For three and a half years, Emily Harriott's shrieks were a familiar sound at Northwestern sporting events. She shrieked at men's basketball games, at football games, maybe at the occasional wrestling match or lacrosse game — cheering like everyone else, but at a completely different pitch and decibel.
Then, earlier this week, an athletic department official asked her to stop shrieking.
"And I was like, 'I mean, yeah, sure,' " Harriott said Friday. "If you want me to stop, I'll stop, you know?"
On the heels of complaints from fellow fans, television viewers and broadcast partners, Northwestern took the unusual step of asking one of its loudest, most disruptive fans — a student whom The Chicago Tribune dubbed "The Shrieker" — to quiet down a little bit.
An athletic department spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports that the complaints, which had been sporadic in the past, swelled after the Wildcats' game against Illinois.
"I think it’s important to reiterate that we adore Emily! We could use more students with her relentless passion for Northwestern," the spokesperson wrote in an email. "Unfortunately, one particular display of that passion was negatively impacting the experience for fans inside Welsh-Ryan Arena and on television. We hope to see her (and hear her cheering) in the front row of every Wildcats game."
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