Lincoln-Way East High School will be on probation with the Illinois High School Association for the remainder of the school year, following an investigation into alleged racist taunting by Lincoln-Way students at two sports events.
During the probation, the IHSA will not deny the school any privileges through the nonprofit that organizes high school sports across the state. But the IHSA said more serious consequences will follow future policy violations, according to the organization’s news release.
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The IHSA said Lincoln-Way District 210 appropriately addressed racist harassment by students captured on video at a football game against Homewood-Flossmoor High School. The district’s board voted last month to allow the six students who used offensive language and gestures when jeering at H-F fans to voluntarily withdraw from the district.
Previously, about 50 students protested racist behaviors by their peers during a walkout at Lincoln-Way East.
According to the IHSA, the students responsible will not face any discipline through the organization because they are no longer enrolled within District 210.
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The IHSA also looked into another report of racist behavior shown toward H-F students at a girls cross country meet, the day after the H-F football game.
Student athletes from H-F said they witnessed a Lincoln-Way East coach make comments about running “past those monkeys” to the Lincoln-Way team before the start of the race, according to H-F District 233. Some team members then began cheering and “making noises that were racist” along with “monkey gestures,” a District 233 news release states, with H-F threatening legal action against Lincoln-Way District 210.
District 210 defended the team, saying coaches during the Lyons Township High School cross country meet “merely recounted a well-known story about an area of the Lyons Township course referred to as ‘the jungle,’” according to an emailed statement from Jen Vujosevic, community relations director for the district.
The IHSA said it “was unable to corroborate any malicious language directed at anyone involved in the meet.”
“Independently, the IHSA confirmed that a portion of the course historically has been known or referred to by a term that may have appeared innocent, but when used in a different context can be interpreted as racially insensitive,” the state organization said in Friday’s news release. “Lincoln-Way East imposed educational requirements on its coaches as a result, and the IHSA accepted the actions imposed by the school.”
The organization acknowledged “how deeply hurtful these incidents were to the involved students and communities” and asked that Lincoln-Way and H-F come together as members of the same athletic conference.
“We hope that competition in athletics and activities between the two schools and communities can serve as a bridge in that process,” IHSA stated. “We have also heard from several other IHSA member schools about how this situation has led to important conversations in their respective schools about the power of actions and words. Education-based athletics are an extension of the classroom and we hope that the lessons learned will ultimately allow for some positives to come from this deeply disappointing situation.”