I know you [The letter is addressed to the president of the university] do not need any negative letters: However, I feel [In general, and especially in polemical writing, avoid "I feel." It's girly and emotive - it weakens your voice immediately.] this story needs to be told [Chief Illinewhatever: The Greatest Story Ever Told. We are already a bit out of our sphere, rhetoric-wise.].

I hold you, the Board of Trustees, your complete staff, and the Alumni Association responsible as the decision makers for the University of Illinois. ["Complete staff" begins to suggest a problem that will recur in what follows. This writer has never seen a noun he doesn't think deserves an adjective. Why "complete" staff? It's his vehemence, of course -- he's full of feeling. Yet the effect of this phrase - your complete staff - is, given the multiple meanings of staff, and the personal mode of address, just amusing.]

You have meekly surrendered [not just surrendered, but meekly] the pride of the university to a tiny group (perhaps a half dozen) of activists (with no apparent motive other than a desire for publicity) in opposition to the expressed feelings of hundreds of thousands of loyal alumni [tiny group, loyal alumni].

Where is the old Illini fighting spirit? [Cliche.] This abject capitulation [abject] to this minuscule [miniscule] minority and to the NCAA, a dictatorial organization that needs to be cut down to size [Much as UD enjoys NCAA-bashing, this latest adjective -- dictatorial -- won't do.], is ridiculous and totally unrepresentative of [a] great institution.

As I understand it, other universities have fought the NCAA decisions successfully. If we need to go to court, let’s go!

I am convinced this type of subservient wind blowing [A subservient wind's a blowin' -- You knew we'd get into mixed metaphor territory eventually.] throughout the country is a major contributor to our falling cultural and family values [Off the rails here.]. Our majorities are overly anxious to bow to minorities, whether justified or not. [?]

In your case, as the decision-makers, whatever your legacy might have been to date [Bit of a brain twister: Your legacy to date...], hereafter, you will be remembered as the ones who spinelessly gave away the Illini’s richest and most cherished tradition, Chief Illiniwek. [Tone all over the place. Bitter Teaparty: hereafter, legacy. Onfield heckler: spineless...]


As for myself? Raised in Champaign, I have been an Illini fan all my life back to the days of Red Grange and Bob Zuppke when we used to crawl under the fence to see the ball game -- and the Chief! Later of course came Dike Eddleman and all the other great Illini. We attend all home football and basketball games. [Fine old American boilerplate. I have no problem with this.]

Including my brothers and my children, my immediate family holds eight degrees from the University of Illinois. Now it is disheartening that just as the university and the Alumni Association are widely soliciting funds -- and just at the time I and other old alumni are considering preparations for a, perhaps, longer journey [Is this a reference to his impending death?], you pull this trick.

My wife, Pauline, suggests the University might get a chicken for a mascot.

Labels: SOS