Friday February 16, 2007

Friday's E-Mail Bag

Each Friday we publish your comments and your questions in our Friday e-mail bag. As I sat down to write this blog for one of the few times ever I am almost speechless. I have now received over 400 e-mails just on the subject of the AARC. I have no idea how to approach this situation because normally I can pull 5-12 e-mails from the list you send each week and answer the questions. Today is so much different. How do you pick from 400 e-mails? How many can you pick?

The main question I ask is what good would it do in today's blog? Don't get me wrong, I think about 375 of the 400 are worthy to be published in this format. I would say more than 300 are positive to the athletic side but I wanted to publish some representation of both sides. That is not the issue. The main concern I have is would they serve any purpose? I am not sure of that now. I have read hundreds of the posts on all of the TigerNet message boards and have enjoyed reading both sides of the argument. Some of you are so creative and many raised points I have never thought of. But my honest opinion is that I am not sure how productive it would be to publish the e-mails at this point. I am not sure many say anything that has not already been said. However, I have selected two to print today. Both are from personal friends and both have given me permission to use them. I hope you will enjoy.

Letter 1:

I believe that it is sad these students who have either grown up dreaming to run down that hill or imagined themselves being a part of the "Clemson Family" are being turned down because someone THINKS they wont be able to graduate.

I have been a part of the Clemson Family for a long time. The best years of my life were attending Clemson University. I still remember a great deal about my experiences there, and it is not uncommon for me to call up my old college buddies and reminisce about those times. When other people hear me talk about it they will say “they wish they could have been a part of something like that”. When I take people up to Clemson I try to make their experience one they will never forget. It is just what we (the Clemson Family) do. It is the reason why people donate that never went to our great university.

It was my parents dream for me to attend Clemson because they couldn’t afford it. My parents wanted me there because they wanted me to get a good education and for me to make something for myself. They wanted me to have that experience and I wanted to make them proud. The reason why I explain this in such detail is because most of the people that I associate with at CU never made the honor role in high school or college, nor did they make 1300's on their SAT's. However, we are all very successful, we all donate to IPTAY and ONE CLEMSON , I have served on many boards at Clemson University and I am still very involved to this day. What we all did in high school has not been indicative of anything that has turned out with our lives. If you asked a majority of these people what, besides their parents, molded them into what they are today, most would tell you CLEMSON UNIVERSITY.

I am glad to say that I graduated from such a great place. I hang my diploma, proudly, over my desk in all five of my offices. In all the times that I have talked about my Clemson experience, not one person has ever asked me about my GPA my SAT scores or if I ever made the honor role. However, I have been asked, "what is so special about that little town in the middle of those hills” or “what was it like to go there” and I reply it is an experience that I cant explain.

As an alumni and avid supporter of Clemson University I am beside myself! Why or how can anyone be denied the right to this experience if they made the grade? Who are these chosen few to deem who will pass or fail before given the chance? With graduation rates at an all-time high since Bowden has been here, why do we not put more faith in our coaches? Are we doubting the character of our coaches?

I understand that these individuals have a job to perform, however they do not have the right to select individuals whom they THINK won't graduate. Some time in their life, someone had to take a chance on them. Every last one of these people making these decisions were given a chance with their positions, unless they had special treatment for who they were or where they came from.

I donate a great deal of money to both IPTAY and One Clemson, but that is all about to change. Until it has been established that we no longer have this board in place, my donations will cease. That is in no way a threat that is a promise!

Letter 2:

Perhaps the best way to start this letter is to explain my affiliation with Clemson University. I hold two degrees from Clemson, have been a Clemson employee for twenty-nine years (with a Distinguished Service Award), am an IPTAY member at the $2400 level, an IPTAY representative, past IPTAY county chairman, serve on the Board of Directors for two Clemson Clubs (Cherokee and Spartanburg counties), have served on the Extension Senate, have served as President of the S.C. Association of County Agricultural Agents, and currently serve on the Clemson Athletic Council. I am a season ticket holder in football and men’s basketball, and have missed one home football game since my freshman year in 1972 (for an uncle’s funeral) and two home ACC basketball games over that same period (one for a work conflict and one for weather related issues). From the time I entered Clemson in 1972 until today, there has been one six month period where I have not been either a student or employee of Clemson University. I say all of that to convey why I feel a certain amount of “ownership” with Clemson.

Clemson is a lot of things, to a lot of different people. Please allow me to give a couple examples. Clemson is a World War II veteran, who has never set foot on the Clemson campus, working two jobs to send three sons to Clemson. It is a mother, going back to night school to sharpen her typing skills, so she can return to work after twenty years, to help send her children to Clemson. It’s a high school student breaking into tears of joy when he gets his acceptance letter. Clemson is meeting another freshman at orientation, finding out he is from your high school rival, but becoming friends, later roommates, introducing him to his future wife, and being groomsmen in each other’s weddings. Clemson is a student working third shift in a textile mill for a summer job to help pay tuition. It is that same student hauling hay during the day to make the extra money to pay for his Clemson ring. Clemson is grown men, knocking on a dormitory door, saying “I’ve lived in this room twenty years ago. I just wanted to remember for a minute.” Clemson is an Extension Agent, sitting at the kitchen table of a farmer, trying to find a way to help him keep a farm that has been in his family for generations. Clemson is a 4H kid, in a wood working project, who grows up to be a home builder, and a livestock judging team member who grows up to be a veterinarian. Clemson is weeping when you read “There’s Something In These Hills”, simply because there really is something in those hills. I know Clemson is all those things, because each one is part of my Clemson experience.

And, yes, Clemson is the Tiger Paw and excellence in athletics. Its crying, not only when we won a national championship in football, but also when we won two national championships in soccer. It’s a Perry Tuttle autographed Sports Illustrated Cover. Its Jeff Davis and “Call Me Mister”. Its Tommy Bowden, Rob Spence and Ron Bradley sharing their faith at churches across the state. It is Oliver Purnell serving as President of the NABC. It’s the “most exciting 25 seconds in college football.” If se truly aspire to be “One Clemson”, we must aspire to excellence in EVERY facet of the University .

Recent events have brought into question if Clemson University is truly committed to athletic excellence. Are we allowing our coaches and teams to participate on a “level playing field”? Evidence seems to suggest not. Other ACC institutions, highly regarded academic institutions, are allowed to recruit athletes that Clemson cannot. Certainly, I am not naïve enough to believe that every student athlete, or every student, is a good “fit” for Clemson. However, our record with “at risk” students is very good, particularly with minority students. Vickery Hall and its staff have many success stories. Duane Coleman and Rashaad Jackson are recent examples.

Can we honestly expect our coaching staffs to compete when they are at disadvantages such as not offering scholarships to potential student athletes who are fully qualified by the NCAA clearinghouse, by not accepting prep school or junior college student athletes that our competing universities do accept, by not being able to “place” non qualifiers in prep schools and junior colleges, and by having to go before the academic review committee to “defend” a potential recruit when other schools do not have a similar restriction ? It is my understanding that other ACC institutions have a certain number of “special admissions” for invited or preferred walk on student athletes. Those individuals do not have to meet normal entrance requirements for that particular school, just NCAA minimums. Clemson, once again, restricts our program by requiring non scholarship student athletes to meet normal admission standards.

Clemson University may well be at a crossroads. We are entering a capital campaign of enormous proportions.” Equity seating” is just around the corner. The next few years will not only define the Presidency of Jim Barker, it will shape the entire future of Clemson University. I urge you to take another look at “One Clemson.”. Let’s make sure that every part of Clemson is the absolute best it can be. I welcome any dialogue with you or any group that might examine some of the policies currently in place, and would be willing to give of my time in any of these efforts.

Please remember that not only is Clemson University a well respected academic institution, but it is also, as our alma mater says “where the Tigers play.” Let’s give them every chance to “reign supreme alway.”

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