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RPI football fans fed up with view from the hill
Mark Singelais - Albany Times Union
Oct. 1, 2021
3
TROY — This is not how Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute football parents thought they'd watch their sons play again after missing last season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dozens of family members sit on a hill outside East Campus Stadium with no view of one end zone. Sometimes they have to get up to find a better vantage point through the trees.
If someone needs to go the bathroom, the closest option is relieving themselves in the woods nearby.
All because of RPI's policy prohibiting external spectators from the stands due to COVID-19, which contradicts schools across the country, including the Capital Region.
Annie Cohen, whose son, Josh, is a senior defensive lineman, said they're being treated like fools on the hill.
“These are RPI students,” said Cohen, from Wellesley, Mass. “They’re bright athletes and the parents are bright people and we’re being treated like dummies. We’re being treated like we couldn’t possibly be trusted to get into the stadium and sit outdoors and respectfully and appropriately and safely watch our sons’ football game.”
The Engineers (4-0) open Liberty League play at noon Saturday at home against Rochester.
Outdoor portable toilets that were nearby at the first two home games were gone by last Saturday’s victory over St. John Fisher, and fans on the hill weren’t allowed into the bathrooms inside the East Campus Athletic Village building, per RPI policy.“People were urinating in the woods (near the stadium),” Cohen said.
The portable toilets that were removed were originally there for the families of students moving into dorms at the beginning of the semester and weren’t related to athletics, an athletic department spokesman said.
RPI director of community and state relations Chris Nolin said external spectators were improperly allowed to use the indoor bathrooms during the first two home games.
“That wasn’t actually supposed to be happening, and once we found out that it was, that’s why they weren’t able to get in the last game,” Nolin said.
He referred questions about the school’s COVID-19 protocols to the Aug. 13 return-to-campus plan announced by president Shirley Ann Jackson.
“Our plan to return to campus-based operations is based on New York State guidance and our assessment of what we can and must do to enhance the safety of all members of the Rensselaer community,” wrote Jackson, adding protocols were subject to change.
Only RPI faculty, staff and students who fully comply with the school’s COVID-19 protocols are allowed to go inside the stadium. The policy states external spectators aren't allowed on campus, though RPI hasn't tried to remove fans from the hillside.
UAlbany allowed more than 8,000 fans into Casey Stadium for its home opener against Rhode Island on Sept. 11. Union College, a Liberty League rival of RPI, welcomed a total of 3,156 fans into its first two home games. RPI fans were able to sit in the stands at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Sept. 18.
“I don’t know what science they (RPI) are following,” Cohen said. “My youngest daughter is at CU Boulder (Colorado) and they have 60,000 people in the stands unmasked. You can wear a mask at a Broadway show indoors and sit shoulder to shoulder with someone. We’re not any smarter at RPI than anyone else in the country, but everybody else is saying we can be outside and safe in this manner.”
Dave Lapioli of Jamison, Pa., pointed out he’s spending about $75,000 a year to send his son Mark, an RPI freshman linebacker, to the school.
Cohen and Lapioli said parents have sent emails to the RPI Board of Trustees looking for answers with no response.
“I think it’s disrespectful and insulting, is what it is,” Lapioli said.
Cohen said the parents are willing to do whatever they’re asked to sit in either the home or visitor’s stands — wear masks, present proof of vaccination or a negative test, or buy season tickets so they’ll have distanced, assigned seating.
She mentioned the RPI football team has 19 fifth-year seniors or graduate students who stayed in school for another season after last season was canceled by the pandemic.
“I know it’s upsetting for all the team to look up on the hill and know that’s where their parents are sitting,” Cohen said.
Football isn’t the only sport affected. Soccer also plays in East Campus Stadium, and the school’s Division I hockey teams are prepared to play in Houston Field House with no outside fans.
Cynthia Herring, whose son Joe Di Miceli plays on the soccer team, said the school isn't living up to its words.
“I think what we as parents find very frustrating is RPI says, ‘Be the change. Be the difference,’” Herring said. “But they’re so archaic in what they’re doing.”
RPI football fans fed up with view from the hill
Mark Singelais - Albany Times Union
Oct. 1, 2021
3
TROY — This is not how Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute football parents thought they'd watch their sons play again after missing last season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dozens of family members sit on a hill outside East Campus Stadium with no view of one end zone. Sometimes they have to get up to find a better vantage point through the trees.
If someone needs to go the bathroom, the closest option is relieving themselves in the woods nearby.
All because of RPI's policy prohibiting external spectators from the stands due to COVID-19, which contradicts schools across the country, including the Capital Region.
Annie Cohen, whose son, Josh, is a senior defensive lineman, said they're being treated like fools on the hill.
“These are RPI students,” said Cohen, from Wellesley, Mass. “They’re bright athletes and the parents are bright people and we’re being treated like dummies. We’re being treated like we couldn’t possibly be trusted to get into the stadium and sit outdoors and respectfully and appropriately and safely watch our sons’ football game.”
The Engineers (4-0) open Liberty League play at noon Saturday at home against Rochester.
Outdoor portable toilets that were nearby at the first two home games were gone by last Saturday’s victory over St. John Fisher, and fans on the hill weren’t allowed into the bathrooms inside the East Campus Athletic Village building, per RPI policy.“People were urinating in the woods (near the stadium),” Cohen said.
The portable toilets that were removed were originally there for the families of students moving into dorms at the beginning of the semester and weren’t related to athletics, an athletic department spokesman said.
RPI director of community and state relations Chris Nolin said external spectators were improperly allowed to use the indoor bathrooms during the first two home games.
“That wasn’t actually supposed to be happening, and once we found out that it was, that’s why they weren’t able to get in the last game,” Nolin said.
He referred questions about the school’s COVID-19 protocols to the Aug. 13 return-to-campus plan announced by president Shirley Ann Jackson.
“Our plan to return to campus-based operations is based on New York State guidance and our assessment of what we can and must do to enhance the safety of all members of the Rensselaer community,” wrote Jackson, adding protocols were subject to change.
Only RPI faculty, staff and students who fully comply with the school’s COVID-19 protocols are allowed to go inside the stadium. The policy states external spectators aren't allowed on campus, though RPI hasn't tried to remove fans from the hillside.
UAlbany allowed more than 8,000 fans into Casey Stadium for its home opener against Rhode Island on Sept. 11. Union College, a Liberty League rival of RPI, welcomed a total of 3,156 fans into its first two home games. RPI fans were able to sit in the stands at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Sept. 18.
“I don’t know what science they (RPI) are following,” Cohen said. “My youngest daughter is at CU Boulder (Colorado) and they have 60,000 people in the stands unmasked. You can wear a mask at a Broadway show indoors and sit shoulder to shoulder with someone. We’re not any smarter at RPI than anyone else in the country, but everybody else is saying we can be outside and safe in this manner.”
Dave Lapioli of Jamison, Pa., pointed out he’s spending about $75,000 a year to send his son Mark, an RPI freshman linebacker, to the school.
Cohen and Lapioli said parents have sent emails to the RPI Board of Trustees looking for answers with no response.
“I think it’s disrespectful and insulting, is what it is,” Lapioli said.
Cohen said the parents are willing to do whatever they’re asked to sit in either the home or visitor’s stands — wear masks, present proof of vaccination or a negative test, or buy season tickets so they’ll have distanced, assigned seating.
She mentioned the RPI football team has 19 fifth-year seniors or graduate students who stayed in school for another season after last season was canceled by the pandemic.
“I know it’s upsetting for all the team to look up on the hill and know that’s where their parents are sitting,” Cohen said.
Football isn’t the only sport affected. Soccer also plays in East Campus Stadium, and the school’s Division I hockey teams are prepared to play in Houston Field House with no outside fans.
Cynthia Herring, whose son Joe Di Miceli plays on the soccer team, said the school isn't living up to its words.
“I think what we as parents find very frustrating is RPI says, ‘Be the change. Be the difference,’” Herring said. “But they’re so archaic in what they’re doing.”
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