My tNP forum posts provides part of my take on the stories, which I might rewrite for this weblog if I feel up to it. To sum up: CU-Boulder athletic department used booze and girls to recruit football players. Some of these girls, not to mention others, were raped by the recruits and/or players at various parties, often funded by the alumni fundraising group the CU Foundation. President Libby Hoffman and Head Coach Barnett have been under fire. Throw in the revelation that CU professor Ward Churchill is a bullying kook, and President Hoffman, breaking under the pressure, joined the several other CU administrators who have resigned.
At my first and only College Republicans meeting, which I attended at the beginning of my last semester at CU during Winter of 2002, one of the "motivational speakers" asked the assembled group of forty or so kids who the only Republican in the CU administration was. Strangely enough, one girl knew the answer. He proudly repeated her answer, saying with a glow in his eyes that that one Republican was none other than president Elizabeth Hoffman.
Oh how fickle is the favor of a campus political group. Here's the CU College Republicans e-mail for March 7, the day Hoffman announced her resignation:
President Betsy Hoffman submitted her resignation to CU on March 7,
2005, and we fully support her decision to resign. Her inability to hold her
faculty accountable to reasonable working ethics and standards makes her
resignation long overdue. We have faith in our elected Regents to facilitate the
transition from the Hoffman reign to CU's next President.
We expect the Regents to take the reign of Betsy Hoffman's final two
years at CU as an example of how not to run a university. We urge the Regents to
continue their journey into CU's future with integrity, with a desire
to rebuild our reputation, and with the realization that we must regain
the trust of the public. Hoffman's resignation was a step in the right direction.
Churchill's departure will be the next great step.
We will host a gathering on Wednesday, March 9 from 12pm - 1:30pm on
the Fine Arts Lawn (between the UMC and the Euclid Parking Garage) to show our
support for Hoffman's decision. Comy by from some free food and good times!
http://www.cugop.org/events/media/resign.html
Our message to Hoffman: TAKE WARD WITH YOU
We'll see you at the party and then the meeting this Wednesday!
Humorously enough, the next day I received this e-mail from the CRs:
To act in the interest of a greater cause is an admirable quality. The
actions of President Hoffman to put the interests of the University of
Colorado above her own, is one appreciated by many in the student body.
It has been brought to our attention that tomorrow’s rally has been
interpreted as sending a message other than the previously stated. It is the
opinion of our organization that the decision made by President Hoffman should be
representative of a respectful step in building the CU community. We
ask that Ward Churchill take the same step. Meaning, he too should resign in
the interests of the University of Colorado, putting the community
interests above his own.
We fully support President Hoffman’s decision to resign as President of
CU and hold no ill will towards her.
In light of the concerns raised regarding this event, we are postponing
the activity originally planned for March 9.
Sadly, the College Republicans don't even mention the athletic department mess. (Indeed, they were rather unsound in other areas as well--their leadership thought homosexual marriage was a great idea, which doesn't bode well for the future of the Colorado GOP) It's almost a cliche now: the Right attacks Churchill, the Left attacks the Coach, and poor President Hoffman, who is good at fundraising and medieval lit but not at university administration or public relations, has to leave before the really bad boys do. Frankly I'm one alumnus of the Right who will be happy when both Coach and Prof are gone.
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