NU better all around than LeBuhn claimed

Mac LeBuhn claims Northwestern does not succeed to its fullest in either academics or athletics (“Tossing our two-faced reputation,” Nov. 10). He argues the school should make a choice about whether to imitate the Ivy League schools or to imitate the Big Ten schools.

His argument is merely a weird metaphor that doesn’t actually have any facts to back it up.It is simply false to say NU does not succeed at either academics or athletics because of its so-called balancing act. No matter how much stock you put into college rankings, the fact of the matter is NU is in the top 20 of almost every outlet out there. NU’s academic qualifications cannot seriously be questioned by any intelligent human being.

So I’m left to assume Mr. LeBuhn thinks our athletics are not up to par. This is a tired old stereotype that simply is not true anymore. In fact, it hasn’t been true in more than a decade.

Since 1995, NU football has won more Big Ten titles than any school in the conference, save Ohio State and Michigan.

NU men’s basketball is coming off a berth in the NIT and might very well make The Big Dance this year. Historically they have been awful, but that is changing very fast.

Then, if you combine all our sports, NU’s athletic department is ranked as the 44th best in the country according to the final 2008-2009 “Director’s Cup” Standings. Oh by the way, that’s one higher than Iowa.

Perhaps Mr. LeBuhn should start paying attention to our sports instead of relying on stereotypes.

Besides Stanford, I would argue NU has the best combination of athletics and academics in the entire country.

It’s something I’m proud of and something Mr. LeBuhn needs to realize before he ever writes another column regarding NU athletics again.– Aaron MorseMedill seniorWNUR Sports broadcaster