Gordon Gee "retires"

Submitted by ixcuincle on

@BryanDFischer 3:12 PM

“Retire.” RT @joevardon BREAKING: OSU's Gordon Gee to retire. bit.ly/14t8bE8 …

Yeoman

June 5th, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^

Remember in the aftermath when we were hearing about plans at OSU for restructuring extracurriculars/athletics to increase presidential control of the latter? Something about having athletics report through the office of student life, kind of like Gee had done at Vanderbilt.

We didn't hear any more about that, Gene Smith is still there, and Gee is gone.

I think athletics won that battle.

burtcomma

June 4th, 2013 at 3:41 PM ^

Comedians every where mourn the loss of another great source of material! Gee was beloved by the OSU students and donors, and a frequent attendee at student parties. There are far worse things to be! Maybe Brandon will take OSU Prez job????!!!!!!! LOL!

xxxxNateDaGreat

June 4th, 2013 at 3:42 PM ^

Correct me if I am wrong, but the article said he gave this speech in December and the university has been aware of his comments the whole time, no? They even went as far as holding two meeting dedicated to handling the situation, the last one in March?

How are we just now hearing about this?

Rawls NTR

June 4th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^

First, something bad happens (December 5).  Then, months later, someone at the school finds out about it, and marginally punishes the wrongdoer, if any discipline is even issued (March 11).  Then, when news becomes public and dominates the headlines even more months later, school then reacts as it should have in the first place.  (June 4)

Ohio dots the "i" with integrity...

mGrowOld

June 4th, 2013 at 4:00 PM ^

My guess would be cause the Columbus Dispatch and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, unlike the Freep, actually think reporting stuff that makes the state's flagship university look bad is not good for business.  For some unexplained reason they believe down here that embarrasing and generally pissing off their readers by reporting stuff like Gee said is not an effective way to build a customer base.

Go figure.

Yeoman

June 5th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^

A decision was made on other grounds that Gee should be gone, and this was trotted out as a convenient excuse. It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that the tape was leaked to the press for exactly that purpose.

Well, it would surprise me if that was acknowledged but it wouldn't surprise me if it were true.

Lebowski

June 4th, 2013 at 3:48 PM ^

"After Gee’s December comments, Ohio State trustees met in private on January 31 and March 8 to discuss a remediation plan that directs Gee to scale back on his public speeches. The board also said the university should hire a “coach” to help Gee do his job, an interesting proposition considering that Gee accepted an award from the American Council on Education in March for his years of dedication as a mentor and coach for several prospective future college leaders."

Coach.  To help him do his job. 

 

jmblue

June 4th, 2013 at 3:53 PM ^

Interesting.  Will he be even more of a loose cannon in interviews now that he doesn't have to worry about the institution he represents?

triangle_M

June 4th, 2013 at 4:01 PM ^

Well lets just hope Urbz doesn't take the helm in the president's chair there too.   Then you know they'd be recruiting all the 5* professors. 

You have to give the BoT some credit for wanting to save face and making him step down although they should be quite embarrassed considering how long it took them. 

Slappies over on 11W are blaming . . . you guessed it, ESPN.  

Ramzy posted this piece earlier today.  I am reminded of the words of our blog overlords when I say, spare us the hymnal, cooler poopers.

triangle_M

June 4th, 2013 at 11:49 PM ^

The problem with OSU and 11W is that Ramzy is their equivalent of Brian Cook, but he's no Brian Cook.  His work simply eulogizes without establishing human failings and conflict that makes for good tragedy.  We are just supposed to accept it for what it is and be ok with the fact that the heroes are flawed, even fatally, especially fatally.  Well, I'm here to tell you fatal flaws will get you killed, at least metaphorically, and all you have to do is look at Tressel and Gee to see this in action.  If the OSU faithful had their way, both would still be operating business as usual.  This is precisely what makes OSU so laughable and intellectually bankrupt, yet it still remains the modus operandi.

DavidP814

June 4th, 2013 at 4:00 PM ^

Wow.  I'm kind of sad, actually.  Gordon Gee was always good for 2-3 newsworthy, embarassing comments per year.  We are all losing a source of entertainment.

Bigfoot

June 4th, 2013 at 4:07 PM ^

I agree with just about everything he said in his Q&. I found it very funny,actually. I'm a bit bummed to see him go.

Tater

June 4th, 2013 at 4:10 PM ^

Not to pat myself on the back, but I did quote Darryl Rogers saying "What does a guy have to do to get fired around here?"

kehnonymous

June 4th, 2013 at 4:48 PM ^

C'mon guys, we're better than this.

Let's keep some perspective and think about what happened that time when our outgoing president said dumb things that embarrassed our University on a national stage.

Oh yeah, right - that never happened!  Bwahahahahah.  This is what we have Kate Upton and you have Casey Anthony.

74polSKA

June 4th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^

I think the douchiest part of this whole situation is that Gee was scheduled as the commencement speaker at at St Francis DeSales Catholic HS this Saturday. In light of the controversy, he cancelled this week. So, Gee and the university have known about this for six months and they wait until the week of the ceremony to cancel. I hope they gave the DeSales administration a heads up at some point. In typical Buckeye fashion, the parent they interviewed for the local news was upset that the Seniors wouldn't have Gee at their ceremony.

jonvalk

June 4th, 2013 at 6:19 PM ^

I actually disagree with that. I think it was a classy act to cancel given the media frenzy that would have surrounded the commencement. It would have taken away from the real purpose of the event - to honor students.



I'm all for making fun of Gee because he's a goofy older guy who sticks his foot in his mouth routinely, but I'm not going to blind myself to good intentions when I truly believe they're present.

74polSKA

June 4th, 2013 at 6:58 PM ^

I'm glad they cancelled for the reason you gave. However, OSU knew Gee made these comments in December. He probably never should have been scheduled to speak at a Catholic school after that. Why wait until there is media outrage to admit the mistake?

triangle_M

June 5th, 2013 at 12:44 AM ^

Well, if you think bigoted is hilarious then you're just as ignorant as Gee.  To me, its just patterned anti-Catholic sentiment.  Am I supposed to forget that the "Little Sisters of the Poor" are Catholic while he insults another Catholic group?  That's just a coincidence right?   My brother is a devout Catholic and an OSU alumnus.  I called him today and asked him how he felt  about the Gee resignation--he was relieved.  He wasn't losing sleep over it, but the most salient point he made when discussing the situation was there are plenty of other well qualified people who won't show disdain for his religion.  He was also baffled at the cult of personality that seems to build around OSU's leaders -- Hayes, Tressel and now Gee.

Do we need to go into the SEC stuff?  Because that's just about as stupid a comment as you can make.   If Gee is judging intelligence based on regional dialects than he's not really fit for academia to begin with.  There are plenty of schools north of the Mason Dixon Line, such as Michigan/Ohio directionals et al,  that do not measure up to the standards of SEC schools.  So wtf was Gee's point other than to disparage the South, especially since he was the president at Vanderbilt?  

So yeah, laugh it up.  Its all just an ESPN conspiracy to keep The Ohio State University down, because everyone is so jealous of your awesomeness.