Here are some thoughts that I am hopeful will govern some things on the board in the coming weeks.
I am a big proponent of free speech. What's the point of a message board otherwise? Unpopular and "bad" opinions sometimes turn out to be right at best and at worst, at least serve to be a tool for critical thought or a window into where someone's coming from If you throttle opinion and discussion, less opinion will be offered. Heavy-handed moderation opens one up to charges of this or that and is a headache for reasons you can imagine and some you can't. And my free time is scarce anyway.
I also value everyone's user experience. Whatever belief system or demographic, I truly do not care, you're all my customers and at a time when America has deep divisions, a common interest in a team should bring us together.
So, now what?
I think there is near-unanimous opinion on what should happen next with men's basketball. Again, it is not my job to be the thought police and certainly not my job to protect Vanderbilt, but we all (me included) should be self-aware enough to constantly whether we're littering the universe or making it better. The balance of that is to try to do my job honestly but also try to lower the temperature where I can.
There is still internal disagreement at Vanderbilt on what should happen next. Those opinions seem to be strongly held for reasons I can't always explain. It is what it is. Sometimes people are so dug in that those don't change. Sometimes there are hidden things none of us know about. Constantly yelling about it won't change anything. At worst... well, you've seen that.
For the record, I still believe there will be a change. I can't prove it and I'm not reporting it. But you saw me shift my opinion on Tuesday for a reason and that's not changed.
Let's just get through the next few weeks together as peacefully as possible. The coming weeks probably won't be pretty. I'm not asking anyone to put lipstick on the pig. To not discuss results or the future or whatever, because that defeats the purpose of having a board. But have some balance. And (just my opinion), while it's your right as an American, yelling at the school and its people on social media or email probably doesn't help.
For the record, nobody asked me to post this. It's just an appeal to everyone's better nature that I hope resonates.
God bless you all and thanks for being here.
Chris