Ernest Jones resigns

[BlueMAB]

If the President isn't protecting the university from lawsuits, then she isn't doing her job.

She didn't need to speak publicly to do that. She could have handled it behind closed doors with a paper trail. Included in that would be a file with Mr. Jones', HCBD's and WM's signatures (as his direct supervisors I assume) that confirmed whatever corrective actions and discussions took place. The AD office could have released a short statement saying the situation has been handled internally along with a short statement from Jones clarifying his comment.

This paper trail would be available upon discovery and any lawsuit would likely be dismissed, or successfully defended. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think it takes one to figure that out.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Reasonable minds can differ as to whether Herbst's handling of the situation needed to be public, as opposed to private.

It would appear, counselor, based on your own testimony that the Jones matter is not an Establishment Clause issue, that the University president had no need to address the matter as such in the press.

Have a good day BL. Nice to hear from you again. You should write around here more.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Have a good day BL. Nice to hear from you again. You should write around here more.

Get a room.

 

[cohenzone]

Those "few thousand" - which I think is probably high estimate, pulling out of my rear..... tickets could be gifted to someone (or sold) to someone who would be in the seats and buying products from vendors. They were already purchased - those season tickets, so it's no financial loss for the university, if those of the jewish faith did not attend - especially when you consider the vending arrangements and the Rentschler Field relationship with the university. No - I think it was a pretty selfish thing, in retrospect, by a minority of people, to request that the game be moved.

On another note, I can't imagine that it's easy to be of such different beliefs with your wife, and I hope that it is not difficult for you. As for myself, I can say that I get shunned terribly when I choose a UCONN football game over one of the younger people in my family's sporting events that tend to be scheduled for Saturdays, and I have given my tickets up to others in the past, in favor of those events.

Our beliefs are pretty similar. She's just more superstitious than I am and wants to be sure I'll be allowed to live long enough to continue cutting the lawn and washing the dishes a while longer.

 

[Waquoit]

BTW: I do agree that if for some reason, a game were moved due to a conflict with a Christian holiday, there would have been significant backlash in Connecticut from the people that like to give such kind of backlash.

Again, you're wrong. It's not about "people that like to give such kind of backlash." Comments like that betray a closed mind. I think it's a good thing that Connecticut addresses these issues. Do we really want to be like Kansas where laws promoting discrimination under the guise of religious freedom are not only proposed, but pass in the state legislature by landslide margins?

 

[metsfan2323]

Have a good day BL. Nice to hear from you again. You should write around here more.

I agree, nice to see BL active again. Hopefully his "View" has been reestablished.

 

[uconndogs]

Biz is a good man. Cares about his Huskies.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Our beliefs are pretty similar. She's just more superstitious than I am and wants to be sure I'll be allowed to live long enough to continue cutting the lawn and washing the dishes a while longer.

You're married long enough, and I don't really care what religion beliefs you hold, I think most wives just think their husbands aren't good to keep around for much else than household chores and to be made fun of for a laugh among their friends. My wife and her friends have openly discussed what life would be like without us, while we're still sitting in the room

 

[Carl Spackler]

Again, you're wrong. It's not about "people that like to give such kind of backlash." Comments like that betray a closed mind. I think it's a good thing that Connecticut addresses these issues. Do we really want to be like Kansas where laws promoting discrimination under the guise of religious freedom are not only proposed, but pass in the state legislature by landslide margins?

Wrong about what? I was agreeing with Jimmy's opinion that if a football game had been scheduled to accommodate the belief systems of a Christian holiday, should there theoretically be a holiday there would have been socially mediated backlash. It's all theoretical anyway. Let's call it October Friday. If like Good Friday, you're not supposed to eat meat, and in addition you're supposed to be in bed by sunset, and a game that was supposed to be played at 8pm on national TV was moved to espn3.com on Saturday at noon - there would be no backlash?

I do think that there is a specific segment of the population, that is regularly active in mediating these kinds of social commentaries and the potential for a negative social response to a moving a game. There is nothing closed minded about it, and I'd rather have a small business friendly environment in CT if you're asking for what I'd rather have in CT than what we do have.....don't really care too much about the socioeconomic/political environment of Kansas.

 

[Marty Jackson]

The man is a devout christian and the University and State asked him to keep that information to himself while he was at work.

Only in Connecticut. This man would have helped us tremendously in recruiting young christian men from the South. But we don't want to offend some soccer mom in Hartford. Unbelievable.

Wonder who they will hire to replace him.

That's how you interpret this. "he was asked to keep this to himself?"
I think the concept of proselytizing non-christian players was a little over the top, don't you?
And I don't think it's simply soccer mom's either. It's called the Constitution.

He is free to leave and search out an employer that can support his belief system. What's troubling is that had this not blown up, some player may have not had the same opportunity to freely move on and possibly been persecuted for not believing in JC.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Is it? He was basically told that you can't discuss Jesus or being Christian in the media or in the locker room. You can see him dancing around the topic everytime he's interviewed...trying to qualify his statements and keep from making the same mistake. Jesus is always on the tip of the tongue for men like Ernest.

I know men like Ernest, Christian devotion is different in the South and Midwest. Asking a man like him to keep his faith bottled up is the ultimate slap in the face and everytime he hides his true thoughts he feels that he is disrespecting God. Want to know what his personal and family issues were? His convictions to his God. Christians in the South do not keep their religion to themselves. For men like Ernest God is a part of EVERYTHING. For him, everything he has is thanks to his God so for someone to tell him that he can't openly speak about God at work is inconceivable to him.

Culturally CT was not a fit for him. This never would have happened in the South. He needs to be in South or Midwest or at a religious private institution.

Not at all.... The state doesn't care about people being public about their faith. KO does it all the time.
What was troubling about his comment was that he suggested it didn't matter what your faith, everyone would understand and accept JC in the huddle.

HUGE DIFFERENCE.

not sure how you can miss that or gloss over a major disrespect for those that aren't of the Christian faith...

 

[Confident Carl]

No, there was not. The Jesus in the huddle thing, is something that should have been addressed by superiors behind closed doors, and the public statement made by the man himself, with same reporter that started the thing.

I can venture to guess but it's curious why Diaco was not more vocal in publicly backing his man, Jones. This issue is way too sensitive and fragile to get into the weeds on. I believe the coaching staff will be happy when this is all behind them. Just think there could have been a bit more damage control. Having said all that, no one knows the real reason Jones resigned.

Let's hope that they get the best person possible to fill Jones dual roles. Running backs and player development.

 

[Marty Jackson]

How does the representatives of the state university requesting that broadcasting networks reschedule a football game to 7pm on Yom Kippur, therefore clearly acting in a way that favors a particular religion fit into all of this?

As far as I can tell, based on the spouting of opinions here, the only difference is that nobody wrote a letter to the editor, and that's hypocritical. In know there are a lot of Jewish folks in CT, but they all seem to be quiet on this issue. THis coach, clearly crossed a line, and it was addressed. It was a matter of words, and potential behavior - potential - that was halted. The university officials, actually did schedule a football game at an odd time, that did not work well for me, because of Yom Kippur last year though.

Yom Kippur, I believe falls on the first weekend of October this year - and if we get a home game, which would probably be homecoming - it better not be scheduled at 7pm as far as I'm concerned, because that, to me, is the state institution operating in a way that favors a particular religion.

It's funny. From your past posts, I put you in your 50's. Based on this post, are you 15?

 

[Carl Spackler]

It's funny. From your past posts, I put you in your 50's. Based on this post, are you 15?

LOL.

Artists never grow up.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

It's funny. From your past posts, I put you in your 50's. Based on this post, are you 15?

If Carl is a Christian and the school reschedules a game to a time that prohibits him from attending to accomodate Yom Kippur, why is it ok for the state university to make accomodations for one religion while possibly alienating others?

 

[TRest]

If Carl is a Christian and the school reschedules a game to a time that prohibits him from attending to accomodate Yom Kippur, why is it ok for the state university to make accomodations for one religion while possibly alienating others?

That would only make sense if the new time clashed with some type of mandatory religious observation for Carl. Otherwise, hard cheese for him.

 

[doggydaddy]

If Carl is a Christian and the school reschedules a game to a time that prohibits him from attending to accomodate Yom Kippur, why is it ok for the state university to make accomodations for one religion while possibly alienating others?

Really? It may be alienating one person, who is Christian, but it's not alienating Christians.

The Jewish student population at Uconn according to Hillel is 10%. My guess is it's at least that for alumni, and maybe more for the season ticket.

 

[uconnbill]

I'll have a serious debate with you if you raise a serious question. If you want to have a serious question, ask why it's legal for schools to be closed on Christmas.

Because it is a national recognized holiday

 

[Carl Spackler]

That would only make sense if the new time clashed with some type of mandatory religious observation for Carl. Otherwise, hard cheese for him.

I disagree. The hypothetical, you know what? Not hypothetical....the real situation here, is that the state institution made a decision regarding scheduling of a football game that was made to accommodate a religion. The game was against Maryland. Randy Edsall's return to UCONN. It ended up on espn3.com. I don't know if it's fact or not, but there is a good chance, that had the game been at noon, or 3:30pm, it would have been broadcast on a real ESPN channel.....and therefore, in that case, LESS viewers were able to watch the game.

What my personal reasons were for conflict have no bearing on the question really.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Really? It may be alienating one person, who is Christian, but it's not alienating Christians.

The Jewish student population at Uconn according to Hillel is 10%. My guess is it's at least that for alumni, and maybe more for the season ticket.

See my response to TRest.

 

[Waquoit]

If Carl is a Christian and the school reschedules a game to a time that prohibits him from attending to accomodate Yom Kippur, why is it ok for the state university to make accomodations for one religion while possibly alienating others?

Or he could just play anyway. I lived in one of those small dorms in South. The food was horrible while the next dorm over had it pretty good. The dorms had a reciprocal policy where they would provide a meal for those with a dietary restrictions next door on a given night. My Jewish buddy loved ham night because he would get something good while the rest of us had to deal with a couple of quarter-sized pink discs connected by a mass of fat. But that one morning a month where we had bacon at breakfast he was first in line.

 

[doggydaddy]

See my response to TRest.

My response was not to your post.

 

[Carl Spackler]

My response was not to your post.

I know that, but you should read the response to TRest anyway.

 

[doggydaddy]

I know that, but you should read the response to TRest anyway.

I did.

You've never been a minority, huh.

 

[TRest]

I disagree. The hypothetical, you know what? Not hypothetical....the real situation here, is that the state institution made a decision regarding scheduling of a football game that was made to accommodate a religion. The game was against Maryland. Randy Edsall's return to UCONN. It ended up on espn3.com. I don't know if it's fact or not, but there is a good chance, that had the game been at noon, or 3:30pm, it would have been broadcast on a real ESPN channel.....and therefore, in that case, LESS viewers were able to watch the game.

What my personal reasons were for conflict have no bearing on the question really.

I know that, but you should read the response to TRest anyway.

Your response was addressing a different hypothetical than Serrano posed. You're upset that the Jews got the time of the game changed because it affected your perception of how the football program is perceived by the rest of the country. Or something.