Athletic dept. eliminates boxing class

Penn boxing instructor Ron Aurit says that if he were to die tomorrow, his obituary would read, "Ron taught boxing at Penn for 25 years."

Though Ron is still alive and punching, he said that he feels like he might as well be dead.

At least that is what he has felt ever since Jan. 25, when the Department of Recreation notified him that the recreational boxing class he has taught at Penn since 1998 was cancelled because of safety concerns.

Though his class dates from 1998, Aurit has been running a boxing program at Penn in one form or another for many years.

"I died when I found out my course was cancelled... I felt as though I had been killed," Aurit said. "I give Penn my life and soul. It's my home and my family."

Aurit said his sparring match with the Department of Recreation began on Jan. 24 when, while watching a demonstration of counter-punching techniques, Assistant Athletic Director of Recreation Kris Wilson expressed concern over the program's safety.

"Kris just saw two kids [who were boxing club members] demonstrating throwing punches at each other and thought they were going for real because they were going very fast," Aurit said. "They were not even touching each other. The only thing that was touching was glove against glove."

Wilson said in an e-mail statement that Aurit was breaching departmental guidelines.

"Our department has chosen not to continue the Boxing Instructional class... due to the failure to ensure that the established 'non-contact' guidelines were followed," Wilson said. "On several occasions, contact was observed, reported to our department and discussed with the instructor."

But on the occasion in question, boxing club member and Engineering junior Mark Lundquist claims that absolutely no contact occurred.

"It was our first meeting of the semester, and [Aurit] was bringing in the new class members, teaching footwork and how to throw punches in the air," Lundquist said. "Some of the club members were sparring... but the rest of the class was just dancing around in a circle and throwing punches in the air."

Lundquist added that Wilson "came down and said she saw class members punching each other, which did not happen at all the first day."

The circumstances that Aurit described were similar.

"While [the club members] were demonstrating, she yelled out, 'Cut it out guys or I'm going to cancel the class,'" he said. "You never yell like that because when you do, the kids look at her and that's when you do get hit."

Aurit said that Wilson's actions at the time of the incident demonstrate that she knows little about the sport.

Wilson "doesn't know about boxing, what the inside world of boxing is, and when you see fast punches being thrown, unless you are a boxing coach, you don't know what we're doing," Aurit said. "She has no business criticizing boxing."

Still, Wilson said in her statement that the department fears legitimate safety issues.

"The department believes that potential risk factors remain that continue to expose the Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics," she said.

However, Aurit said that safety is always in the forefront of his mind.

"If you are here to beat me up, you can beat me up. However, if you do beat me up, you are out of the program," Aurit joked in an e-mail to his boxing class students and club members.

Other than the reoccurrence of a shoulder separation of one of his boxers, an injury that previously occurred in high school athletics, Aurit said he boasts an impeccable record of safety.

"I have never had an injury before in this fashion [and I have been] in boxing since 1976," he said. "My class is so safe."

And boxing club members said Aurit's "so safe" class is not the only aspect of Penn's boxing culture that will suffer a punch in the face.

"Basically, all of our [boxing club] new members are... people who join the class... and then join the club," Lundquist said. "We were never allowed to advertise for new members outside of the class, so now they are basically telling us that we can't even get any new members from the class."

Lundquist, who said he believes "boxing is good for staying in shape and just letting off steam," said he fears that boxing at Penn may altogether disappear after such a setback.

"It probably means that if we can't keep the class going, it won't be worth Ron's time to come over here and meet with the club as its members slowly diminish," he said. "It will be the end of club boxing."

Until the class is reinstated, Aurit and company said they plan to fight what they believe to be an unfair ruling through a letter-writing campaign -- from themselves and the parents of students in the class and the club.

"We have been here for years, we're a Penn institution, and now they're telling us we can't practice or meet because they're worried something might happen even though nothing ever has," Lundquist said. "It just seems like it's on the whim of one administrator who came down and didn't like what she saw."

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