Do Your Part: Response to USNEWS article

[FuryJP]

This article was brought to my attention by someone at Athletics:

www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2009/08/19/road-trip-university-of-illinois-chicago.html

It's garbage if you ask me. It seems as though these writers always seem to ask the worse person's opinion about this matter. And faculty members need to stop putting down UIC. My response to Dean Tate was as follows:

[e-mail]


Dear Dean Tate,

I would just like to express my disappointment with your portrayal of
UIC's campus life in a recent article with US News.

"You don't come here for fraternities, sororities, or sports. If you do,
you are out of luck," says Charlotte "Toby" Tate, dean of the university's
College of Applied Health Sciences. "Go to a men's basketball game. If
they didn't give away tickets to the area schools, we'd have no one in the
stands."

As a student at UIC for five years including now Graduate school, it
bothers me when faculty members within our community buy into the
falsified notions that UIC has nothing to offer outside the classroom. I
am confident that your leadership on campus translates positively to your
students; however, please be aware that an article such as this one is
viewed nationwide and does carry a negative feel in regards to our campus.
There are numerous students, alumni, and faculty members working hard
each day to debunk the stigma that is associated with UIC's campus life,
and we only ask for your support in doing so as well.

Thank you for your attention.

Go Flames.

[FuryJP]

response coming soon

[Big D]

Surprise, surprise...another negative article about UIC. If I had a nickel for every time UIC was bashed, jabbed, or referred to by the wrong name in an article, I'd be rich. We have a Dean saying this place sucks in the social department, we have Granderson saying publically that his favorite basketball team is Kansas, we have the Chicago Fire calling us University of Chicago Illinois...it all just makes us look bad.

Considering the number of times UIC has been disrespected in the media, it's hard not to think that there may be some agenda against UIC and other urban, "third/fourth-tier" schools, but I have no idea why there would be such a thing. It could just be that people nowadays are flat out lazy and they aren't willing to put in the time to write an accurate story. Hence, this article.

With all that said, I don't think Dean Tate's quote is inaccurate. Should she be saying it to some hack reporter from USNEWS? No...definitely not. But she's not wrong. Here's the truth. UIC soccer is the only big time program we have. It's the only sport, year in and year out, where we can compete with the best. It is the only sport we have where I can't say "We have zero chance to compete for the championship". Other sports, we're either good at but can't compete with the best (e.g. baseball, women's tennis, gymnastics), or we are flat out are embarrassing. Men's basketball falls in the latter category and we all know it. If we want to stop hearing these comments, then UIC athletics needs to step up and identify the problem (Jimmy Collins) and fix it. They have nobody to blame but themselves for this mess.

Our basketball attendance is very, very sad. Even with free tickets, hardly any students show up. I'm not sure we'd break 500 people if it weren't for the kids coming by bus.

Btw, though I hate college rankings, I'm curious if anyone has access to the USNEWS site or magazine and can see if UIC has moved up or moved down, and if any of their scores have improved. We're still a third-tier school, and if USNEWS does their rankings the same way they do their articles, then it might be safe to assume that they only update the rankings for the top 100 schools and just copy all the rest from the previous year....because who cares about those crappy schools after all, right?

[Big D]

In case anyone didn't notice, John Trask, or someone pretending to be him, commented on the USNEWS site about that article. Here's his comment, which I thought was great.

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UIC and its Community

After reading this article I felt obligated to respond to what I assume are misconceptions about UIC. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much a campus life our student-athletes enjoy at UIC. The "UIC Experience" which Vice Chancellor Dr. Henley has worked so hard comes on the heals of many new and improved attributes to Campus life here at UIC. Whether discussing the new Stuekel Towers or the quality of apartment options for my guys in University Village or Taylor Street there has been a significant change in UIC perceptions with students and parents alike. Many alums are so proud of Halstead Street and South Campus they visit on a regular basis and wish UIC had done some of these improvements before they graduated.

I recently had the opportunity to address the new RA's regarding the soccer program and explained that we all have opportunities to enhance student experience. The folks here in the Athletic Department work very hard to provide students with options to get involved in many facets of campus life and that the RA's have a responsibility to aid in a student's experience and that Athletics and school pride go hand in hand. We, the educators, need to involve people and whether it's catching a Tuesday Night Volleyball game at the Flames Center or a Friday Night Basketball game this all goes into a schools mojo.

UIC is a diverse and excellent place of higher learning and it's dissappointing that other members of the UIC community have a hard time recognizing the changes that are happening in front of their eyes. UIC will always be a place for people to take courses and matriculate into the next phase of their life but I for one am happy it is also a place that students may come from the suburbs, out of state or from another country and wear a UIC T-Shirt with pride and speak about UIC and its Community.

John Trask

Head Men's Soccer Coach

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John Trask is a rock star. Not only does he have a great team, he's just a great ambassador for UIC. Any coach that goes out of his way to comment on some random article at USNEWS really cares about this university.

Coach Trask, if you're reading this site, good luck with the season!

[axaguy]

I agree with FuryJP and also sent a personally signed e-mail to Paula Allen-Meares and copied Dean Tate expressing my disappointment and displeasure with a high ranking administrator at UIC making those comments about "our" school. What she said is an internal frustration, not to be shared publicly or with anyone in the media. Where's any sort of marketing or "common sense" on her part. As a dean of a school at UIC, I expect a better judgement from her. What else may she be saying to others that is NOT printed but cast similar, negative impressions on others. Her comments can hurt recruitment, fundraising, alumni development and growth.

[Chuck A]

I made my comment on the article today 9/11.

[VivatUIC]

I wonder if USNew's consistent negativity towards UIC has at least something to do with the fact that the university signed the President's letter that criticizes their rankings.