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- NATION, Page 67American NotesILLINOISPompons? No! No!
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- They may not have been tops on the list of contributing
- factors cited by the University of Illinois' Campus Task Force
- on Sexual Assault, Abuse and Violence. But the Illinettes, the
- school's cheerleaders, were hands-down the most conspicuous --
- and they may be banned. Reporting that a dismaying 16.4% of
- women students responding to a random survey said they had been
- victims of criminal sexual assault, the task force singled out
- the pompon performances by the 28 cheerleaders as one of the
- "activities that project women as sexual objects."
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- Wearing snug aerobic leotards and boots, the high-stepping
- Illinettes do their best to psych up fans at football and
- basketball games. Though the task force suggested that boozy
- frat and tailgate parties should go too, it's the threatened
- pompon ban that has the campus stirred up. "We've been made a
- scapegoat," charges Illinette squad captain Pam Withers, 20,
- who says the Illinettes are campus role models. "We consider
- this a serious sport."
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