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OSU Trustees Embarrassed Over President’s Comments
By: Associated Press
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UPDATE 4:45 p.m. The Ohio State President, E. Gordon Gee started a “remediation plan” after the Ohio State Board of Trustees signed a letter in response to inappropriate comments he made in front of the university’s Athletic Council.
The Columbus Dispatch reports Gee made offensive comments about religion and other schools that have since been made public.
According to the article, after Gee was presented with the letter, he agreed to a plan outlined in a three page letter from board member Alex Shumate.
The board required Gee to apologize to any groups he offended, hire a coach to work on his global presence, and make more selective speeches.
Last year, he infuriated a Polish-American group after comparing them to a Polish Army.
The Columbus Dispatch reports he commented that OSU's football team “doesn’t play the Little Sisters of the Poor” in regards to their football schedule.
Since his plan went into action, he has apologized to both the Polish American Group and the real Little Sisters of the poor.
Gee will have to carry out the board’s requests in order to pass the board’s annual review and save his job.
Gee currently makes $1.9 million a year.
Ohio State University's top trustees say insensitive comments by the university president have embarrassed and divided the university.
The trustees say in a letter to President Gordon Gee that his comments risk diminishing the collective efforts of the university and of Gee's own good work.
The March 11 letter was obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
It lays out several steps Gee must take following the revelation of remarks he made last year jabbing Notre Dame, Roman Catholics and the Southeastern Conference.
Those steps include issuing personal apologies and getting help from professionals to revisit Gee's personal communications and speechwriting processes.
Trustee chairman Robert Schottenstein and trustee Alex Shumate, who led the search committee that hired Gee in 2007, also say Gee must reprioritize what speaking engagements he accepts.