In response to the recent news of UConn self-imposing penalties over the men’s basketball program’s APR shortcomings, UConn President Susan Herbst has sent an email letter out to fans and ticket-holders. Here is the letter:
February 10, 2012
To Friends of the UConn Huskies,
As you may have seen in the media, UConn has applied to the NCAA to waive a possible penalty against the university that would prevent the men’s basketball team from playing in the 2013 post-season based on the academic performance of the ’09 – ’10 team. This possible ban – a new policy that was announced in October of 2011 – is a result of the NCAA retroactively changing its rules.
What is not being considered is the fact that our team’s academic performance improved tremendously in 2010-11, and in the fall 2011 semester. We have also developed a new long-term academic plan for our team, and it has already shown positive results.While some news reports have focused on the fact that the university offered “self-imposed” sanctions in our waiver application – this isn’t really the story; the waiver application is a normal part of the NCAA process, and the NCAA expects universities to suggest self-imposed sanctions.
UConn’s view is that it would be incredibly unfortunate that our current men’s basketball student-athletes could be punished for the problematic academic performance of past teams — students who have not been enrolled at UConn for over two years. That decision would be unfair to innocent young people, which is baffling to us. Our bottom line is that regulatory bodies should not change rules retroactively. We believe that the NCAA should focus on the future, so that people have the chance to work toward positive change. They should not dredge up the past, and then hurt innocent parties of the present.
On a personal level, and as an educator, I would be very sorry to see such harsh punishment of the outstanding young men on our current basketball team. I believe that it would be wrong to punish these students, caught in the fallout from a sudden passage of new rules — rules that did not exist when they enrolled at UConn. That would be a fundamental injustice to our team and to our university.
My thanks go out to so many wonderful professionals at UConn who have made great strides in our academic approach over the past few years, as well as to our students, whom we treasure, along with our dedicated faculty and coaches. And I cannot think of many people in this world who have improved the lives of young men more profoundly than Jim Calhoun, our Hall of Fame coach, and highly-valued member of this university community.And of course, as importantly, I wanted to take a moment to offer my thanks to you – the fans and friends of UConn Athletics – for your incredible support for the Huskies and all of UConn. So often, we depend on you get the word out about our athletics program and what makes us great. Your voices are the ones that are heard across the state and throughout the nation when it comes to the University of Connecticut Huskies – and you are our best advocates.
Whatever the outcome of this process, we are a great university with a great athletics program and will tackle whatever adversity we may face and continue to strive every day to earn the pride and support of all our fans.
Sincerely,
Susan Herbst
President
University of Connecticut
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9 Responses to President Susan Herbst’s Letter ‘To Friends of the UConn Huskies’
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Dr. Susan Herbst,
You are the best thing that has happened to the University of Connecticut since Coach Calhoun!
Thank you!
It is interesting to note Dr. Herbst does not place any of the blame for the dismal graduation rate on the university, the athletic department or Calhoun and his staff. For many years U Conn basketball players had graduation rates in the bottom 10 of all Division 1 schools. This despite the tens of thousands of dollars spent on tutors, academic advisers and other support staff. Now that the athletic department is facing the loss of millions of dollars, it is now a problem. It is time to man-up and accept the fact that Calhoun, while an outstanding coach has not always run a clean program and many shortcuts were taken that were never caught.
The way this team is playing–and especially if Lamb and Drummond go pro–the 2012 and 2013 postseasons will be irrelevant. This alumnus says take the penalty, clean up the program, and make us proud again by staying away from meatheads like Stanley Robinson and that guy who violated the restraining order on the courthouse steps.
I would hope that Dr. Herbst could access Donald’s posting and digest it…therein lies the problem…’nuff said
[...] view,” said school president Susan Herbst in a public letter on Friday morning, “is that it would be incredibly unfortunate that our current men’s [...]
[...] view,” said school president Susan Herbst in a public letter on Friday morning, “is that it would be incredibly unfortunate that our current men’s [...]
Maybe if Uconn recuited student athletes that knew what the word “Immunity” meant and had basic study habits, this would never had come about. This is squarely on Coach Calhoun, all he wants is Final Four teams. Maybe they should emphasize FINAL EXAMS.
Feel sorry for you President Herbst, you fell into a mess.
What a shame that Susan Herbst has chosen the ‘ not our fault’ approach to addressing this growing problem on many campuses throughout this country. UCONN , as with other schools, have decided, to ‘dance with the devil’ . Winning seasons are what they want.Doesn’t matter what the sport and it doesn’t matter , in many cases , how they get there. Women’s sports at UCONN , are better than mens. Always have been. I will give UCONN credit for that. College sports , in years past , was played by students who attended UCONN to get an education.Remember the Yankee Conference? Now, UCONN’s programs are dominated by people who’s main concern are recruiting kids whose main attributes are their ability to score points.At the same time there is an appearance that the higher ups at UCONN have chosen to gradually decrease the number of entering Connecticut resident freshman, average to above average Connecticut students, with no athletic abilities, from a high ratio of 90/10 instate /out of state about thirty years ago, to today’s 65/35 ratio. UCONN also recruits fewer and fewer , instate sports players. They claim that they are trying to make UCONN a world class university both in sports and academics . But at whose expense, the Connecticut tax paying public? Every and each year , I bet at least 1000 Connecticut residents , are squeezed out of attending their state school because of this decision.Out of state students bring in more revenues. Could that be the reason? How many kids are squeezed out by a commitment to achieving National sports dominance.Is UCONN more focused on recruiting players who aren’t interested in acquiring an education as much as they are interested in having themselves appear on TV and signing a huge contract with pro sports? If so, how much money is generated by this decision.Is it worth it? Does UCONN like the dancing with the devil that it has done? I don’t. It sure looks like it’s all about dollars and revenues. The basketball program at UCONN is no more than a conduit to the NBA and a conduit for revenues to the school , which the school decided , are essential to it’s existence/ and who became addicted to the money/fame that is not really apart of acquiring an education , is it? If UCONN chooses to keep going down this path how about plowing the bulk of the revues from these programs back into keeping tuition affordable/ lowering tuitions ( my God the thought of that is chilling isn’t it?) for low income kids, minority kids, who would love going there , but look at a 25% increase over the next few years as being an impossibility. Yet UCONN continues it’s dance with the devil. You mean to tell me that Calhoun or the others there couldn’t find players, in state recruits , that would makes us proud? Local sports heroes are so much more revered and appreciated. That’s why Calhoun and the school is in trouble.You know, there are schools out there that never bought into the ‘sports’ at all cost idea,who have decided to stop playing certain sports all together because of where it can go ( sanctions, cheating, bribes, low academic performance etc.) who have kept there tuitions at a reasonable cost, who decided that it wasn’t worth it to dance with the sports devil. These schools are responsible with their spending and cost. The costs for UCONN sports is always tranferred to the students, always get transferred to the students and make for some silly decisions at the expense of the kids, academically and sports wise, in the state who would love to go there , but can’t because they are being crowded out.Does UCONN really want to keep dancing with the devil? Where does it end?