Strategic Communication emails
Requester: Crump, Jake
Organization: Oregon Daily Emerald
Initial Request Date: 08/12/2013 Status: Requesting/Reviewing Records
To view any and all emails dated Aug. 1 through Aug. 11, between UO VP for strategic communication Phil Weiler, UO VP for university advancement Mike Andreasen and the following athletic department employees:· Jeff Hawkins· Rob Mullens· Craig Pintens· Dave Wiliford· Andy McNamara
We would like this search to look for, but is not limited to, the following keywords: “university of nike”, nike, the Register-Guard, “letter to the editor,” the New York Times, Sports Illustrated and “universityofnike.com
Still no word from Hubin on waiving fees for student-journalists. The STC voted unanimously to support this, and Hubin said the administration would move expeditiously on it. That was in February. Seems like Gottfredson got cold feet.
8/12/2013 update: Looking for a scapegoat Rob? There’s a rumor that Mullens almost fired Hawkins last week, for letting slip to reporters what everyone over in the Moshofsky center has bragged about in private for years. Meanwhile, a very interesting RG story by Diane Dietz today on the unhealthy kind of competition the Jock Box and Sweat Shop nurture:
How do you teach humility in the context of such world-class facilities?
“There has to be a relationship,” Doty [US Army lieutenant colonel and West Point instructor, retired] said, “where this quarterback is a great quarterback, and he’s going to win a Heisman Trophy — blah, blah, blah, blah — but he’s also still a student at the University of Oregon, and he needs to behave and be treated within the classroom and in the community as just another guy. Most importantly, he needs to understand that.”
Pendleton [UO philosophy PhD and co-founder of the Sports and Conflict Institute] said the lavish buildings reflect certain values.
“The meta-message is clearly that athletics takes priority in a lot of ways over the academic aspects of the school. How, when you see the quality of the facilities, could you not conclude that?” he asked.
“Let me put it as diplomatically as I know how. I do not think that someone could defend (the exclusivity), if there were to be a public debate on the subject, in terms of any ideals that we would defend as being appropriate to a university.”
But the Ducks keep claiming the Jock Box and Sweat Shop are good for all of the University of Nike, not just for themselves:
The lives of football players are exceptionally demanding and the players need the extra back-up to succeed, their coaches say. Plus, the football operations center lifts the whole university, Helfrich said in a recent interview.
UO student-journalist Craig Garcia has a rather different take, today in the Daily Emerald.
8/11/2013: Just kidding, UO President Mike Gottfredson is still keeping his head down. Maybe he’ll make some typically evasive remarks at this week’s leadership retreat, about these quotes in the NYT:
“People will complain, but this is not excessive,” said Rob Mullens, the university’s athletic director.
“We are the University of Nike,” said Jeff Hawkins, the senior associate athletic director of football administration and operations. “We embrace it. We tell that to our recruits.”
Keep me posted, we’ll want these for Gottfredson’s next secret performance evaluation. No, this is about a letter to the RG Editors from Senior Associate Athletic Director Jeff Hawkins, complaining about their recent news stories, which he’s posted it on the “GoDucks” website here.
On August 8, 2013 at 11:43 A.M., Senior Associate Athletic Director Jeff Hawkins submitted a Letter to the Editor of The Register Guard regarding a quote attributed to him.
The letter has yet to be published, despite the fact Mr. Hawkins appeared on the front page of The Register Guard three times in less than a week. There have been numerous letters published regarding the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex [or, as it’s known on campus, the Sweat shop] since its opening.
Per The Register Guard, “Because of the volume of mail, all letters cannot be published.”
Here is the full text of Mr. Hawkins’ Letter to the Editor.
Dear Editor:
A comment I made during a tour of the University of Oregon’s new Hatfield-Dowlin Football Complex has been taken out of context, and I feel I owe the members of my university and this community an explanation.
When I said “We are the University of Nike,” I meant it as a metaphor for the shared ideals and passions that I believe exist between the UO athletic department and those of Nike, whose founder, Phil Knight, and his wife, Penny, have made extraordinary contributions to both academics and athletics at the UO. After all, the birthplace of Nike was on the playing fields of Oregon. The invention of the waffle track shoe by Oregon Coach Bill Bowerman revolutionized sports performance forever. Oregon student-athlete Phil Knight transformed those ideas into a sports-marketing empire. Both men exemplify the innovation and devotion to excellence that I associate with the UO. Both went on to become great philanthropists to the university and global game-changers.
The Ducks are innovative and achievement oriented, driven to excellence. Students and student-athletes see us as ahead of the curve, smart, successful, cool, and fun. I see these characteristics as true not only of athletics, but of the university as a whole.
I’ve been part of this great institution for almost 13 years, and I feel passionately about the UO. It’s my greatest hope that my 10-year old daughter will attend here someday. Rest assured, when she does, she will be coming for the UO’s outstanding academic programs.
Jeff Hawkins
Senior Associate Athletic Director of Football Administration and Operations
University of Oregon
Nice bonus – we should have info on the latest admin and athletics raises in a few weeks.
“Hawk” didn’t write that. He’s not up to it. Mullens is playing us as fool. Too late, Mullens. You guys are screwed. Did it all yourselves, too.
Of course he didn’t.
I too hope this is the beginning of the end.
Why are grown men going by :hawk” nicknames and such? Are we in kindergarten?
No, we are not in kindergarten, but the George W Bush White House, complete with “war room”, nicknames (“Brownie, you’re doing a hell of a job”), frat-boy humor (“Eat your enemies”), and spending without limit.
Hawk, you’re doing a hell of a job.
Poor baby, Hawk. Don’t sweat it, though. Gottfredson is also quivering somewhere, but in private.
Better if the author (Pintens?) had led with a strong apology, and left out the daughter. Quite unfortunate.
Couldn’t agree more.
Maybe he’s hoping the classrooms in 10 years will have improved marginally..
UO classrooms are much better than when I got here in 1995, thanks to Mr. and Ms Lillis. And they’ll be better yet, thanks to the Oregon taxpayers who are paying for the Straub renovation. Still not enough room for the required courses for our major, but UO students can get easy Gen Ed and Multicultural credits with Doug Blandy’s online AAD courses. No class, no proctored exams, and 65% A’s.
There’s our future right there. Put all the academic exercises online and build sanctuaries for coaches and administrators.
dog says
okay, what percentage of our classes are taught in classrooms built after 1995?
Is this incremental or substantial?
Remember the gain in Lillis was less than the loss in Gilbert Hall (though the
Gilbert hall rooms did maximally suck).
Given that our president’s academic claim to fame is the theory that “the lack of … self-control [is] the main factor behind criminal behavior” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-control_theory_of_crime), I wonder what he thinks of the athletic department’s dismissal of self-control, restraint, humility, etc.
This morning’s RG article was again good, and depressing. “Eat your enemies?” Are there any adults in the AD?
Well, I will be sure that none of my comment is taken out of context. I understood very clearly what you meant by your university of Nike remark. Let’s see…”you been bought, now you my bitch”. It is well known ya all bow to his commands…look at your uniforms???? what colors are defined as Oregon colors anymore….oh yeah anything Nike says they are. Typical sport mentality….me bigger, have more than you!
What I want to know is what happens to these kids after you use them all up??? Toss them out with a less than desirable education that gets them nowhere, doing nothing? I suppose that’s all good as far as you’re concerned. They did a hell of a job for Nike and his private team…makes it all good.
Nothing but another corporate big wig sucking the life of those around him willing to sell their soul for a little shinny stuff. Trivial crap that means nothing down the line, nothing.
Working hard for a real education is more valuable than all that glitters for the athletic department. Their buildings will crumble while educating our future citizens will endure long after the buildings are gone. Now who is more valuable. I’ll put my vote in for our educators.
Comment of the week, contact me for your free “University of Nike” t-shirt.
Thanks UO Matters but I’ll pass on the shirt. I get the support for those information request to the “office of transparency” very important….I could not, would not wear anything with the Nike word or symbol and the University that I love on the same article of clothing. Nike is repulsive to me and just makes me want to hurl chunks. The last time I bought Nike was when the shoes were leather, waffle and made in America.
Good point. I’ll add a “Not the University of Nike” shirt soon.
Now I just may have to bend my rule and get one. :~)
This remark by Helfrich is not only wrong (how do the non-student athletes benefit from the student-athletes being treated like primadonnas?) is completely unacceptable:
“The lives of football players are exceptionally demanding and the players need the extra back-up to succeed, their coaches say. Plus, the football operations center lifts the whole university, Helfrich said in a recent interview.”
I thought he was a helluva lot smarter than that.
Extra tutoring and advisors to meet with the faculty and pressure them to change grades – that sort of back-up?
Well, ha … wouldn’t that be back-up 101? The way I read it he’s talking about 400 level, personalized mollycoddle back-up.
More demanding than the life of the student who is a single parent? More demanding than the life of the student who is a returned veteran? More demanding than the life of the student battling depression, or an alter-abled student? Cut me a F—ing break here!
“Eat your enemies!” is just moronic and reflects on the intellectual and creative levels both both its creators and consumers. Worrying over whether the “Duck” is beating up opponents in cartoons is equally moronic and just lets people mock us and ignore the immensely serious damage that Phil Nike has done to our economy, social values, and institutions. How many people have been killed by anvils falling from the sky in the last half century?
This bit about “synthetic hatred” is ridiculous. Someone forgot to leave their ivory tower and re-assemble where the little, real people live. IF synthetic hatred was so useful anywhere, not only in sports, then we wouldn’t be having the spill-over bullying, “hater” mentality that is common everywhere.
But you know, it might be a defensive angle for Hernandez’ murder trial–just claim he was subjected to so much synthetic hatred training in college that he couldn’t delineate corrupt, criminal behavior from normal, civilized behavior.
Did they license those other school’s trademark logos for this purpose? How much does Stanford or UCLA charge for their logo to be used to excite the Ducks into eating them on the gridiron?
One thing I’ve wondered about is how many cameras are in the Sweat Shop? Is someone monitoring the facility 24/7 in a deep, dark office? Is there a cam on Helfrich? And who is the person who would have or has access to all that recorded material?
No cameras in the showers. UO employees would never do anything inappropriate in there.
Of course. I was mostly thinking about missing towels and such.
Missing towels are the least of our concerns.
Right. Missing shaving lotions from the coaches swank reserve and defaced property are a couple concerns. Can you imagine finding graffiti like “lamichael was here” etched into Carrara marble? Or having to hike into Nepal to find the exact rug weaver to replicate his interpretation of dollar duck on a rug? The horror.
How anonymous is this, I work in athletic department and I fear for my job but there is a lot to say
It’s anonymous. That simple.
Just don’t follow Jim Bean’s lead… he’s a giveaway.
If you want to be safe, then post off-campus (central admin) and use a browser with Ghostery add-on (this blog’s traffic/stats meters).
Start a private browser session and use an open/unsecured public wifi connection. That’s what I do anyway…