Evanston Township High School and New Trier are investigating reports that New Trier fans directed racist and homophobic slurs at ETHS marching band members at the Friday, Oct. 16, game at Ryan Field.
Superintendents Marcus Campbell of ETHS District 202 and Peter Tragos of New Trier District 203 announced the investigation in a joint statement Sunday, Oct. 18. The statement, emailed to families and posted to the ETHS Facebook page, said band members were "subjected to racist and homophobic comments and other offensive behavior," according to WGN.
Two ETHS color guard members, Kevin Watts and Kiro Tabor, told CBS News Chicago they noticed aggressive chants from the New Trier student section as they prepared to perform. The students said the chants escalated from profanity to slurs.
"Somebody was pointing Kevin out, called Kevin the f-slur and then a group of boys had looked at me, called me the N-word a couple of times," Watts told CBS News Chicago.
Watts notified faculty band members after the performance. Both students posted about the experience on social media.
Social media posts over the weekend alleged that New Trier fans also told band members to "kill themselves" and spat on one band member, the Evanston Roundtable reported. Other commenters said they attended the game and heard slurs directed at the band.
Reine Hanna, ETHS director of communications, told CBS News Chicago the school first learned of the incident from students on Friday, Oct. 16, and later received corroborating emails from parents.
The superintendents' statement said both districts are "working closely together to investigate these reports and determine appropriate next steps." They asked anyone with firsthand information to contact their school administration and pledged to maintain student privacy.
The districts did not provide a timeline for the investigation.
The game drew a massive crowd to the new $870 million stadium. ABC7 Chicago reported 27,000 fans attended, while Patch estimated 25,000. New Trier won 42-28 in the first high school game played at the rebuilt Ryan Field.
The alleged incident follows a pattern of reported racial misconduct at Illinois high school athletic events. Lincoln-Way East High School was placed on probation by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) after students allegedly engaged in racist harassment toward Homewood-Flossmoor fans at a September football game, WGN reported.
A fan in the Loyola Academy student section allegedly shouted a racist comment at an ETHS girls basketball player in February, according to the New Trier News.
As of 11 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, New Trier had not posted the joint statement to its own social media, the Roundtable reported.
