Ohio State looking to add 2,500 more seats to “The Shoe”
May 31, 2013MLB Rumor: Eric Wedge on the hot seat in Seattle
May 31, 2013Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee could be relieved of his duties in the event he has one more verbal faux pas. Colin Binkley from the Columbus Dispatch reports that Gee was addressed by the University’s board of trustees following the news surrounding his attempt at humor at the expense of Notre Dame University and the Catholic church.
“On occasion your words that may be intended to bring a bit of levity to some significant issue have, in fact, had the opposite effect,” says the letter.
Signed by Board Chairman Robert H. Schottenstein and Trustee Alex Shumate, the letter addressed to Gee manates that inappropriate comments must stop in the event he wants to maintain his position within the university. “Although none of us expects this to be the case, should future instances take place, they could constitute cause for even more punitive action, including dismissal, and the board will have no choice but to take such action.”
Earlier this week, it was made public that Gee referred to Notre Dame as “those damn Catholics” in reference to potentially adding the highly regarded university to The Big Ten. The Ohio State president apologized for his remarks and stated that they were an attempt at humor given the audience on the receiving end of his statements. The recent comments were merely the latest in a string of verbal gaffes from the mouth of Gee.
In November 2010, Gee boasted that Ohio State’s football schedule didn’t include teams on par with the “Little Sisters of the Poor,” a remark that forced the President to apologize verbally and in the form of a personal check. In 2012, Gee apologized for comparing the problem of coordinating the school’s many divisions to the Polish army, an off-the-cuff remark that a Polish-American group called a “slanderous” display of bigotry and ignorance.
Per the letter, Gee is to hire a “coach” to work on his “global presence and voice,” and to consult professionals who could “revisit” his statements and show how they can be better aligned with the university’s values. The trustees have also asked the president that he be more selective in his speaking engagements.
[Related: Ohio State looking to add 2,500 more seats to “The Shoe”]
5 Comments
Just one more slip up? Sounds like old Dean Wormer had had just about enough of him.
Good lord, as an alumnus who typically has homer glasses on at all times, this is pathetic. The whole reason he’s paid so much money is to be a positive and exemplary leader for the university. If he needs a “coach” at this point in his career, I would rather invest in someone else getting that training.
Time Magazine said he was the best college president in the country in 2009. But they also have a history of poor judgement (see 1938, 1939, 1942, 1979, et. al.)
#Godwin’d
Those damn Catholics should just lighten up. Jeez.
Malapropic, bow-tied, and stupid is no way to go through life, EGG. The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me. You’re out! Finished at The OSU! I want you off this campus by nine o’clock Monday morning!
(Back at home in his garage, EGG fires up a blow torch and begins welding the head of the Woody Hayes statue to the hood of his car.)