(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Mount Royal University in Alberta, Canada, cancelled the intramural ice hockey league because an “equity audit” found it inequitable and exclusive.
In a statement titled “Ice Hockey Intramurals on Hold,” MRU’s Cougars Athletics and Recreation Department said that the “cost of programming and accessibility” has caused it to shutter ice hockey, The College Fix reported.
Despite calling the decision a “hold,” the department could not promise students that ice hockey—by far the nation’s most beloved sport—would return at all.
“We are exploring options and strategies as to whether inclusive and equitable
opportunities for ice hockey will be possible in the future,” the university said in the statement.
If the university cannot provide “more inclusive and equitable options” for ice hockey that make “all feel they belong,” students could instead get “Floorball”—a hockey game played with a ball and sticks in a gymnasium.
Three analyses of the ice hockey intramural program, an “Accessible and Inclusive Programs Audit,” an “Equity Analysis,” and a “Program Needs Assessment,” found that it did not provide a “sense of belonging” and that participants committed too many penalties.
Other problems include “who the program was built by, with, without, and for, equipment requirements; skill requirements; participant fees; ice time cost; program location; staffing; learning opportunities.”
The Athletics and Recreation Department said its goal is to promote “equity, diversity and inclusion,” not excellence in athletics and physical fitness.
Mount Royal student Conor Monaghan, who played ice hockey, said “cancel culture is playing a big factor in this.”
The unspoken fact is that white men predominantly play ice hockey.
“Rather than having a conversation with the participants involved, the university has decided to completely extinguish ice hockey,” Monoghan said. “I guess they have decided that hockey culture doesn’t align with their morals as an institution.”
