I would like to share with you the following message from President
Michael Schill regarding Northwestern’s athletics program. In the
message, President Schill committed to doing whatever is necessary to
ensure that our athletics program reflects our values and to safeguard
the welfare of Northwestern student-athletes. He also outlined steps for
ensuring accountability.
Not sure if the ‘you must have received this’ note was directed at me because you thought I should have gotten it from NU, but I don’t get a lot of correspondence from NU, because I haven’t donated to them in over a decade, and don’t plan to in the near future.
I’ve tried to initiate contact with the Athletic Department media relations people, but they have brushed me off multiple times since this list was founded.
When I was in grad school, I served on the student senate at Nebraska and was appointed to a planning committee as their student rep. The other members were all department chairs, deans or higher up the ladder.
One of the other members was then the head of the school of agriculture on East campus and soon after that was named UNL Chancellor. I still run into him from time to time on East campus at social functions.
He told me at one point that nearly every action he took both as the head of IANR and as Chancellor had at least one eye on the fundraising aspects.
I am certainly not the biggest donor to NU, but I have contributed money over the years. I am a proud alum, and I always will feel that way.
A large percentage of money I have given to NU has been to athletics.
Michael Schill’s and Derrick Gragg’s crisis management skills are pathetic, and their leadership skills are lacking. I will not donate another penny to NU until both of them are fired.
I am certainly not the biggest donor to NU, but I have contributed
money over the years. I am a proud alum, and I always will feel that way.
A large percentage of money I have given to NU has been to athletics.
Michael Schill’s and Derrick Gragg’s crisis management skills are
pathetic, and their leadership skills are lacking. I will not donate
another penny to NU until both of them are fired.
James Bendat
Class of 1971
Since you’re complaining, how do you think it should have been handled?
Here’s my opinion,
A grand jury needs to be convened for any actions within the statute
of limitations;
People must be required to testify regarding what had been done
Perpetrators get indicted on sexual abuse and conspiracy charges
Anyone convicted serves jail time.
This isn’t much different than the Penn State frat hazing scandal other
than thankfully no one died.
Hazing someone doesn’t make that someone become a stronger man. It just
proves that the hazer has never reached puberty, and is just a boy
pretending to be tough. Hazing is just a synonym for bullying.
I had already seen the letter from Schill and the letter from the faculty.
Though Schill did give a shout out to the faculty in announcing two new investigations, he ignored their demands for a public release of the original investigation report and a pause in the stadium plans.
But I found the email from Bob McQuinn even more curious.
Why would the head of Alumni Relations send out an email that essentially said, “we REALLY want you to read this letter from President Schill”?
Beyond including a generic email address for the Alumni Relations department where I could send “feedback”, it struck me as odd and amateurish.
Again my first impression of the intent was “We know that you have been reading a bunch of bad stuff about Northwestern in the newspapers and online. Don’t believe it. Just read this letter from our new Prez and you’ll feel better.”
It reminded me of the comment that Alexander Haig made after Ronald Reagan was shot, “As of now, I am in control here in the White House.”