I'm ashamed of my alma mater.
I went running this morning, and as
always happens when I'm running on a cold day I was wearing a ratty
old Michigan State hoodie that I picked up when I was a student
there. After all these years it's frayed, it has holes in it, and
it's on its third or fourth drawstring. Basically, it's falling
apart.
Much like Michigan State itself.
I don't know if you're aware of what's
going on, but between the shocking Larry Nassar trial and an
explosive story from ESPN dealing with the systemic cover-up of
sexual and domestic abuse by athletes and coaches at the school,
Michigan State's reputation is falling apart on a daily basis. The
school's president and athletic director have resigned, and officials
in state government are looking into whether the school's Board of
Trustees—elected by Michigan voters—can be dismissed or recalled.
It's a great day to be a Spartan, isn't
it?
In all honesty, I really don't think
about my alma mater that much. I went there, I had a good time, I
graduated, and I moved on. I haven't been back in a decade or so,
and I always toss their letters begging for money in the recycling
bin. I'm a State alum, but I'm also a lot of other things. So maybe
I'm not the best person to comment on this. But I would think that
any human being, alumni or not, would look at what's been going on
down in East Lansing and throw up a little in their mouth.
It's that bad.
If you have the interest and you
haven't eaten recently, I advise you to read the ESPN "Outside the Lines" story. The systemic cover-up of what's been going on in the
athletic department for almost a decade now borders on the
nauseating. And I think my disgust about the whole thing was
magnified when I read WHY the school covered these incidents up.
That reason, and I'm quoting from the story here, is that that
“didn't want to tarnish the Spartan brand”.
Uhm, I don't think you have to worry
about 'Tarnishing the brand” any more. I'm pretty sure that ship
has sailed.
The thing is, the actions of the few
who perpetrated the deeds and covered them up outweigh the many
people at State who do amazing work. World-class research in a
variety of fields is done there. I'm sure countless lives have been
saved because of what people did at Michigan State. But now all
people will think of when they hear the words “Michigan State” is
abuse, degradation, misogyny, and cover-up. It'll take decades for
the school's reputation to recover, assuming it ever does. But, you
know, at least “the brand" wasn't tarnished.
Idiots.
My only hope now is that the school
does right by the hundreds (if not thousands) of women and men who
were abused, humiliated, and violated in the past decade. I also
hope that the school gets rid of every person still remaining who
played a part in the incidents, no matter how famous or beloved they
are. Maybe then, and only then, can the school being the
decades-long process to repair its “brand”, tattered reputation.
A reputation that's so bad it makes my
mangy sweatshirt look good.
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