REPORTS: Approximately 30 Big Ten Parents Protest Outside Conference Office In Chicago Suburb
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The organized protest by various players parents outside the Big Ten Conference headquarters following the league's Aug. 11 decision to postpone the fall season drew no more than three dozen people.
The estimation of various news organizations on site estimated the crowd size from 25 to 35 people for a protest organized by Randy Wade, father of Ohio State defensive back and All-Big Ten selection Shaun Wade.
Wade made it public he and his family would be flying into Chicago from Florida to organize the gathering of parents angry at the decision made by the 14-member Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors to postpone all fall sports, including football.
The Big Ten office, which are located in Rosemont, Ill., remained closed Friday due to the coronavirus pandemic and commissioner Kevin Warren has confirmed all members of the conference staff have been working remotely since March when COVID-19 forced a state-wide shutdown in the state of Illinois. Warren has been working remotely and conducting all Zoom media interviews from his home in Minneapolis.
Warren released an open letter Wednesday saying he understood the public outcry to the decision by the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors but was clear to say the cancelation of the fall sports calendar "will not be revisited."
Warren's letter, which highlighted several of the medical and science decisions that led to the Big Ten Conference fall sports postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, confirmed despite reports to the contrary and multiple versions of double talk by decision makers a vote by the Big Ten’s COP/C did take place and "was overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports”.
“We do respect the fact there is a pandemic out here,” Wade said to reporters Friday. “But the situation with the Big Ten, the lack of transparency, is a problem for parents.”
Wade acknowledged the small showing for the protest was the fact it was scheduled for “a Friday where people can’t get off work and these people here are missing work and making other plans in order to be here”. Parents from players at Ohio State, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin also were represented in the organized effort. Part of the parents group was Noreen Murphy, the mother of Illini sophomore midfielder Eileen Murphy, from nearby La Grange Park, Ill.
“For us, U of I has a saliva test where the results are returned within hours (so) why are these other sports canceled?” Eileen Murphy said. “Take the test. If you’re negative, you play. That’s it. It’s pretty simple.”
In his first media appearance since the shutdown of the Big Ten fall sports calendar, the University of Illinois chancellor is standing firm with his decision. Robert Jones, who has been the chancellor at the University of Illinois since 2016, said in an interview with Chicago television anchor Ryan Baker that he was “in absolute agreement” with his colleagues on the 14-member Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors.
Jones was who voted on behalf of Illinois in the meeting referenced in the open letter published Wednesday from Big Ten Conference commissioner Kevin Warren.
“I can tell you for all of us, and I hope people understand, that this was not an easy decision," Jones told CBS 2 Chicago. "Because lest they forget, they had rolled out the schedule about a week before with what the season was going to look like. So this is not something that we were planning in advance to make this ultimate decision. But in the back of our minds, we always knew this was a possibility."
Jones was scheduled to discuss the decision by the Big Ten COP/C via a Zoom press conference on Aug. 12, but 15 minutes prior to the call, a team spokesperson said Jones had to cancel due to travel plans. Jones never rescheduled his media appearance and several media outlets have been denied an opportunity to speak with Jones either one-on-one or in a group setting by the university’s communication office.
A group of parents from the Illini football team drafted a letter to send to Warren, Jones and University of Illinois president Timothy Killeen seeking transparency into the information they were presented with that led to decision last week to postpone fall sports, including football, with the hope of playing them in the spring semester.
Illini Now/Sports Illustrated has confirmed the letter signed by “PROUD Families of the University of Illinois Football Team” is not sponsored by and does not represent all parents of players on the Illinois football roster.