I want to acknowledge once again to Oliver Wolf and to the Bates College Republicans that Doug Hubley's e-mail was inappropriate and regrettable. When Hubley realized what he had done Tuesday, he offered his apologies to Wolf, first by e-mails then, Wednesday, in writing to both Wolf and to the Bates Republicans organization. In a Feb. 25 e-mail from Andrew Simon with the salutation "Hello Sir or Madam" and apparently sent broadly, Andrew acknowledged the apology with this line: "The staff member has since apologized to Oliver, but we are unsure if he is aware of the gravity of his actions."
I can assure you that Hubley is aware of the gravity of his actions, and has been since the moment Tuesday morning when he realized to his horror what he had done. Let this be clear, no mincing words: Hubley was wrong. He will be receiving a formal letter of reprimand in his personnel file.
He has apologized sincerely and profusely since Tuesday.
To my knowledge, Hubley has no history of saying hurtful things to anyone. This e-mail was an unintended aberration.
Doug's e-mail was inexcusable.
What is disturbing is that this inexcusable instance has brought forth a statement from Simon that Bates College "applies a litmus test to events it wishes to publicize."
The fact is, no student organization has requested more assistance with publicity – and received more assistance with publicity – than the Bates Republicans. We have, in fact, publicized every speaker and event that the group requested. We have provided expert advice to Wolf on how to effectively contact news media, and provided Wolf with a media contact list.
The evidence of that is available for all to see on our Web site and in our press releases. It is Bates policy to present both sides of an issue. We have sought to do so this year not only by responding to queries from Bates Republicans, but by soliciting information from them in order to publicize it more broadly.
On January 20, 2004, I made a special request to Wolf. Here is our e-mail exchange:
Hi again, Oliver:
I just saw that item today about the Republicans sponsoring a viewing and discussion of the State of the Union Address. That was interesting. It was on a broad and important topic that would likely be of interest to alumni and prospective students, so we noted it in Bates Now on the Web site.
I can't promise that everything you send will wind up on the Web, but I'd appreciate it if you would please add me to your distribution list for the Bates Republicans' future messages to the Bates community.
- Bryan
And Wolf replied, with a cc: to Simon:
Thanks very much for the exposure, Mr. McNulty. It is very encouraging to see something like this provided by your office. It's not something I would have expected without asking for it. I really appreciate it and I'm glad you find it useful for public relations purposes. I will certainly add you to our distribution list in the future if you'd like. Anyways, thanks again and take care.
Sincerely,
Oliver Wolf
Bates featured Wolf in a July 26, 2003 "Bates People in the News" Web article when he was interviewed in his hometown paper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for the article "Young conservatives get primer in D.C." – and we further publicized that fact in an e-newsletter to 11,000 alumni, friends and parents.
Why? Because it is interesting. Because it is important to be balanced.
To summarize: Bates Republicans, under the leadership of Oliver Wolf and Andrew Simon, have done a good job this year bringing conservative speakers and events to Bates – and our office has done a good job promoting them.
Doug Hubley's written apology
[Hand-delivered to post office boxes of Oliver Wolf and Andrew Simon, and to Bates Republican office Wednesday Feb. 25, 2004.]
Doug Hubley, Staff Writer
Bates College Office of Communications and Media Relations
141 Nichols St.
Lewiston, ME 04240
Feb. 25, 2004
Mr. Oliver Wolf, Vice Chair, and the Bates College Republicans
45 Campus Ave., Room 7
Bates College
Lewiston, ME 04240
To Mr. Wolf and the Bates College Republicans:
I'm writing to express to you and to the Bates Republicans my sincerest apologies for the hurt and distress that I caused through my stupid, callous use of humor in an e-mail on Monday, Feb. 23, 2003.
Please know that I do not in any way regard the Bates Republicans as "a bunch of thugs." I am very sorry for having misspoken, and that my words were presented to you in such a hurtful way. Feb. 23 was my return to work after a week's vacation, and it was a very busy and difficult day. As sometimes happens, my anxiety with events led to my flying off the handle in what was intended as a private communication from me to my supervisor.
People who know me well know that my sense of humor tends, sometimes unfortunately, to take the form of sarcasm and irony, impacting all in sight regardless of political affiliation. My comment was intended only in that sense.
The policy of this office is to present a fair and balanced picture of all political activities at Bates. Indeed, an analysis of news releases on the Bates Now Web site for this academic year shows an even split between Bates Republican and Bates Democrat events. Our office made a special request to the Bates Republicans this year asking for all of your press releases. As you know from the work we have done together previously in publicizing Bates Republican events -- you may recall a very amicable meeting between the two of us during the 2002-2003 academic year -- I have always done my best to represent your organization fairly in CMR publications. I truly regret this lapse in professionalism that has created the opposite impression.
In addition, there's one other point I'd like to clarify. Because we are so busy in this office, we often have to perform triage on which events to publicize. When I expressed to my supervisor the possibility that the Youth Leadership School was "far afield" for this office to publicize, I meant solely that it was not, strictly speaking, a Bates event, but rather one sponsored by an outside group, the Maine College Republican Organization, and as such might be lower in priority than one sponsored solely by a Bates organization.
As inadequate as this letter may seem, I very much hope that it can start the process of healing the relationship between the two of us, and between this office and the Bates Republicans. Once again, please accept my strongest apologies and my hope that we can continue working together productively in the future.
Most sincerely,
Doug Hubley
