Great Letter to the Editor in the Bloomington Herald Times

Letters to the Editor - Bloomington Herald Times

January 9, 2007

Three strikes and a coach

To the editor:

A few random thoughts for 2007:

Outsourcing in the name of efficiency may have its merits. However, IU should require that all bids from outside vendors guarantee employee benefits equal to or better than those held by current IU staff. Otherwise, it leaves the impression that IU is just trying to eliminate staff benefits in order to accommodate the financial excesses of the central administration and the athletic department.

In selecting IU presidents, the trustees should be subjected to baseball rules - three strikes and you're out. Strike three is retiring. So why are the trustees still batting? Or was Myles Brand counted as a foul ball?

Finally, while there's not much positive one can say about Brand's tenure as IU president, he has at least spared the rest of the world from one indignity. Can you imagine how insufferable IU basketball fans would be if they could boast of having the coach with the most wins in the history of men's college basketball - who at the same time ran a clean program, graduated his players and raised millions of dollars for the university, all at a minimal salary from the athletic department?


-Vic Viola, Bloomington

Vic Viola

Vic Viola is distinguished professor of chemistry and adjunct professor of physics at Indiana University, Bloomington. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.