Faithless
04-10-2005, 10:14 AM
The confrontation -- partly captured on videotape -- erupted after a dance routine performed near the end of San Jose State University's home game against the University of Nevada to the sexually suggestive tune ``Move Somethin' '' by LL Cool J.
Geez, how bad (or good, depending on your perspective) could the dance routine have been?
Sexy moves lead SJSU to try to tame dance team: GROUP SUSPENDED AFTER CONFRONTATION (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/11353076.htm)
Posted on Sat, Apr. 09, 2005 *By Becky Bartindale * Mercury News
The song beckoned them to ``Move Somethin'.''
But it was the San Jose State dance team's sexy moves to some raunchy hip-hop lyrics that led a prominent alumnus and a high-ranking university official into a physical confrontation with one of the dancers.
Wednesday, a month after the blow-up at the March 5 men's basketball game, the university announced it would rein in the dance team. The division of intercollegiate athletics has suspended the group until it can produce ``a defined set of guidelines, parameters and expectations'' to help the team represent the university ``at the highest possible standard.''
The fallout from the shouting match that left the dancer with bruises on her arm has Spartan fans asking: Who's at fault? The dancer filed a complaint with police, but the district attorney declined to prosecute. Her angry parents have hired an attorney. So far none of the parties has apologized.
The confrontation -- partly captured on videotape -- erupted after a dance routine performed near the end of San Jose State University's home game against the University of Nevada to the sexually suggestive tune ``Move Somethin' '' by LL Cool J.
``It was vulgar,'' said Ray Silva, 74, a San Jose businessman and well-connected university booster who has been instrumental in helping raise money for athletics. ``It was like a burlesque, with bumps and grinds. I just came unglued.''
The controversy highlights a generational divide that plagues San Jose State's athletics. A newly revamped athletics division is feverishly working to generate more money to keep its Division I-A athletics program alive. To succeed, it must strike a balance between keeping alumni supporters happy while attracting new donors and fans -- many of whom grew up watching the Laker girls and MTV.
Irked by the song's words and the dancers' sexy moves, Silva admits he lost it and yelled during the routine. He said he shouted, ``Trash, that's trash. Get off the court.''
Tarah DiNardo, 20, a dance team member, said she heard Silva shout, ``You're trash, get off the court, you don't belong here.''
Escalating conflict
DiNardo said Silva has been shouting insults at the team for several years, and she finally decided to confront him. Silva denied that, saying it's unusual for him to get mad and yell.
DiNardo confronted Silva at the end of the game. Silva, a former high school teacher and basketball coach, was making a beeline for athletics officials to air his objections.
Silva remembers it differently. ``She had lost her cool,'' he said. ``She was yelling at me, `You ought to get out of the arena!' ''
Part of the confrontation was captured on tape by a dance team member's father. In the video, DiNardo is seen striding across the screen, then begins gesturing emphatically. The camera switches its focus to the shouting match. Standing between DiNardo and Silva is John Glass, senior associate athletic director/chief operations officer, whose job includes supervising fund-raising.
Glass reaches out and grabs DiNardo by the arm, pulling her toward him. He keeps his grip on her for about three seconds before DiNardo pulls away. Glass advances on her, speaking and shaking his finger. DiNardo retreats, continuing to speak and shaking her finger back.
Bruises on her arm consistent with where Glass grabbed her on the video were photographed more than a week later by campus police, according to a police report.
That report, which DiNardo initiated 12 days later on the advice of an attorney, says Glass said DiNardo was ``disrespectful and unrelenting,'' and that he became ``a little angry.'' He believed she was ``out of control and needed some restraint.'' He said he had lightly cupped her elbow and that she immediately pulled her arm away.
Father incensed
``As far as I am concerned, the thing is done,'' Glass said this week.
But when DiNardo's father found out about the incident, he was incensed. He wasn't sure what to do, he said, so he hired an attorney.
``I don't want people to lay hands on my daughter,'' said Joey DiNardo, an expressive Vietnam War-era ex-Marine who pulled himself up from a rough New Jersey neighborhood to own a successful gardening business in the South Bay. ``When you're dealing with educated alumni, this shouldn't have happened.''
Yet the protective father agrees with Silva on one thing: ``There's too much dirty dancing going on,'' he said. ``By the same token, you don't grab anyone or call the girls trash.''
Tarah DiNardo says the dancers have just been doing what athletics officials asked. ``They wanted more makeup, more hair and sexier uniforms'' to boost ticket sales, she said.
The new athletics administration has received both positive and negative comments from alumni about the dance team, said Mark Harlan, the new associate director of athletics. It is now working to clarify the team's role, but already has decided it needs more supervision. ``We concluded that the team's infrastructure was inadequate and inconsistent with our mission,'' Harlan said in a written statement.
Does that mean, as Silva hopes, that the athletics division wants a more wholesome team?
``I wouldn't say that,'' Harlan said, ``because it implies it's not wholesome now.''
But if the former administration told the dancers to sex it up, he said, ``that doesn't strike me as anything we'd want.''
The police report on the incident has been referred to the university's human relations department, and the DiNardo family is waiting to see what happens. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office reviewed the videotape and witness statements, and has declined to prosecute Glass.
Geez, how bad (or good, depending on your perspective) could the dance routine have been?
Sexy moves lead SJSU to try to tame dance team: GROUP SUSPENDED AFTER CONFRONTATION (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/11353076.htm)
Posted on Sat, Apr. 09, 2005 *By Becky Bartindale * Mercury News
The song beckoned them to ``Move Somethin'.''
But it was the San Jose State dance team's sexy moves to some raunchy hip-hop lyrics that led a prominent alumnus and a high-ranking university official into a physical confrontation with one of the dancers.
Wednesday, a month after the blow-up at the March 5 men's basketball game, the university announced it would rein in the dance team. The division of intercollegiate athletics has suspended the group until it can produce ``a defined set of guidelines, parameters and expectations'' to help the team represent the university ``at the highest possible standard.''
The fallout from the shouting match that left the dancer with bruises on her arm has Spartan fans asking: Who's at fault? The dancer filed a complaint with police, but the district attorney declined to prosecute. Her angry parents have hired an attorney. So far none of the parties has apologized.
The confrontation -- partly captured on videotape -- erupted after a dance routine performed near the end of San Jose State University's home game against the University of Nevada to the sexually suggestive tune ``Move Somethin' '' by LL Cool J.
``It was vulgar,'' said Ray Silva, 74, a San Jose businessman and well-connected university booster who has been instrumental in helping raise money for athletics. ``It was like a burlesque, with bumps and grinds. I just came unglued.''
The controversy highlights a generational divide that plagues San Jose State's athletics. A newly revamped athletics division is feverishly working to generate more money to keep its Division I-A athletics program alive. To succeed, it must strike a balance between keeping alumni supporters happy while attracting new donors and fans -- many of whom grew up watching the Laker girls and MTV.
Irked by the song's words and the dancers' sexy moves, Silva admits he lost it and yelled during the routine. He said he shouted, ``Trash, that's trash. Get off the court.''
Tarah DiNardo, 20, a dance team member, said she heard Silva shout, ``You're trash, get off the court, you don't belong here.''
Escalating conflict
DiNardo said Silva has been shouting insults at the team for several years, and she finally decided to confront him. Silva denied that, saying it's unusual for him to get mad and yell.
DiNardo confronted Silva at the end of the game. Silva, a former high school teacher and basketball coach, was making a beeline for athletics officials to air his objections.
Silva remembers it differently. ``She had lost her cool,'' he said. ``She was yelling at me, `You ought to get out of the arena!' ''
Part of the confrontation was captured on tape by a dance team member's father. In the video, DiNardo is seen striding across the screen, then begins gesturing emphatically. The camera switches its focus to the shouting match. Standing between DiNardo and Silva is John Glass, senior associate athletic director/chief operations officer, whose job includes supervising fund-raising.
Glass reaches out and grabs DiNardo by the arm, pulling her toward him. He keeps his grip on her for about three seconds before DiNardo pulls away. Glass advances on her, speaking and shaking his finger. DiNardo retreats, continuing to speak and shaking her finger back.
Bruises on her arm consistent with where Glass grabbed her on the video were photographed more than a week later by campus police, according to a police report.
That report, which DiNardo initiated 12 days later on the advice of an attorney, says Glass said DiNardo was ``disrespectful and unrelenting,'' and that he became ``a little angry.'' He believed she was ``out of control and needed some restraint.'' He said he had lightly cupped her elbow and that she immediately pulled her arm away.
Father incensed
``As far as I am concerned, the thing is done,'' Glass said this week.
But when DiNardo's father found out about the incident, he was incensed. He wasn't sure what to do, he said, so he hired an attorney.
``I don't want people to lay hands on my daughter,'' said Joey DiNardo, an expressive Vietnam War-era ex-Marine who pulled himself up from a rough New Jersey neighborhood to own a successful gardening business in the South Bay. ``When you're dealing with educated alumni, this shouldn't have happened.''
Yet the protective father agrees with Silva on one thing: ``There's too much dirty dancing going on,'' he said. ``By the same token, you don't grab anyone or call the girls trash.''
Tarah DiNardo says the dancers have just been doing what athletics officials asked. ``They wanted more makeup, more hair and sexier uniforms'' to boost ticket sales, she said.
The new athletics administration has received both positive and negative comments from alumni about the dance team, said Mark Harlan, the new associate director of athletics. It is now working to clarify the team's role, but already has decided it needs more supervision. ``We concluded that the team's infrastructure was inadequate and inconsistent with our mission,'' Harlan said in a written statement.
Does that mean, as Silva hopes, that the athletics division wants a more wholesome team?
``I wouldn't say that,'' Harlan said, ``because it implies it's not wholesome now.''
But if the former administration told the dancers to sex it up, he said, ``that doesn't strike me as anything we'd want.''
The police report on the incident has been referred to the university's human relations department, and the DiNardo family is waiting to see what happens. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office reviewed the videotape and witness statements, and has declined to prosecute Glass.