“The fencing club at North Dakota State University cannot hold practices on campus as a result of the school’s weapons policy, Campus Reform reported.” [University Herald; Valley News Live (Fargo/Grand Forks)]
Also, note the ambiguity of the next line, “Members of the newly formed club said that despite having no pointed tips or sharp blades, the school classifies the club’s equipment as weapons.” It sounds as if the school administration itself is being described as “having no pointed tips or sharp blades,” which might be a version of “not the sharpest knife in the drawer.”
More: Scott Greenfield, who has a family connection with the sport of fencing.
6 Comments
[…] Walter Olson pointedly frames the […]
I wonder what his definition of a “perceived weapon” is? A Pop Tart bitten in to an “L” shape?
How does the baseball team play without any bats?
I’m an NDSU alum, and they used to allow it. In 1999-2000 a group practiced fencing on campus.
I have been a fencer for a very long time and the “weapon” part of this control freak nannyism is utter crap. Like every other sport, players are trained to control their temper and be good sportsmen, yet occasionally someone loses his cool and EVERY time the first thing he does is throw down his foil and go for his opponent with his fists—a foil is specifically designed NOT to inflict damage and if your intention is to hurt someone a bare hand is much more effective.
At Carnegie-Mellon U many years ago, they had intramural archery and rifle competitions. I shot archery using standard target points so by this definition I guess I did not follow these rules. Oh, the Olympic coach set up my bow, so was he too guilty by complicity?