A letter to the editor of the University of Minnesota newspaper.
Your recent story on [football coach] Tim Brewster’s helicopter rides was a shocking read. In the midst of a recession and a University hiring freeze, Tim Brewster’s waste of money on an entirely unnecessary helicopter ride to Irondale in New Brighton, a 15 minute drive from campus, should be a scandal. Yet we have come to accept that even when institutions from our state government down to the corner store are tightening their belts, the University athletics department will never be questioned for its ridiculous spending choices. Dan Berezowitz’s comment that Brewster was not “showboating” is an obvious lie.
He knows it, Brewster knows it, we all know it. Worse was the insulting comment from Joel Maturi suggesting that those opposing Brewster’s spending habits “think we shouldn’t spend one dollar [recruiting].” Maturi knows those opposed to expenses like this helicopter jaunt don’t believe in a $0 recruiting budget. His defensiveness and desire to aggressively delegitimize any opposition to the wasteful spending habits of the athletics department are very telling.
Patrick Timmons