Hoffman has excuses, not answers (outgoing CU President blames Little Green Footballs blog)

Evidently, Elizabeth Hoffman, former president of the University of Colorado, is unfamiliar with a well-known adage on leadership that goes something like this:

Last week, in a speech that was originally supposed to be titled "Why I Left the University of Colorado," Hoffman, attempted to shed any responsibility for her tenure at CU, rolling out a litany of inane excuses.

Let's start with the most comical: Hoffman blamed her controversial "C-word" deposition - my personal favorite CU fiasco - on Saturday morning fatigue.

And understandably, early-morning depositions are a B-word, especially when a bunch of D-words haul your A-word in for the sole purpose of goading you to "say something dumb."

Yet, only an out-of-touch academic could possible justify the use of the C-word by claiming that Geoffrey Chaucer, author of "The Canterbury Tales," utilized the word as a term of endearment hundreds of years ago.

Now, Hoffman says it was a "really very dumb thing to say" and that the episode will "haunt" her forever.

I have no idea what it means, though it sounds smutty. Hoffman, however, probably does ... making her C-word excuse merely silly, not "dumb,"and certainly nothing serious enough to obsess over for a lifetime.

Now the question is: Should Hoffman, who not very long ago could have justified the practice of greeting your mom with the C-word, complain about the excesses of free speech?

"The real problem was I had a lot of really tough decisions to make in this perfect storm," Hoffman went on to explain in her speech to the Denver Forum.

No, the real problem is that the former head of a major university finds the concentrated flow of information annoying.

This "perfect storm" - meaning unruly talk radio hosts, pajama-clad bloggers and scalawag commentators - was simply throwing facts at Hoffman.

And I thought it was all about freedom of expression? Or is that reserved for creative CU professors?

stream of acerbic political posts. Lgf broke the Dan Rather forgery story and reported on Ward Churchill's charming essay about the culpability of innocent Americans for all the troubles in the world.

"Hoffman is right," explained Charles Johnson in an e-mail from lgf. "It's much harder to get away with dirty little secrets like Ward Churchill - who apparently gamed the CU system for years - in the era of the blogosphere, when facts (not rumors) can be instantly reported. If I had simply published rumors, the story would never have caught on like it did."

As president, Hoffman found time to complain about imaginary McCarthyism - the "state" in state university, you see, only means "state" money - when she should have been thanking the perfect storm for bringing CU's absurd professor to Colorado's attention.

"Ten minutes - that's how fast things happen today," Hoffman explained. "There was a period there when I was measuring my e-mail in boxes and pounds."

Hoffman should realize that her future students at CU's Graduate School of Public Affairs - the ones text messaging, dissecting public issues on blogs, checking news feeds every few seconds - will need to embrace the "10 minute" cycle if they have any chance of succeeding.

They'll need Hoffman to step up and accept what this culture demands, instead of acting like a - and I beg all Chaucer- loving English professors forgiveness for the boorish analogy - a villain at the end of a Scooby Doo episode, who once unmasked says:

David Harsanyi's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at dharsanyi@denverpost.com.

Additional story from Denver Post Friday August 5th, 2005:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_2915000

Hoffman denounces blogs
The ex-CU president, noting the pressures of instant criticism via the Web, says she made errors in her handling of the football sex scandal and the Ward Churchill flap.

By Jennifer Brown Denver Post Staff Writer

Former CU president Betsy Hoffman speaks to the Denver Forum on Thursday, her first public appearance since stepping down Sunday. (Post / Lyn Alweis)

Former University of Colorado president Betsy Hoffman said Thursday it became increasingly difficult to make ethical, principled decisions while a "perfect storm" of media fired upon her.

Hoffman said the spread of rumors on Internet blogs creates an instantaneous "trial and conviction" before both sides are heard. She announced her resignation in March amid scandals involving the school's football recruiting program and professor Ward Churchill's essay comparing some victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to a Nazi official.

"Decisions are made in an instant, when real thoughtful change takes time," said Hoffman, speaking to the Denver Forum in her first public appearance since she stepped down Sunday.

"One of the criticisms of me was, 'Well, she can't make a tough decision,"' Hoffman said. "No, that's not a problem. The real problem was I had a lot of really tough decisions that had to be made in this perfect storm."

Hoffman said that if she could do it over again, she would listen less to lawyers and more to public-relations staff.

She also addressed a widely reported gaffe that appeared in a deposition taken while three women were suing the university over their alleged sexual assaults. In it, Hoffman played down a CU football player's calling a female player what is sometimes described as "the C-word," saying that in the 14th-century period of poet Geoffrey Chaucer, the derisive word was a term of endearment.

"I said it, and it was a really very dumb thing to say," Hoffman told about 60 people after a luncheon at the Oxford Hotel. "There's no question about it. I allowed myself to get rattled, and I allowed myself to get angry. I'm an academic, and I used an academic example, and it will haunt me for the rest of my life."

Hoffman said she would "never again agree to do a second day of a deposition on a Saturday morning when I'm exhausted, where the sole purpose was to get me to say something dumb."

She also said she wished she would have assigned one of her staffers to read political blogs every day, as she does now.

One of the first mentions of Churchill's essay appeared on a blog called "little green footballs" after the professor was invited to speak at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. Within 10 minutes, people were calling Gov. Bill Owens and asking him to tell Hoffman to fire Churchill, she said.

"Ten minutes - that's how fast things happen today," she said. "There was a period there when I was measuring my e-mail in boxes and pounds. You cannot manage and lead by the number of e-mails you get. You really have to think about what is best for the institution."

Hoffman said she hopes leaders will be able to stick to their principles in the current media environment, which will rush even faster as people rely more on the Internet.

Hoffman left CU because sticking to what she believed was becoming nearly impossible, she said.

"I felt that I was called upon to sacrifice my principles," she said. "When the story is constantly about the individual and not about the institution, it's time for the individual to step aside."

Hoffman, who has accepted a teaching position at CU-Denver's Graduate School of Public Affairs, said she hasn't ruled out another university presidency.

The Denver Forum, which originally billed Hoffman's speech as a candid talk about why she left CU, said Wednesday she would talk about ethics in leadership.

Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at or jenbrown@denverpost.com.

"One of the first mentions of Churchill's essay appeared on a blog called "little green footballs" after the professor was invited to speak at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. Within 10 minutes, people were calling Gov. Bill Owens and asking him to tell Hoffman to fire Churchill, she said."

Ah, former President Hoffman, Ward Churchill had been a professor at CU for years, ..... years. Once, the rest of us saw, what taxpayer dollars were going to support, it only took a second to realize that his A-word ought NOT to have been hired in the first place, much less promoted and made department chairman. Churchill was your employee for years and he's been committing fraud, academic, employment and art for years without a peep from you Hoffman, his employer.

I'm sure glad she has an assistant read political blogs daily, in fact, I want to apply for that job. Then I wouldn't have to work. Woo hoo!

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