Good letter. My thoughts exactly. I would prefer to see the data, rather than to rely on Mr. Estenson's opinion that he was "thrilled with the process."
DU's original budget was $40,000 but almost certainly that number ballooned over $100,000. No one knows the true figures because DU won't tell anyone.
The original seed money for the project came via a "loan" from the UGA [Undergraduate Student Government]. The "loan" was to be paid back from T-shirts sales from the new mascot.
The Mountaineer received 41% of the vote, The Elk 40% and the Jackalope 9%.
51% of the respondents were in favor of a new mascot. 19% were neutral. 40% were against a new mascot.
Unfortunately, I would say that all of the data is meaningless because this was not an objective study. It was very ‘directive’ and only allowed either/or choices. Would you like to boil in oil or would you like to be thrown out of a plane at altitude? While I may prefer one more than the other, I select none of the above! As for the results of this survey, based on the methodology and execution, I recommend we select one of following two options: A) fish wrap; or B) send them to Berkeley for further analysis (where I am sure ‘they’ can make great sense of the results).
This wasn’t a statistics issue, this is an ‘agenda gap’ created by an out of touch administration. Massaging these skewed statistics is just putting more lipstick on the same pig.
The questions on the survey were set up so you could only respond to those 3 inacceptable choices. But I am surprised the elk/moose/?? got as much as it did.
Its possible that people who took the survey and gave a score of over 50 [on a scale of 0-100] to two or more mascots had their votes tallied two or three times.
Might be another reason why DU won't let the results of the "survey" see the light of day.
To the "Anonymous" entry with the "entitled" comment...you clearly don't know me, or what I did to put myself through undergrad and grad school all on my own. If you don't care enough about DU to be part of the dialog, then why are you even on this blog, let alone taking the time to comment? I want my children to be educated in a place free of oversensitive PC BS. At this point that means they will NOT being going to DU...though if DU is able to change for the better then I would love to consider the school for my kids' college education. And if I can help move them in that direction, then even better...but alas, they are going the WRONG DIRECTION. It's not just about the mascot, it is about the culture, environment, and teachings that are being driven from the top. And if the school is going to waste valuable dollars (that could be used for scholarships) on this mascot witch hunt, then they should at least man up and publish the results, admit their mistakes, and just move forward with something that has the lionshare of the support from students and alumni and won't take an additional dime away from the school...i.e. just go back to Boone.
13 comments:
This is very strong. Great work!
Remember the ohh too true saying--"The cover up is worse than the crime"
Good letter. My thoughts exactly. I would prefer to see the data, rather than to rely on Mr. Estenson's opinion that he was "thrilled with the process."
Great letter by Jason.
Some data behind the numbers.
DU's original budget was $40,000 but almost certainly that number ballooned over $100,000. No one knows the true figures because DU won't tell anyone.
The original seed money for the project came via a "loan" from the UGA [Undergraduate Student Government]. The "loan" was to be paid back from T-shirts sales from the new mascot.
The Mountaineer received 41% of the vote, The Elk 40% and the Jackalope 9%.
51% of the respondents were in favor of a new mascot. 19% were neutral. 40% were against a new mascot.
Unfortunately, I would say that all of the data is meaningless because this was not an objective study. It was very ‘directive’ and only allowed either/or choices. Would you like to boil in oil or would you like to be thrown out of a plane at altitude? While I may prefer one more than the other, I select none of the above! As for the results of this survey, based on the methodology and execution, I recommend we select one of following two options: A) fish wrap; or B) send them to Berkeley for further analysis (where I am sure ‘they’ can make great sense of the results).
This wasn’t a statistics issue, this is an ‘agenda gap’ created by an out of touch administration. Massaging these skewed statistics is just putting more lipstick on the same pig.
The questions on the survey were set up so you could only respond to those 3 inacceptable choices. But I am surprised the elk/moose/?? got as much as it did.
Its possible that people who took the survey and gave a score of over 50 [on a scale of 0-100] to two or more mascots had their votes tallied two or three times.
Might be another reason why DU won't let the results of the "survey" see the light of day.
DG, Kind of like the true cost of the obama show will never see daylight. Dearest leaders indeed. More to come
Jason sounds like an entitled prick. Let's get over it and move on. Spending time answering his dumbass questions is a waste of time and money.
Umm, there is no way that 40% of the people voted for an elk. Betcha they messed with the numbers to come up with that.
You are right.
The 40% for the Elk was the "mean rating" on a scale of 1 to 100. Of the 8,000 people who took the survey.
To the "Anonymous" entry with the "entitled" comment...you clearly don't know me, or what I did to put myself through undergrad and grad school all on my own. If you don't care enough about DU to be part of the dialog, then why are you even on this blog, let alone taking the time to comment? I want my children to be educated in a place free of oversensitive PC BS. At this point that means they will NOT being going to DU...though if DU is able to change for the better then I would love to consider the school for my kids' college education. And if I can help move them in that direction, then even better...but alas, they are going the WRONG DIRECTION. It's not just about the mascot, it is about the culture, environment, and teachings that are being driven from the top. And if the school is going to waste valuable dollars (that could be used for scholarships) on this mascot witch hunt, then they should at least man up and publish the results, admit their mistakes, and just move forward with something that has the lionshare of the support from students and alumni and won't take an additional dime away from the school...i.e. just go back to Boone.
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