Do As I Say, Not As I Do

There are no greater enforcers of political correctness than those in Academia.  College and high school campuses are to be zones of "inclusion" and "tolerance" and "understanding"--and hurtful words that "denigrate" or "insult" others are strictly verboten.  And that is why it is so interesting when those within the ivy covered walls deviate from the PC script and are caught actually expressing their personal views.

The most recent example is that of Ohio State University President Gordon Gee and his comments to the Buckeye Booster Club.  The following statements were made in December of last year, but did not come to light until last week, when the Associated Press obtained the audiotape through a public records request (otherwise, nobody at OSU was going public with what was said that night).  Gee first decides to take his shots at the the folks at Notre Dame.......

“And I want to make it very clear, we have never invited Notre Dame to join the Big Ten. And the reason is the fact that they — first of all they’re not very good partners. I’ll just say that. I negotiated with them during my first term and the fathers are holy on Sunday and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week. You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or Friday. Literally, I can say that.”

Gee followed that up with an attack on the schools in the Southeastern Conference.........


“Well you tell the SEC when they can learn to read and write then they can figure out what we’re doing. I’ve been down there. I was the chairman of the Southeastern Conference for two years. I’ll tell you something. It’s shameful. It really is.”

Again, these comments were made in December of last year--and were heard by some members of the Ohio State community.  But I cannot find any stories from that detailing any outrage on the Columbus campus.  And since the AP broke the story last week, I still haven't seen any reports of on-campus protests calling for Gee's immediate firing nor any Faculty Senate votes denouncing the comments.  All there has been is outrage on sports talk radio (outside of Columbus) and a "strongly worded warning" from the OSU Board of Trustees telling Gee that he could be fired for comments like that again in the future.

So where is the outrage?  Where are the calls to boycott Ohio State sports or classes or merchandise?  It's nonexistent because Gee attacked those that those in Academia believe deserve to mocked.  "Catholic priests?  These are men living in the Stone Age with their pre-modern beliefs in marriage, abortion, science and gender equality.  They've got it coming!"  What to you think the Ohio State response would have been if Gee had questioned the trustworthiness of Muslim clerics?  (Maybe, Buckeyes Head Football Coach Urban Meyer--a Catholic--should tell a few jokes about Mormons--Gee's religion--as his first fall practice press conference.)

And Gee's second target--student-athletes (specifically football players)--also have it coming in the minds of your average college prof.  "They don't go to class, they get special tutoring, they don't even deserve to be in our halls of higher learning.  And their coach doesn't deserve a $5-million dollar salary--he doesn't even teach!"  Never mind that the vast majority of SEC football players are African-American and come from a socio-economic situation that would make it darn near impossible for them to set foot on a college campus if it wasn't for a sports scholarship--to Gee (and his cohorts) these are people "unworthy" of the college experience.  How long would he hang on to his job if he questioned the college-worthiness of trans-sexual students?  Or the African-American women in southern colleges today? 

Gee also had one more target in his speech--former Badgers Head Coach Bret Bielema........

“Someone was saying to me, well, you know, Bret Bielema leaving … that was a blessing for Wisconsin and they knew it. Because he was under tremendous pressure. They didn’t like him. Barry Alvarez thought he was a thug. And he left just ahead of the sheriff.”

We'll give Gee a pass on this one.  Bielema actually does have that coming.