You can’t make this shit up. Coach Dana Altman berates his players about their #BlackLivesMatter protest, AD Rob Mullens has a policy allowing athletes to be kicked out for failing one piss test for *legal* pot smoking, former cop Tom Hart is paid to monitor how players use social media and PF flack Craig Pintens regulates which Duck is “made available” for what sort of interview – and #BlackLivesMatter is not on his list.
But it’s all OK. The athletic department supports diversity, so long as they can control it. They’re now distributing an officially approved line of “diversity apparel” to their athletes:
KEZI has the story here:
EUGENE, Ore. – University of Oregon student athletes will be sporting new attire this season…on the field and around campus. And if it gets you talking, that’s actually what the initiative aims to do.
BEOREGON is an initiative two years in the making and it comes at a very appropriate time with the current political climate. The objective is to spark a conversation about the atmosphere of inclusion for all demographics including race, sexuality, religion and more.
Athletic officials say BEOREGON is a “call to action for all ducks to be their most authentic selves.” It was first introduced at the student-athlete kickoff event for the 2016 academic year this past Sunday at Jane Sanders Stadium …
Dana Altman, on the other hand, wants his “fine young men” to toe the line:
12/10/2014: Coach Dana Altman thinks National Anthem is the wrong time to protest racism
Our fool of a basketball coach thinks he owns those players. They shouldn’t protest when he’s trying to collect his $2M paycheck, off their free labor. Fortunately we’ve still got people who hear someone sing “O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave” and actually understand what it means.
Want to ask the players what they think? No. Duck AD Rob Mullens and his PR guy Craig Pintens have a rule about players talking to reporters without permission, and “Benjamin and Bell have not been made available to comment.”
 |
Quite a contrast to University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds, who released the following statement, supporting the #BlackLivesMatter protests by his football players:
“I have served in the military. I understand love of country and love of the flag and I know that freedom is not free. Many Nebraskans have expressed their opinions about the actions of our student-athletes on Saturday night. Some are supportive. Some disagree, even passionately so. That all are free to state their opinion is the beauty of living in a country like the United States. The same freedoms that protect their speech also protect our students’ speech – whether they’re kneeling during the national anthem, holding a flag on the field, praying after the game or expressing their opinion during class. All of that speech falls under the same category. All of it is protected by the First Amendment.
“The University of Nebraska’s position on free speech is abundantly clear. As explicitly stated in Board of Regents policy which has been in place for almost a half century: ‘Members of the academic community have the right to extensive latitude in making their opinions known … The public exploration and resolution of differing views can be successful only when groups and individuals discuss the issues in forums where the right to disagree, speak freely and be heard is preserved.’
“Our nation is dealing with difficult issues today, as we have for virtually our entire history. Each of us will react differently. College campuses, as much as any space, must be places where robust, even uncomfortable, debate is welcomed and encouraged. Our students, faculty and staff absolutely enjoy the right to participate in these dialogues in the manner they choose under the First Amendment and Board policy.”
It’s almost like “diversity” is just a political tool and not a genuine attempt at egalitarianism, huh? Weird.
Very weird. I wonder where in the world Athletics got that idea?
Egalitarianism is something we should be able to take for granted, given that our country was founded on it over 200 years ago. Diversity and inclusion, which is about respecting and embracing difference, is not, and we have a very long way to go.
Be Oregon is more silly and pointless than hypocritical. The real potential problem with it is that it sets up an easy target for people who neither have a clue about diversity nor have any intention of ever acquiring one.
At least there’s good news on the college rankings front, right?
Well, no. There is a new Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education ranking of schools.
The “flagship” UO comes in … at #375. OSU at #315.
OSU higher because it does significantly better at something called “Outcomes.”
This is largely behind a paywall, but you can find the basics at
http://www.wsj.com/graphics/college-rankings-2016/
Better hope these particular rankings don’t catch on too much.
Word down at the Jock Box is that student-athletes are not allowed to go to class unless they’re wearing at least 15 pieces of “diversity flair” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7SNEdjftno
I must go pretty easy on the jocks in my class.
A bombshell story about Dunn in today’s RG op ed.I have no way of knowing if it is true or not. By one Igl. Do check it out.