If you’ve been to any ISU basketball game — or any other basketball game, for that matter — you’ve undoubtedly heard some heckling coming from your fellow spectators.

There are the classics: Referees are said to be blind (let’s face it, this one’s usually true), coaches (home or away) are brainless, and the opposing star is actually a bumbling buffoon. Nearly everything is fair game. Off-court history, personal appearance and run-ins with the law are all just ammunition for the die-hards. There’s little that is out of bounds.

Last week, though, members of the Southern Mississippi marching band crossed the line.

During the Golden Eagles’ first NCAA tournament appearance since 1991 (the team is now coached by former ISU coach Larry Eustachy), those members of the band as any other pep band would: supporting the good guys, deriding the bad.

When the band asked Angel Rodriguez of Kansas State “Where’s your green card?” though, they went too far.

Immigration discussion aside — a topic for another day and another editorial, we’re sure and, on top of that, Rodriguez is a native of Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, meaning he is a U.S. citizen — the ignorance from these students is astounding, as is the racist nature with which the band members acted — particularly while in uniform, as ambassadors for the USM pep band and the university.

Rodriguez said it best following the Wildcats’ win, telling the Associated Press, “There’s ignorant people, and I know that’s not how they want to represent their university.”

In response, five students who took part in the chant had their scholarships revoked and were removed from the band. The students will also attend cultural sensitivity training.

Comments so insensitive and racially charged should never be tolerated, and the Daily applauds Southern Miss for acting so swiftly.

Joe Paul, USM vice president for Student Affairs, issued a statement following the incident, calling it “a teachable moment, not only for these students, but for our entire student body and those who work with them.”

It’s an incident we can all learn from. Indeed, we have learned the same thing from our own recent mistakes.

We hope to never hear such ignorance from a cardinal and gold-clad band — or a member of Cyclone Alley — or a high-dollar donor — or anyone — and hope the ISU administration is courageous enough to act as the USM administration did if a similar event were to unfortunately occur in Ames or elsewhere.

Next time you heckle, remember that the classics work just fine.