Mac Engineering suspension

The suspension of the “Red Suits” was on the minds of many on the McMaster University campus Friday and many students feel their schools reputation has been tarnished. The red suits, known as the “spirit arm” of the McMaster Engineering Society, was suspended Thursday after disturbing lyrics in their chant song book was brought to the attention of university administrators.

Some of the lyrics in the songbook are so disgusting we can’t even tell you what they say. But since this became public Thursday, students at McMaster say the punishment may not fit the crime only because these lyrics may have been written a long time ago.

There’s a warning in the McMaster Red Suit songbook that tells readers to proceed with caution. It says if it’s ever chanted in public, people will be offended. We showed the lyrics to some students reading it for the first time. They had this reaction.

“Disappointed and sad that someone would write this (It gets worse as you read along). I’m good with what I’ve read so far (Are you disgusted?). Ya.”

The Red Suits are responsible for the lyrics. They’re a spirit group made up of McMaster Engineering students. They’ve been suspended from participating in any activities on campus because of the lyrics found in the 35-page book titled ‘Engineering Cheers.’ It makes references to beastiality, rape, sexual violence against children and animals, and incest.

Many of the students we spoke with say its unfair that the Red Suits have been suspended for lyrics that they believe were written by students who no longer attend here and may have been written over a decade ago.

“I don’t think it’s fair to punish all the redsuits if was just some of them, not all of them. They’re pretty good, they do a lot of things around the community.”

“Half those songs I’ve never even heard of even during welcome week.”

“It’s a group of people you know. There’s always going to be good apples and bad apples in different groups.”

“There’s 30 something thousand students at McMaster and 10 kids go off and do something as vulgar as that?”

“I guess if you knew about it you should’ve said something about it. I don’t know.”

And that is what happened. The Vice-President of McMaster says someone within the university’s community brought the lyrics to their attention and they’re investigating it now.
Thursday, the McMaster Engineering Society said they have never distributed or endorsed the songbook.