Longtime Mountlake Terrace High School journalism instructor and Washington State University alum Vince DeMiero may be a lifelong Cougar fan, but he took at stand Friday to support the arch-rival University of Washington Huskies.

During Friday’s MTHS staff meeting, DeMiero read a proclamation noting that while the school’s fight song has ties to the University of Michigan “Victors” fight song, it “in no way represents an endorsement of the University of Michigan, nor should it be considered any kind of support whatsoever of its football team.”

Washington will face Michigan in the NCAA Division I National Football Championship Monday, Jan. 8 in Houston.

While DeMiero describes himself as “a lifetime WSU Alumni Association card-carrying member since 1987,” he said that drawing the line between the Hawks’ fight song and that of the Wolverines “just seemed like the right thing to do. When the pep band started playing our Fight Song at the men’s basketball game (last) Wednesday night, it just felt wrong for the first time in my career here. You gotta draw the line at some point, right?”

The proclamation notes that the MTHS campus and all of its current students, staff, faculty and other members of the Hawk Nation “reside within 15 miles of the University of Washington” and also states that many of the school’s alumni, staff and parents “are proud graduates and loyal fans” of the Huskies.

The proclamation further notes that even though the official MTHS colors “are scarlet, silver, black and white, we hereby designate Monday, Jan. 8, 2024 an official purple and gold day at Mountlake Terrace High School. And it states that “Bow Down to Washington” will be “the temporary and interim fight song for Mountlake Terrace High School from now “until immediately after the national championship game.”