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CU singing group apologizes
Audition question said 'big mistake'
Published August 31, 2007 at midnight
A University of Colorado a cappella group has apologized for a questionnaire it issued that ridiculed the victim of Monday's campus stabbing.
Officers of the Buffoons called the questionnaire "a big mistake" and said they have dismissed the member responsible for it.
Students auditioning for the all-men's group on Tuesday were asked among other things a multiple-choice question about how they felt after the random attack that sent a 17-year-old freshman to the hospital with a slashed neck.
Applicants were given these answers to choose from:
A. Confused
B. Dazed and confused
C. Mad someone got that guy before you did
The Buffoons was founded in 1962, making it one of the oldest a cappella groups in the country.
Last week, the group performed at a ceremony welcoming freshmen to the campus. During the convocation, which was mandatory for CU's 5,600 freshmen, members of the Buffoons led the new students in singing the school's alma mater.
The group's questionnaire irked at least one student who auditioned, prompting the musicians by Wednesday to clean up the form.
One of the questions asked candidates if they knew where the "female clitoris" is and instructed them to "feel free to draw a diagram."
Upon learning about the questionnaire's contents, campus officials called it insensitive.
All of the offensive questions have been removed, said Colin Birkhead, business manager for the Buffoons. Auditions for the group are going on this week.
"We are a group with maybe a little more extreme sense of humor," said Birkhead, a senior at CU. "We weren't meaning to offend anyone. It was a big mistake."
The group issued an apology Thursday.
CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said the Buffoons have had an upstanding reputation on the campus over the years.
He said the audition form was insensitive and unnecessary.
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