Seattle high school students stage walkout after football players suspended for 'disgusting' text messages

A high school in Seattle is at the center of a controversy that involves a number of football players allegedly sending out texts about raping female students. Students at the school staged a walkout on Friday, claiming that the school did not do enough to hold the players responsible.

Even though the football players were suspended for their alleged behavior, that did not stop students from staging a walkout Friday morning, beginning at 11:30 a.m. The walkout reportedly lasted only a couple hours, with students gathering at the school's football field across the street from the school building, per KCPQ.

One student said that "[t]here was a lot of people sharing their stories," adding that the event was "very heart-touching and heartfelt to me because I also shared my story about things involving the football team, things involving the boys that go here. There was a lot of people called out."

There were reportedly more than 100 students who took part in the rally at Chief Sealth High School on Friday, some of whom were holding signs and wearing pink.

The students expressed their discontent with the school's administration and how they handled the situation after details in the incident came to light. The school said they decided to suspend the football players, but for many students, that is not enough.

One female student who was allegedly mentioned in the texts said "I was one of the girls that they talked about."

"It's very weird and disgusting, what they did. I was just kind of mad because those are people that I trusted, and I thought I knew."

This particular student is just one among many who is not convinced the school did enough to address the text messages. "I feel like, for people that were basically planning out doing something sexual, they should be way more punished than just like a little suspension," the female student said.

It is not currently known how many days the football players were suspended for, or if there is an additional element of punishment forthcoming.

The report noted that Seattle Public Schools said athletic leaders are currently in the process of developing a plan to prevent sexual harassment. The school's administration said that the students who took part in the rally had a right to do so.

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