| | Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The president of Indiana University
hopes the firing of Bob Knight will set an example that academics
must take priority over athletics.
The celebrity status of the basketball coach has drawn so much
attention the past few years that it eclipsed serious academic work
at the school, university president Myles Brand said.
"Some of our faculty members are world famous, but they don't
get that kind of attention," he told The Herald-Times of
Bloomington. "They are doing much more important things than
winning basketball games."
Brand, in a separate interview with The Indianapolis Star, said
Knight's persona and the basketball team's high profile generated a
false impression that the school was obsessed with sports.
He considers his decision to dismiss Knight a "teachable
moment."
"Because we were forced into making this decision, it does give
us an opportunity to say that athletics is important but certainly
not the central role of the university. It helps change that
perception," Brand told the Star.
Brand, in his sixth year as president, indefinitely delayed his
annual State of the University speech last week because he thought
the message would be lost in the din over Knight's dismissal after
29 years with the Hoosiers.
More than a week after the dismissal, Brand said the threatening
e-mails and letters against him have subsided, and he feels safer
walking on campus.
Of some 4,000 messages, less than a few dozen of them, he said,
have been reported to university police. He and his wife, Peg
Brand, a philosophy and gender studies professor, are back in the
campus presidential house they had deserted after some 2,000
students protested and burned Brand in effigy.
A university police officer will remain there and continue to
accompany Brand's wife to class as long as the police feel it's
necessary.
"I've never been burned in effigy. That's a first," the
president said with only a slight chuckle. "I hope and expect, as
time passes, that (threats) will pass as well. We've got to return
to a civil approach to our differences."
Brand decided in May to put Knight under a "zero-tolerance
policy" because of the coach's confrontations with a former
player, the athletic director and others. On Sept. 10, Brand fired
Knight after what he called "defiant and hostile" behavior
against university officials and an arm-grabbing run-in with a
freshman student.
Knight disputes the university's version of events and has
directed some harsh words against the administration.
Brand noted that much of what Knight stood for -- a clean NCAA
program, good graduation rates -- is valuable, but "his temper and
anger sometimes got the best of him."
"Beyond that, I'm not going to say anything negative about
Bob," Brand said. "He doesn't deserve it." | |
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