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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2012 > January > 11 > Entry
Gee makes verbal gaffe, again
At a speech before 300 people on Wednesday, Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee made a quip that plays on the ethnic stereotype that Polish people are incompetent.
Gee said OSU’s individual colleges used to operate like PT boats shooting at one another in the ocean. “It was like the Polish army,” he said.
The focus of Gee’s 30-minute speech to the Columbus Metropolitan Club was on how the university has improved and its plans for increasing revenues and financing future projects.
One audience member who stood up to ask a question said he usually worries about making inappropriate comments at a microphone but he thanked Gee for “breaking the ice” in that regard.
Gee also lamented that the memorabilia for discount tattoos scandal in the high-profile football program overshadowed the university’s long list of achievements last year. Gee called it a “monumental shame.”
After his speech, Gee told reporters that the university admitted its mistake in the football program and took its punishment. “Football represents one-quarter of one percent of our budget yet the newspapers give it 90 percent of the play,” he said.
Gee also brushed off questions about his Polish army remark. “The Polish army? I know nothing about the Polish army,” he told reporters after the speech. “I was just commenting on an issue and I made a comment. Now, if you’re going to say I was saying something bad about Poland, I’m not, you know, I could have used some other term then I guess.”
Gee is known his fast-talking style and humorous quips that sometimes get him into trouble. Last year, he remarked that Ohio State’s football schedule didn’t include teams on the level of ‘Little Sisters of the Poor’ and he quipped that he hoped that then-football coach Jim Tressel didn’t fire him as university president.
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By Allan
January 19, 2012 6:30 AM | Link to this
Mr. Gee obviously never experienced the sound of incoming rounds; never had to wonder where his next meal was coming from, or when. Our PT Boat Vets did. Thanks to them and all our other Vets, he can now command (while using the English language and not Japanese or German)the salary and benefits that he does. Educated- YES! Smart- NO! OSU,rise to the occasion, do YOUR job and demand some accountability for your money!
By KW
January 15, 2012 10:45 PM | Link to this
I understand that he was trying to make a joke. And I have the right to respond to his bad joke about fallen soldiers protecting their homelands on land and sea. It was in very poor taste.
By David Waples
January 14, 2012 1:25 PM | Link to this
Hearing about this makes me glad he left Colorado University. What a stupid thing for such a public figure to say. He should know better.
By Ross Fisher
January 13, 2012 1:02 AM | Link to this
Really, is this 40-watt bulb the best you can find to be the President of a major university? In the future my favorite college team is whoever is playing Ohio State.
By Frank
January 13, 2012 12:04 AM | Link to this
It is amazing that such an over paid educator can be so foolish. I found it very offensive that he choose to disrespect our WWII PT BOAT VETERANS. These men fought bravely and were in more close combat with the enemy than any other surface craft during the war. The PT BOAT proved it’s worth in many ways, and I think Mr. Gee owes these men an apology.
By Jay Dee
January 12, 2012 8:19 PM | Link to this
He not only insults the Polish people, he insults American WW2 veterans that manned PT boats. Having a historical interest in them, and being of half Polish heritage, I’m amazed at his ignorance. The candle he holds is mighty dim. How is it that he’s the president of a college? Bah…
By comatus
January 12, 2012 9:47 AM | Link to this
Up here in Little Sisters country, the Poles tell Gordon Gee jokes. The PT boat line was slimy, though. It insults JFK, John Kerry, and Miami NROTC Lt. J.J. Seery, MOH. You’d think a school with so much brown water would have more respect for the brown-water Navy. And Gee is in some real brown water now.
By WHY
January 11, 2012 8:45 PM | Link to this
Gordon needs to retire or find a better suit position that finds value. His managing skill s lately have been not so good. Let’s give him a raise.
By WHY
January 11, 2012 8:42 PM | Link to this
why
By IKER
January 11, 2012 5:02 PM | Link to this
He made a political incorrect gaffe,so what.You guys that are being extra picky couldn’t hold a candle to the man educationally.He has to be very careful of you extremely sensitive critics.
By Joe
January 11, 2012 4:07 PM | Link to this
He’s an educational elitist and obviously more intelligent than the rest of us. This will have no affect on him as sensitivity standards only apply to those people the mainstream media disagrees with politically. Now…if he was running in the Republican primary right now, the media would be calling for his head on a platter.
By JG
January 11, 2012 3:39 PM | Link to this
I think perhaps we should all lighten up. A joke is a joke — and besides, who cares about Poland?
By jimmie
January 11, 2012 3:37 PM | Link to this
Gordon Gee - The Peter Principle personified.
By your mama
January 11, 2012 3:21 PM | Link to this
he needs that training we all had to take, what’s it called?? ‘sensitivity training’ first he says “it was like the polish army” and then said “The Polish army? I know nothing about the Polish army” then why say it? clearly he is an idiot because wouldn’t it really be the polish navy?
By ANDY WALKER
January 11, 2012 3:08 PM | Link to this
Gee Whiz, it’s a joke. The Polish army with PT boats is funny. BTW Their navy uses tanks as submarines.
By Gee Gordon
January 11, 2012 2:56 PM | Link to this
What I know about the Polish army is that they fought bravely but were overwhelmed by the Nazi army in a Sept 1939 blitzkrieg assault. I know that much and I’m not even a president of a major college. I feel smarter than a 5th grader and the OSU president.
By Joe
January 11, 2012 2:50 PM | Link to this
Don’t forget that Gordon Gee is the most highly compensated university leader in the entire country… … … “Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee continues to be the highest paid public-university president in the United States. Gee’s 2008-2009 base salary was $802,125, while his total compensation package was nearly $1.6 million, according a Chronicle of Higher Education survey released Monday. Including the base salary, the compensation package is comprised of $225,000 in deferred compensation, $49,700 in retirement pay and $500,000 from a supplemental retirement plan. Gee also receives a house from private sources, a car provided by the state and club dues.”