As the UND Men’s Hockey team won the NCAA National Championship, I was very excited for the university. The hard work that was put forth into obtaining that championship should be validated and praised. It is a shining light in the midst of a hard time for our campus, due to the budget shortfall. However, there is something that did bother me after the championship.

I believe it is okay to be excited for a team that represents our school. I believe it okay to go out with friends and “celebrate” a win together.

However, behavior expectations should remain consistent even after winning a championship. These are aspects of being super fans that are not okay, as they do not represent the integrity of the game and can be of concern for people’s safety.

The morning after the win, I learned that a handful of UND hockey fans decided to take their excitement out by vandalizing and tipping a car.

There was a handful of individuals who were intoxicated and ended up pushing a Toyota Prius on its side while others took to a parked car and broke parts of it off.

These behaviors are not appropriate, nor can they be justified as appropriate behavior to celebrate the win. Even though the actions of these incidents were taken care of quickly, the damage was still done.

I heard individuals throughout the week talking about these events that had taken place as being not only acceptable, but just traditional means of celebrating games. The individuals had justified the acts of vandalism and destructive behavior, and even went on to make comparisons with the Black Lives Matter riots across the nation.

I for one believe that vandalism of any sort should never be praised or accepted as an expected behavior. When one person’s property, whether it’s a building or car, becomes the victim of people’s exuberance or anger, it is unacceptable.

I will acknowledge that the riots that took place in places like Ferguson were not handled the right way, but it is harmful to  compare these two situations. It is important that those responsible for these crimes are held accountable in the same way that rioters in Ferguson who broke into businesses were made responsible for broken windows and damaging government property.

When you look at what has been done, it is important to keep in mind that what is wrong is wrong. There are no in betweens or “acceptable” conditions by which these types of behavior should be considered.

I think that we must be mindful to not make assumptions about what motivated people to do it. And we should be even more cautious to relate such experiences to other racially motivated experiences and events in the country.

Vandalism is sometimes an emotionally charged response to events or situations associated with anger and happiness, but these emotions should be translated and charged in more positive ways that better the community.

Amina Chinnell-Mateen is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]