2018 Wally Awards

DoubleDipper wrote:Guys, we're better than this, aren't we?

Stonehouse wrote:I wish it would have been a bit more heartfelt than "I'm sorry if you got offended by what I said." Would have been good if he had recognized that what he did was way out of line, and shown some real contrition.

Geezaldinho wrote:Has there ever been even one female Vice President  at UP?

Sound Voltex wrote:Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/8crqp1/portland_pilots_tennis_player_removed_from_roster/

https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/8ctxeq/portland_pilots_tennis_player_removed_from_roster/

Stonehouse wrote:

Geezaldinho wrote:Has there ever been even one female Vice President  at UP?

Only one in the school's history - the great Laurie Kelley, who was appointed VP for University Relations in 2014 (replacing Jim Lyons). Alas, she left UP in 2015 to become president of Providence Foundations of Oregon. She was replaced by Fr. Gerry Olinger, and no women are currently VP's.

Geezaldinho wrote:Nothing against Olinger, but there are already too many insulated male voices in the top floor offices.

Geezaldinho wrote:Has there been any public statement from Poorman or our VP for Athletics?

Dear Members of the UP Community,

Last night I attended the “Wally’s,” an awards banquet organized and run by student members of an advisory committee to athletics.

Unfortunately, the celebration was marred by shocking and offensive comments made by a student who was emceeing the event. Along with many others, I am appalled by the student’s actions. These offensive statements do not reflect us, and they do not reflect our mission. As president of the University, I remained at the event to honor those who gathered to celebrate student athletes, teams, and Athletics staff for their many accomplishments in the past year. This important tradition was the purpose of the evening, and I did not want what happened on stage to take away from the recognition of others in attendance.

I apologize to all of you that this occurred. Clearly we have continuing work to do to educate and raise consciousness. I spoke with Athletics this morning. They have already taken steps to hold this student accountable, including removing him from the roster. I expect additional steps will be taken to address the conduct and any impact.

There is no place at the University of Portland for what was said. It wasn’t funny, and it is completely inconsistent with the important dialogues that continue on our campus. Verbal or physical, it is still abuse.

Sincerely,

Fr. Mark

Dear Members of the UP Community,

I would like again to address the disturbing events of last Sunday night at the “Wally’s.” I have heard from many of you, and I thank you for your engagement and investment in our community. As president, I was in a unique position to stop the proceedings, and I should have done more. I am deeply sorry for what happened and for what should have happened, but did not.

In a community where we work so hard to ensure all members feel safe and respected, sometimes it is through experiencing events like this firsthand that we can truly learn. Sometimes we teach our students, and sometimes our students teach us.

As members of our community have so eloquently stated, it is our collective duty to stand up and make our voices heard. We cannot afford to remain bystanders. If we see or hear something that violates our standards of conduct, we must speak up, speak out, and ask questions. We all must take responsibility for each other.

Many people have asked me what will happen now. I have full confidence in the integrity of the University’s policies and procedures to address these situations. The comments that night were offensive – to women, men of color, women of color, to all members of our community who believe in dignity and respect for all individuals. The student conduct process, including Title IX procedures and our policies addressing unlawful discrimination and harassment, will be used to review and determine violations of these policy areas, as well as to determine disciplinary sanctions as appropriate.

There are great expectations of us as members of this community, and we hold ourselves to a high standard. When we fail, it is a deep disappointment. But it is our responsibility to learn how to move forward. We can do better, and we will.

To this end, I have asked members of the President’s Leadership Cabinet to plan forums where community members can discuss the underlying issues behind this troubling incident and what we are doing at UP to promote a campus that is free from violence and harassment and is imbued with respect for one another. We have already taken action in these areas, from the Title IX Ad Hoc Committee to the GreenDot program to a new implicit bias training implemented by Human Resources. But this will be an important continuation of that work. You will be hearing more about these forums, which will be held next week. I hope you will plan to attend or take advantage of other opportunities for input that we will provide.

I look to our students and other members of this community to help us show the world who we really are at the University of Portland. As I have said previously, the opening of Sunday’s event was contrary to our values and to our mission. We will learn together from this incident, and we will become a better place for it.

Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C.
President, University of Portland

Geezaldinho wrote:I have to say, this was not the finest hour for the administrators in the room, specially our VP for athletics who’s Event this was,  and most especially our president.

Maya Murphy-Brown wrote:....I personally don't believe that Olivia Sanchez's opinion piece was a broad enough perspective to represent the evening, and especially not enough to enrage an entire campus, many of which, never even heard the speech they are so enraged about.
The entire day after the Wally's I heard people calling for protests, expulsion, etc. These are powerful ideas with real life consequences, based almost entirely off of one article that was written by someone who did not even see the entirety of the speech. USA today wrote a piece on Goutham's speech in which Olivia's opinion article was their only reference. The New York Post has done the same....

Just so it's clear, UP's VP for Athletics, Scott Leykam was not in attendance, he was represented by Senior Associate Athletic Director / Senior Women's Advisor, Karen Peters.

lomiton wrote:Does anyone know why Scott Leykam was not in attendance? Is it was because the Wally's are not a big deal in the scheme of things or was there some other reason?

To the University of Portland community:

I am profoundly sorry for my opening monologue at the Wally’s. The words I spoke and the language I used cannot be defended in anyway. The following apology along with my steadfast commitment to better myself are the words and promises the UP community deserves from me.

I said things that hurt many people in this community and I want to deeply apologize for that. When I wrote the script for the Wally’s, I hoped to use self-deprecation and irony as a tool for sharing a few stories about my immigrant and diaspora experience. I realize now that it does not matter what was written in jest or what was said in sarcasm; the crux of the content was grossly inappropriate, and I am unquestionably in the wrong for that. There is absolutely no room for that rhetoric on our campus or within our community.

It truly breaks my heart to have caused pain to my peers because I did not pay attention to my own blind spots. I am committed to bettering myself and addressing those blindspots through discussions with my professors, peers, and community leaders. This language has no place on our campus, in our community, or in our world. The words I spoke should have no place in history, they should have no place in today, and more importantly I commit to ensuring they have no part in our future. I hope to become a better classmate, friend, son, brother, and person through this process.

I would, again, like to offer my sincerest apologies and express my deep remorse for my words at the Wally’s.

- Goutham

On Thursday 5/3 Rev Mark Poorman CSC wrote:Dear Members of the University Community,

These past few weeks have been difficult for all of us who love this University. This has been, for me, an especially challenging time, as I have been called upon to take a long look in the mirror and acknowledge that we have work to do. I have work to do.

Over the past two weeks I attended the two student forums, the staff forum, and the faculty forum on Tuesday afternoon. Thank you for your forthright feedback and your thoughtful discussions of respect, integrity, diversity, and mutual responsibility.  I hear you.

There will be change, significant change, and it will start immediately.

I am calling upon the interim Title IX coordinators, Sandy Chung and Jeromy Koffler, to begin work immediately on expansion of our Title IX and Green Dot training and education programs.  These will not be limited to New Student Orientation.  This fall, I want these trainings available and easily accessible to all faculty and staff, as well as students.  I make the commitment to you that I will be the first to step up and take the training myself, and I will call upon those in University leadership to do the same.

We will follow up with Pilot Athletics and continue to evaluate the unique culture of sports on our campus and make sure our student-athletes fully participate in all aspects of this University community.  We have dedicated coaches and staff who will be called upon to explore ways that they can use their influential positions to help shape the values and behavior of our student-athletes.  We must lead by example and convey the values and respect that will promote a culture free from bias, harassment, sexual assault or other forms of violence.

I believe that diverse voices in leadership of our University are essential.  This summer I will be working with the President’s Leadership Cabinet to examine and improve our efforts to incorporate diversity at every level across the campus, including University senior leadership. This is a central part of the University’s Strategic Plan, but we will recommit ourselves to establishing hiring practices that will enable us to recruit and retain individuals who represent diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.

Finally, I promise you that this conversation will not end here.  It is our collective responsibility as a community to learn from this experience, to take our love for this University and turn it into action.  I know that you expect much from me, and I am committed to meeting that challenge. Together, we have the opportunity to enact change and make our community a better place.  Our work is just beginning.

My prayers and best wishes to all of our graduating Class of 2018 and to their families.  For those returning members of our community, I wish you a restful and productive summer.