Re: EYE DOCTOR -- Loyola College Sports Message Board

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Date Posted: 12:49:27 02/28/03 Fri
Author: Scott
Subject: Re: EYE DOCTOR
In reply to: Lou 's message, "Re: EYE DOCTOR" on 11:33:30 02/28/03 Fri

Here comes a long rant.

I like Lou was an LCAC member, a board member at that who due to the incompetence of the athletic department was made to look like an idiot in the Sellinger Lounge (apparently the same thing happened to others as well).

Basically they denied me admittance to the Lounge before the Hopkins game several years ago as my name was not on the "list" of LCAC donors. Earlier in the year I had noticed that my name was not in the program where LCAC donors are listed so I called the athletic department and was told that I was not listed as I had not donated. Once I proved to them that I had in fact donated they apologized but said that it was probably too late to change the game programs. I let them know that this was unimportant and not to make any changes to the programs if it would cost them any money. In addition, I let them know that my main concern was that if they had no record of my donation that I would be denied access to the Sellinger Lounge. I was informed that this had been taken care of and that admittance to the Lounge would not be a problem.

So a week later before a cold rainy weekday lax game against Fairfield or some lesser program, I called to make sure that everything had been corrected as I was hoping to sit in the Lounge for the game due to the weather conditions. Again, they told me that all was taken care of. As it turned out I sat in the Lounge but as the game was not well attended, no one was guarding the door with the "list" of LCAC members. I went to other games throughout the season but by chance only stopped by the Sellinger Lounge prior to/after women's games where again due to low attendance no one guards the door.

So before the Hopkins game I stopped by the Lounge simply to pick up a program. However, they could not find my name on the list and asked me to stand to the side while they got on the walkie-talkie trying to determine if I should be let in. As I was standing to the side I noticed several LCAC members that I routinely spoke to in the Lounge staring at me with their arms crossed. It was clear to me that they felt that I really was not an LCAC member but someone who came to a lot of games and just �crashed� the Lounge or was a friend of someone in the Athletic Department. I can�t begin to explain how it feels to look like a freeloader when I not only was an LCAC member but one who foresaw this exact problem and had asked the Athletic Department to correct it on more than one occasion.

After contacting Joe Boylan by email, the person who really messed up the situation got in contact with me and apologized and also mentioned that the entire day was in his words a �fiasco� and the same thing had happened to other members, including Lou. I asked him if in the next LCAC mailing some sort of general apology could be send so that people realized that I as well as the other members who this happened to were not actually freeloaders. He responded that he had already thought of that and that a letter would go out.

Obviously, no letter was ever sent. However in September when it came time to renew my membership I received the standard letter asking me to renew. Handwritten on the note was a brief message saying because of last spring�s �fiasco� I would be given a complimentary membership for the up coming year and though they still hoped that I would donate, there was no obligation. This really ticked me off! What they basically said was instead of admitting that Loyola made a mistake, they could �buy me out�. To me this was never an issue of money but an issue of honor. I was made to look like a fool I front of people that I often spoke to at the Lounge yet Loyola thought it was more important to keep their honor than it was for me to keep mine. So I did not donate.

As an LCAC member, you are supposed to receive media guides, newsletters etc�well since I did not donate these things were never sent to me. So much for my complimentary membership. In addition, I had been a member of the Board of Directors of the LCAC and I was never again invited to a meeting. I was never notified that I was no longer on the Board, they just stopped contacting me. The only contact I had with the College was through a phone call from one of the students during a phone-a-thon and I explained to her why I no longer gave to the college.

The topper came in the early spring when I received another standard letter from the LCAC that again asked me to donate. This letter was apparently sent to all people who did not renew. Normally this would not have bothered me as it could have very well slipped through the cracks. However, the person who I had been dealing with in the Athletic Department hand wrote a message to me. This really set me off. I had notified the College several times that my name was not on the list for entrance to the Sellinger Lounge but it was not corrected. I was wrongly denied access to the Lounge. I was told that an apology letter would go out but it did not and I was told that I would be given a complimentary LCAC membership but was not given one. Yet, they still felt like it was okay to ask me to donate to the College.

After receiving this letter, I sent the person in the Athletic Department an email letting him no that I was upset. In his response, he let me know that my comments to the person working the phone-a-thon got back to him and he felt blindsided. I kid you not�he felt blindsided. He went on to state that an apology letter did go out but that it was in a letter subsequent to the standard renewal letter that went out in September. He said that the apology was included in the October letter that went out to those who had not renewed after the initial renew letter. This baffled me. First, I would imagine that most people who renew would do so after receiving the initial letter and second, why would he not send the letter to the entire LCAC membership. Also, since I did not renew, then why didn�t I receive this letter? I asked this person to please forward me a copy of the October letter. He said that he would. After not receiving this letter after two weeks, I contacting him again and he said that he was sorry for the delay but it was on the hard drive of a computer at his home and he had not had a chance to search for it. Obviously, I have never received a copy of this letter. �Strong Truths Well Lived� is not a motto that this guy follows.

So after another year went by, (it was now late March of 2002) something fired me up again�kind of like this string of messages�so I sent Joe Boylan and email asking him why there had been no apology letter, why had I not received the media guides etc�as part of my complimentary membership and why I had not been notified that I was no longer on the Board of Directors of the LCAC. I sent this on a Tuesday and Joe immediately responded that he would address my issues on Wednesday. Well I am still waiting for Wednesday to arrive.

This long post contains the reasons I have become indifferent to Loyola athletics. I won�t spite myself though. I do enjoy women�s lax and women�s hoops so I still go to those contests. However, I have not been to a men�s lax or men�s hoops contest since the �fiasco� at the Hopkins game nearly three years ago. Considering that it was rare that I missed any home games for either of those sports, I must really be ticked off.

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