Editorial: Coach’s tactics debatable

‘ ‘ ‘ In late March, at a national-level debate between teams from Pitt and Fort Hays State… ‘ ‘ ‘ In late March, at a national-level debate between teams from Pitt and Fort Hays State University of Kansas, what was originally a standard policy move became a heated argument between coaches and later an Internet phenomenon. ‘ ‘ ‘ Debate coaches Shanara Reid-Brinkley of Pitt and William Shanahan of Fort Hays engaged in an 8 minute shouting match chock full of profanity and one memorable example of mooning from Shanahan in the middle of the debate floor. ‘ ‘ ‘ In addition, the whole event was captured on video and later uploaded to the popular Web site YouTube, where different versions of the videos have garnered more than 100,000 views and several remixes, including one set to Kris Kross’ ‘Jump.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ After the incident, Shanahan was relieved of his position as a professor at Fort Hays, but so far it seems as though Reid-Brinkley has escaped most criticism. According to the University, an inquiry is being conducted, but no direct action has been taken as of yet. Reid-Brinkley herself has declined to comment on the events of the conference, and at this point she’s still teaching a class as well. ‘ ‘ ‘ In part, it’s easy to see why there hasn’t been any action taken ‘mdash; the videos on YouTube seem to cut out some important parts of the argument, and in any case the dialogue is hard to understand. Additionally, press coverage of the incident has been pretty slim in terms of actually delving into the events of the day, leaving people free to speculate about the events and what set them off. ‘ ‘ ‘ After all, this debate occurred in March. The University had a significant part of last semester and all summer to conduct an inquiry. Why are they doing so now? Shanahan was released from Fort Hays last Friday, so at least there was some action taken. ‘ ‘ ‘ The University is dragging its heels to say the least, and considering the rapidly spreading coverage of the event, it should probably address the problem soon. Just recently the video was covered on Fox News, and it’s also made appearances on several local news programs from around the country. None of this coverage is exactly positive, either for Fort Hays or for Pitt. ‘ ‘ ‘ Furthermore, the administration owes the public an explanation of its reasoning. Regardless of her skills as a professor or a debate coach, Reid-Brinkley’s actions reflect extremely poorly on the University to a growing audience comprised of nearly a hundred thousand people. The video makes it seem as though the University is represented by unruliness, something that doesn’t make anyone look good. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s not clear if Reid-Brinkley should be fired or not, and presumably the inquiry will help establish the facts behind a murky situation. But regardless of what the result of the inquiry is, the University should share its reasons as to why its decision is what it is. ‘ ‘ ‘ To put it simply, this event needs to be dealt with before it affects the image of the University any more than it already has. It isn’t fair or proper for Pitt to allow itself to be represented by coverage like this, especially when the administrators have the power to deal with it and have for nearly five months.