2,800 sign petition asking administrators to resign

In the past two weeks, 2,800 people have signed the Take Back IU petition, a petition created by a group of alumni calling for the resignation of President Myles Brand, Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations Christopher Simpson, athletics director Clarence Doninger and the entire board of trustees. \nBut the administration is not planning to formally respond to the petition.\n"The allegations are ridiculous, irresponsible and patently false," Simpson said. "Right now President Brand is focusing on the academic mission of this University. The Bob Knight situation came and went six weeks ago. The overwhelming majority of the University family we've heard from has moved on."\nJohn Walda, president of the board of trustees, said the board is not planning a response to the petition.\n"I don't see any reason to respond," he said. \nThe petition went public Oct. 14 when organizer Mary Ann McCarty, an alumna living in Columbus, Ind., collected signatures at the IU-Michigan football game. Signatures were also collected at Sunday's Homecoming game. A Web site, www.takebackiu.com, has been established to allow people to sign online. McCarty said she was happy with the number of signatures collected so far.\n"Actually, I find it staggering for only having the petition going for about 10 days," she said. "We have not really done a promotion yet, all of it has come from press coverage or word of mouth. It's very exciting."\nMcCarty said she never expected any kind of direct response from those mentioned in the petition.\n"The only response we want from them, in the end, is their resignations," she said.\nTake Back IU is now looking into several promotional options. McCarty said the group is preparing to send out an informational mailing to alumni through e-mail.\n"A lot of alumni live outside of Indiana," she said. "They don't even know what's going on."\nThe group is also considering placing advertisements in Indiana newspapers and buying space on a billboard.\nChanges and additions to the Take Back IU Web site have also been made. Links to articles from various sources about enrollment, IU's School of Music and Knight are included along with links to the results of U.S News and World Report and University of Florida Center academic rankings.\n"I think it's important to include this information because some people don't understand all the issues and why we're asking for the resignations of everyone we're asking for," McCarty said. \nCreators of the site have also made the online signatures confidential. Up until last week, all of the Internet signatures could be read at the site. McCarty said the group changed the format because they were receiving false signatures.\n"It was such a popular site it did attract some pranksters," McCarty said. "Everything was visible so people could not only see signatures but also some of the prankster comments. Some of them were the normal thing you get on the Internet but some were getting kind of off-color and inappropriate."\nMcCarty said she has also received e-mails from all over the world expressing interest and support for the petition.\n"I've also gotten e-mails from people who say they want to sign but can't for fear of reprisal," McCarty said, citing an example from a student. "There is a level of intimidation and fear of reprisal from the administration."\nSimpson said the administration does not punish students for expressing their views.\n"God forbid we should do anything to infringe on anybody's First Amendment rights," he said. "That sounds about as logical and correct as the absurd allegation that the University's reputation is plunging"