E. Gordon Gee: unemployed, but unbowed.

Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee says his attempt at humor at the expense of Notre Dame Catholics is not the reason for his retirement July 1st.  Gee’s announcement follows a storm of criticism after the revelation of a joke he told during a meeting of the Ohio State Athletics Council last December.

Gee, speaking about Notre Dame and the Big Ten Conference, said, “The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell the rest of the week.  You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that.”

When a tape of the meeting became public, Gee, who periodically lapses into loquaciousness, issued an apology, but the damage was done.   Perhaps the cumulative effect of a life-time of gaffes did him in.

But it’s also possible that Gee, who is one of the top university presidents in the country, was not going to subject himself at this stage in his career to, what the Board of Trustees called, “ongoing remediation.”

I remember Gee from his days in Morgantown, first as Dean of the WVU Law School and then later as President of the University from 1981 to 1985.   He was just 37 when he got the job, making him the youngest university president in the country at the time.

He was bright, quirky and funny.  He liked to share a laugh, and his specialty was self-effacing humor, which charmed audiences and disarmed critics.  He had great fun standing in front of a crowd and reading the most critical and hateful letters he had received.

Once, when WVU’s football team was at a bowl game in Houston, Gee rode the mechanical bull at a fan gathering at a local bar.  He loved an April Fools’ edition of the Daily Athenaeum done as a gossip tabloid.  The front page of the student paper featured a picture of Sonny and Cher with Gee’s face superimposed over Sonny’s.   As I recall, the headline read something like, “She loves me for my brain.”

Gee kept up the antics as he ascended higher education’s hierarchy–from Colorado to Ohio State to Brown to Vanderbilt and then back to Ohio State–often endearing himself to students and donors, while other times causing people to cringe.

Along the way he raised hundreds of millions of dollars for his schools, including $1.6 billon at Ohio State alone, and became one of the most recognized and honored university presidents in the country.  The ever-present bowtie and round, wonkish glasses were his trademarks.

The trouble with a high profile person who is genuinely funny is that they always see an opportunity for a joke.  A professional comedian who misfires moves quickly to the next joke; a college president, however, spends a lifetime apologizing.

At 69, and after more than 30 years as a college president, Gee’s act may have run its course.  Major universities—at least the ones Gee would be interested in—may not want to take the chance (though they would be tempted by his ability to raise money), and Gee could be weary himself of having to answer for his unconventional ways.

As he wrapped up his conference call with the press this week where he announced his retirement, naturally Gee had the last word: “I only have a month to ruin the university… and I better get on it,” Gee deadpanned.

Nice to see Gee still has his sense of humor.

 

 

 

 

 

 





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