TO THE EDITOR:
This letter is in response to Mary Willingham’s Feb. 16 letter to the editor. Ms. Willingham’s never-ending narrative of non-truths grew even longer in her own letter. Ms. Willingham states that she believes the Institutional Review Board “acted in good faith” when it halted her research in January. Just six days earlier, she was quoted in this newspaper stating that she was considering a lawsuit against Provost Jim Dean because he was “the one who pulled the IRB status.” Quite a change of tune, Ms. Willingham.
Ms. Willingham’s lack of forthrightness should come as no surprise. Make no mistake, the IRB issue arose because Ms. Willingham was never honest with the IRB about the nature of her research in the first place, as explained in the Jan. 21 University release by Professor Daniel Nelson.
But let us not feign surprise that Ms. Willingham is once again changing her tune in an attempt to see her name in ink. There is nothing honorable or courageous about leaking unproven anecdotes about illiterate athletes to the media which cause rampant and baseless speculation. Hopefully Ms. Willingham has enjoyed her 15 minutes of fame, because the University’s reputation will remain strong long after her already crumbling reputation is in ruins.
Patrick Crane ‘08
Durham
