It’s not about a nickname. It’s not about civil rights. It’s about rules.
By now you’ve probably read and/or watched a dozen reports about “Sweatergate.” Malcolm Xavier Combs, a senior at Christ the King Regional High School, wanted to have the name “Malcolm X” emblazoned on his senior sweater.
School officials said no.
Combs’ parents got involved. Then the Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network weighed in. But the Middle Village school wouldn’t budge.
CTK stood its ground.
According to the New York Daily News, Christ the King spokesman Bill Cunningham said Malcolm Combs received approval to use either his first name, his last name, or Malcolm Xavier on the sweater.
The story, which has devolved into a PR nightmare for King, will not go away, with Combs even recently meeting with Malcolm X’s daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz.
Christ the King officials sought to clear the air this week. On Monday, Chairman Serf Maltese issued a lengthy statement that indicated that the whole controversy basically boils down to miscommunication.
“The recent articles about one of our students and Malcolm X has, unfortunately, been taken out of context and has been misconstrued,” Maltese wrote. “When this student’s family on Feb. 7 raised the issue about the name he wished on the sweatshirt, the school’s administrators readily agreed to meet and discuss the matter. Unfortunately, before that meeting took place, this became a media issue when they went to the press and the Reverend Sharpton’s National Action Network.”
The CTK chairman also explained, in detail, the tradition—and parameters—of senior sweaters.
“One of the established and long standing rules regarding what name may be stitched on senior sweatshirts has been misconstrued in the press,” Maltese said. “Pursuant to our email sent to parents and students on Nov. 30, 2017 by Assistant Principal Veronica Arbitello, ‘Students may have their first or last name printed on the sleeve’ and for the form to be returned by Dec. 18, 2017. That rule, ‘last or first name only – no nicknames’ is again repeated in the sweatshirt order form, which was to be returned by Jan. 31, which was sent to parents and students. The goal is to have a uniform rule that permits the student his or her identity. Occasionally, a nickname is approved if that is the most common identity of that student, the name by which the student body and faculty know that student.”
Christ the King officials attached the sweater order forms to the email containing Maltese’s statement. Here is what it says, verbatim:
Sweatshirt Name /Text Price: $5.00 additional
Sleeve – white print. Last or first name only – No nicknames
There it is. We are not trivializing the matter or the civil rights icon’s achievements. But rules are rules. Christ the King is a private institution, and in such matters, what school administrators say goes.
“It is our hope, that in the spirit of Christ the King that guides us, we will be able to resolve this on mutually acceptable terms.”
So do we, Serf.
Good luck.
