Yes. And if she doesn't, then she becomes a party to the incident. If there is question by the "powers that be" who within the cheer squad did or did not know about the incident, than it seems reasonable to suspend the squad from the next game.

How is this over-the-top?

"If I don't find out who drew this picture on the blackboard, NOBODY gets recess today!"

Yeah, that seems an appropriate reaction to me.  What's the problem here?

They got suspended from two.  How many is appropriate?  Maybe that cheerleader didn't think the kid would go through with it.

And maybe... and I'm just spitballing here... the cheerleaders have about 80 things more important on their mind than telling someone about some weird plot to attack the opposing mascot.

Flo, are you arguing with a guy who has shown his sportsmanship by being ejected from basketball games for his conduct?  He has already proven his moral compass is off, and his actions speak volumes towards his opinions to this.

I have a question here. If a cheerleader "knew about the attack", what did they know? Did they expect a fun fight, like the red hanky and wrestling with the Buffalo bull?  Or were the expecting an unprovoked assault, complete with a fist below the belt? To be perfectly honest, I would expect that if a cheerleader knew about the attack, they probably expected something similar to what they had seen in the past, something that never amounted to more than normal mascot fun, and I seriously doubt they expected anything like what actually happened. Obviously they wouldn't have reported something they thought would be a normal mascot fight, even if they "knew" about it.

Personally, I think that the only reason that the cheerleaders got suspended is that the University needed a visible scapegoat, and the cheerleaders were handy and visible. I'm sure that the less-visible person from the marketing department that actually was in charge of the mascot, and who allowed a non-student to be Rufus, was punished as well. 

Had the powers that be wanted to, yes, the boy that was Rufus could have been criminally charged with assault. All the elements of that crime were there, but they have elected not to, apparently. Had the person inside the Brutus costume been injured, I suspect a criminal prosecution might have happened, and should have - after all, he was the real guilty person, not someone that might have been vaguely aware of what he was planning.

It's over and done with, though. Time to focus on beating BG.

As student athletes there's any number of things they could be thinking about - from game prep (yes we actually do game prep), to "I hope that psychology test on monday isn't going to be as hard as I think it is."

Cheerleaders are not allowed to start the 'OU - OH Yeah!' cheer, since 'OU' isn't trademarked by our fine institution.
In fact, the 'Oh Yeah' response was started by the cheerleaders because we felt we should say..something.

Further more, had I still been on the squad and whoever was going to be Rufus came up to me and said "I'm going to be in a mascot fight with Brutus," I would not assume it ment "I'm going to blind side tackle him as he's running his team out." 

Edit to add:

 

LC beat me to the point.

This photo was pretty funny too.

Dude, I believe you have no idea what you are talking about.

Is there something wrong with smacking down columbus' mascot?  Seems to me like it was good for all involved.

You don't have to believe SBH, it's all in the Athens News:



http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-32245-rufus-ambush-results-in-canceled-event-other-fallout.html

That's wrong on both counts. This was a stupid decision by a kid in a cat suit. Nothing more, nothing less. Clearly, the ones "that won't let it die" are in the pro-attack group, who seem to think this is worthy of national attention and serves to "put Ohio on the map."

If this stunt were a harmless, clown-act I would absolutely agree. But when you watch the video, this kid clearly went over the top. Yes, no one was hurt, and yes the punches were softened by a big, soft head, (except the one to the 'nads) but I believe our mascot was out to cause harm. That he did not succeed is immaterial.

Yes, the picture is funny. But in the grand scheme, it's still a picture of a pathetic attempt to gain infamy at all costs.