PSA: Leave Mark Schissel Alone

Students aren't back in any normal way. Iowa, MSU, OSU, Rutgers and Maryland all have had major outbreaks.

Stupid ass attitudes like this is why 900 people are dying per day, and this return to pandemic will be part of an uptick in cases, followed by hospitalizations, followed by deaths... like the past two times.

also hearty lol at you using prima facie like you have any sort of legal background.

I couldn't agree more.  If playing football was too dangerous for players who are tested regularly, and are largely in excellent physical health, then bringing back a student body not being tested routinely and without the discipline that athletes have is nonsensical.

As for Schlissel, unless I don't know how to search a database, Schlissel trained and practiced as a physician but no longer practices as he is not licensed in Michigan. From his bio, he hasn't practiced in a decade. He is an administrator.

I'm very unhappy with Schlissel for a couple of reasons.

First, I don't disagree with the decision that was made to postpone the season, a decision that in my opinion was likely based as much on legal considerations as it was for concern about players and general community spread of the virus. What bothers me is that I feel that as the president of the University, Schlissel needed to share and explain his decision with athletes being impacted.  he owed them that much.

Second, I simply cannot comprehend the decision to bring the student body back, particularly without campus wide testing.  It isn't fair to the students or to the Ann Arbor community and I can only see a money grab as the impetus behind the decision.

Third, letting Warren and the B1G swing in the wind while the presidents of the schools that voted against playing, without talking to the press and the student bodies and alums as to the reason why, is an example of weak leadership that borders on cowardice.  There will be second guessing regardless of what transpired.  Schlissel makes a lot of money as the president of Michigan and right now I personally don't think he is worth it.

A. False dichotomies

B. Frontal Lobotomies

C. Bottles in front of me

I pick C

Had Lawton 2 semesters - and indeed, he was superb.  Prof Holleman's "20th Century American Wars" course charting the political and societal dynamics before, during and after the wars we were involved in was also off-the-charts interesting.

M Law’s Profs. Yale Kamisar and JJ White both expressed public love for M football.

Kamisar, the father of the Miranda rule, was head hunted by Duke Law years back w/money cannons of then incredible volume.   Reportedly his demand to M Admin was not more money but tickets on the 50.  

JJ was the UCC and commercial transactions guru, nationally known.  Had lunch w/him on a Friday before a game against Iowa and he shared he was hoping we’d drop at least 60 on the Hawks.  He made football cracks in class all season long, constantly insulting any Buckeyes in his class, or if none, Spartans, or if none, down the B10 line of schools.
 

Covid aside, is that what we want in a university president? One who couldn't care less about sports?

I remember Lawton.  He was my Organic Chem 2 professor.  His exams rivaled the most difficult I had while I was a Chemical Engineering student.

The late, great political scientist Hanes Walton Jr. ended the last class of each week before a football game with a Go Blue and a shout-out/good luck to any team members that might have been in the class.

I did play BB five times a week at the IM Building, though, and not having that would've stunk.

Football is more dangerous than general campus life?  I would strongly disagree with that.

This "football or education" argument is such a dumb one.  No one is saying we should play football and not have school.  But there are ways to have school without actually having the students back on campus spreading the virus all over the place.

This is no longer an “actively raging pandemic”, not in Michigan, not in the US. We peaked in April. Deaths and hospitalizations have been trending down for several weeks. If you are waiting for zero cases, you are going to have a long wait (especially with all the faulty testing).

The great numbers the football team had were primarily before the students were back on campus. Now they are and it will be difficult to keep the football players separated. 
The other thing to consider is the expense required to keep the football team safe. The PAC-12 is talking about testing every person before every practice. The Big-12 is testing three times a week, I think. At $5 a test that adds up pretty quick. Assume 250 people need testing each time.(players, coaches, analysts, trainers, equipment people, etc.) That’s $1250 per instance of testing. If they test 5 times a week, that’s $6,250 per week just on testing,

It would be difficult to say only football gets to play and no one else. Title IX would most likely mandate an equal number of female athletes would get to compete in fall sports. For easy math, double that weekly testing number. Should the school be paying @ $12,500 a week to keep up testing to play sports at a time when revenue will be down significantly due to a loss of ticket, concession, and merchandise sales?