The Emerald editorial board doesn’t ordinarily produce an editorial two days in a row. But Monday afternoon’s announcement by University Athletic Director Bill Moos and Vice President for Administration Dan Williams caught us off guard and deserves an immediate response.
Apparently, an “exit strategy” was developed, allowing University women’s basketball coach Jody Runge to offer her resignation, receive an undisclosed financial settlement and close the book on the whole controversy surrounding her job performance and the specter of NCAA violations.
We would love to write a long, thoughtful editorial examining the reasons why Runge left, the relative merits of the charges against her, and the wisdom (or lack thereof) of the final decision and the amount of the settlement.
Unfortunately, we can’t. Neither can any of the many interested people in the community who have been following the issue closely — thanks to the attention Runge brought to the program during her eight years at the University. At Monday’s press conference, it was made clear that the settlement’s dollar amount won’t be released. It’s a private matter, Williams said. The law firm’s report may or may not be released, the two administration officials said.
If it isn’t made public, no one will ever know if the University actually had legitimate reasons to push Runge as far as it did. It’s a private matter — that was Moos’ and Williams’ repeated response to questions about the settlement and the report.
Basically, this is crap. Moos himself made the whole issue public. Thanks to the law firm’s investigation, Runge was metaphorically dragged through the mud in front of the whole community, only without the actual details that would allow us all to come to an intelligent conclusion. But now it’s private. Sure.
So at the end, is Runge’s name cleared? We don’t know. What was really going on in the program? We don’t know. Did Runge violate rules? We don’t know. How much did the Athletic Department pay to keep her from suing? We don’t know. And, the way matters are set now, neither will you.
And that’s not OK.
This is a public university. It was a public issue, and Runge was a public employee. The law firm’s report and the terms of the settlement should be released. The community — University students, faculty and staff, as well as the surrounding Eugene area — deserves to know.
It’s only fair that the administration and the Athletic Department are placed under the microscope now, just to make certain that they were carrying out their job duties in an appropriate manner.