http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/...ler-backs-comments-norwood-teague-resignation
University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler retreated Friday from comments he made right after athletic director Norwood Teague's surprise resignation over sexual harassment allegations late last week, when he suggested it all happened because Teague had been served too much alcohol.
"I regret that very poor choice of words because I cannot state strongly enough that Teague is entirely responsible for his behavior, and alcohol use is no excuse," Kaler said in a prepared statement.
http://www.startribune.com/discrimi...innesota-and-virginia-commonwealth/321342421/
Lots in this one
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...gender-discrimination-settlements-dating-2012
He (Kaler) also said Friday that the reports were the first indication that Teague had mistreated women. (Riiiiiiight)
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci...osters-blame-umn-president-athletics-director
During University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler's news conference last week announcing the resignation of athletics director Norwood Teague amid sexual harassment complaints, several Gophers boosters were unhappy that he did not accept responsibility for hiring him three years ago.
http://www.startribune.com/u-needs-to-bring-teague-and-maybe-others-to-account/321339181/
Some good points about how Kaler has screwed up
Thanks Underground. I appreciate the links, but none suggest that Kaler was aware of sexual harassment problems prior to the incidents that triggered Teague’s recent resignation. And even Interim AD, Beth Goetz, has denied any prior knowledge of similar Teague boorish behavior. Kaler’s initial reaction that Teague’s conduct was an alcohol induced lapse of judgement, I suspect was an honestly held view that was exploded when Amelia Rayno came forward and revealed her own experience with Teague. Kaler apologized for his initial reaction, he accepted Teague’s resignation (which he probably asked for), and he launched an investigation of possible remaining problems. So I still believe that with respect to that issue, Kaler has acted quickly and responsibility, unless other evidence comes to light as a result of the pending dual tract AD investigation or otherwise.
What I think you are raising, though, is the broader question of Title IX compliance, and/or gender employment discrimination. Sadly, Teague’s apparent attitude towards woman may have affected his judgement in these regards as well, but these are different issues and should, in my opinion, be judged separately. I bring to these issues the perspective of one who has been an avid Gopher fan for over 65 years. I still recall the days when Minnesota had one of the best football programs in the country and I morn the conscious decision made in the 60s to de-emphasize the program. I think our revenue sports have been under-funded since that time. It is for that reason that I celebrated the hiring of first Kaler and then Teague because I believed they were committed to rebuilding our revenue sports. At the same time, I truly value our women’s sports programs, especially basketball, hockey, volleyball and soccer. I’ve downloaded the 2015-2016 schedules for these sports and will watch as many of the contests as I can. I don’t want the resurrection of football and the improvement of men’s basketball to occur at the expense of those programs, but I strongly believe that returning football and upgrading men’s basketball to national prominence, as the chief revenue generators, will benefit all of our sports programs, revenue and non-revenue.
I frankly have had some doubts re the credibility of the Title IX complaint filed against the University late last year. Claimed drops in woman participation rates, for example, seem implausible in the absence of a dropped program or two, and there is the fact that overall, our woman’s programs have been quite successful. What I suspected was that the new emphasis on revenue sports with Teague’s hiring disrupted a culture under Maturi that had favored the non-revenue sports. I also came to suspect that the complaint was intended as a chip in an internal department fight as to where to locate the new track and field facilities. While I still believe that this might be true, what, if any, effect Teague’s apparent attitude towards woman has had on Title IX compliance and gender employment issues are matters that need to be addressed, and I think will be addressed in the pending investigations.
With respect to Kaler’s role in all of this, I agree that the hiring of Teague was an unfortunate mistake, that ultimately he is responsible for that mistake, and that it’s up to him to deal with it. Having said that, I still believe, based on what we know thus far, that the process he used to make the Teague hire seemed reasonable at the time to identify a well-qualified candidate and to vet that candidate’s back ground. In my view, the breakdown of that process was the failure of the search firm to uncover Teague’s role in the VCU gender employment discrimination claim, which Teague concealed, and his basic attitude towards woman. Obviously, Kaler needs do what he can to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. It probably means at a minimum not using the same search firm, if he decides to use a search firm at all.
I personally have not lost confidence in Kaler. I think the dual track investigation is the right thing to do. I will reserve further judgement until we know more about the hiring process and the investigation. If there are problems, let’s fix them, but in the end I hope that the Athletic Department emerges as a strong and healthy organization. In the meantime, I think this is a time for all of us Gopher fans to rally around Kaler and support his efforts. That most particularly includes getting the new sports facilities built.
