Fort Hays professor fired after mooning incident
Jamie Bell
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: News
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The argument began after Shanahan's team made the choice to remove Reid-Brinkley from the judging stand, a decision well within the debate rules.
According to a Fort Hays press release, Reid-Brinkley, a black female, declared that the act was one of white hegemony, or the domination of one race over another.
After a few words were exchanged, the two coaches began to fervently raise their voices, until Shanahan began jumping up and down and both parties shouted numerous expletives at one another.
At one point, Shanahan bent over backwards, pulling down his khaki shorts and "mooning" Reid-Brinkley. The nine-minute clip was viewed over 100,000 times on YouTube. It has since been removed from the site, but more copies have surfaced, making the amount of views uncountable.
Immediately following the incident, Shanahan states in the video, "I'm not ashamed of my behavior. I don't think I'm acting immaturely. I think I'm showing how much I care about everybody in this room."
Fort Hays State, however, thought differently. In an Aug. 22 press conference, Edward H. Hammond, the university's president, announced the university's decision to fire Shanahan for his actions at the debate event held at Wichita State University.
"If the coach of one of our athletic teams became angry and 'mooned' officials, student athletes and fans during a sports event, he or she would no longer be a coach at Fort Hays State University," Hammond said. "Standards for our debate program are certainly just as high."
Hammond did go on to praise Shanahan for his work as a teacher and debate coach, noting that he lead Fort Hays' national championship cross examination debate team in 2002. Shanahan also expressed hope his contributions would not be forgotten.
"I hope this incident does not detract from the incredible work done by Fort Hays State debate over the last decade or my other contributions to FHSU, which are far greater than a nine-minute YouTube clip," Shanahan said in a statement.
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