Assistant Professor Tanner, I don’t know you. You certainly do not know me.
I read your article on Dan Hurley’s statement of George Floyd’s death and your thoughts on the matter.
The irony is, for someone who apparently had a reasonably good and privileged educational experience (Wesleyan/Yale) you so badly missed the mark in your public, rather wordy, but ultimately hollow and empty article as an Assistant Professor at one of the premier colleges in the nation.
What personally have you done to impact “equality” and “injustice” and promote “change”?
What have you done to prevent oppressing non-white non-males?
What do you do to hold someone accountable for what happens to black Americans in this country, every single day?
What concrete actionable items have you done to promote change to tangibly effect the real world? How do you use your position of influence to “create change”?
How have you used your average personal wealth to help? (Your overall compensation is about the same as the annual household income of the average black family in the U.S.)
Do you help endow scholarships at the university for under-represented minorities who are NOT athletes?
Do you recruit black students to the university or petition hard for black students to get jobs? How do you ensure that your (some black) students are making the most they can of their education while being committed to the nearly full-time unpaid job of representing the university in the classroom? Do you follow up on them after graduation to see that they are in position to succeed?
Assistant Professor, please don’t just tell other that change needs to happen. Please tell us what you actually do to MAKE it happen. I beg you. Please don’t be That Guy because That Guy is a hypocrite.
Mike Johnson
UCONN Alum and fan
P.S. What basic research did you do prior to writing this article (aside from googling Hurley’s salary and his college shooting percentage)? Did you personally contact or attempt to contact Coach Hurley prior to writing or is your opinion based solely off his statement?
