical cheerleaders,” said Emmy Wilson ’06. “Both my dad and I really liked the performance.”
Although the cheerleaders used a megaphone and cheered at the same time, at times it was difficult to hear what they were saying. Both the announcer and Williams’s band prevented everyone in the stands from being able to hear what the squad was saying.
“The cheerleaders seemed to be having fun, but it was really hard to hear them over the other school’s band, which was frustrating,” said Leah Stern ’06.
Background interference aside, the cheerleaders felt positively about their performance.
“We definitely got a good response,” Krebs said. “People came up to me afterwards and said stuff like ‘good job’ and ‘congratulations.’”
Despite these positive responses, it seems not everyone on campus is quite as interested in the cheerleaders. Later in the weekend, the cheerleaders decided to show their feelings on diversity by cheering for parents and alumni outside of the forum on diversity, only to be ignored by President Bennet.
“We went to the diversity forum because we felt that it was an important issue,” Jaeger said. “We did our cheers to challenge their concept of diversity, and President Bennet walked away.”
Alhough members of cheer squad said they liked that their audience enjoyed watching the performance, they wanted to remind everyone that they were there for more reasons than pure entertainment.
“I know that we’re fun, but radical cheerleading is about more than being fun and cute,” Strassburger said. “It’s about issues today – how diversity is used on this campus. By putting our bodies on the field, we try to make people question their assumptions about Wesleyan.”
The squad is thinking about expanding both its number of performances and size of the group.
“We’re definitely looking for new cheerleaders – if anyone is interested in joining they should contact me,” Strassburger said.
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