Look......when I worked at ISU, I worked at the Iowa State Center. As some (hopefully most) of you know, the Center was built mostly by private donations. Hilton was also build with bonds secured from student fees.
At events, patrons would come up and complain to me about whatever........anything related to that event. Now some of those people may have donated several thousand or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to the construction of the Center (similar to Athletic Department donors). Others may not have contributed a dime, and were attending their first event (Game by game ticket purchasers). Others may not have donated anything, yet attended many events each year (Season ticket holders).
Now, when a person was making a complaint to me, I may or may not have known their status. In some cases I did, but in most I did not. However, no matter what I knew about them, if I ever treated one patron different from another, and treated any patron with less respect just because I knew they had not offered as much support as someone else..........I would not have had my job for very long, I assure you. You can't treat people that way because you never know what their future contribution or level of support might be. It would have made no sense to treat anyone rudely, no matter what they said, or what their level of support was at that time.
It is just stupid to treat fans this way. You have to try and develop the relationship so that if that person's situation changes in the future, they may increase their support. You just never know.
Another side note...from someone who knew how to get support and donations.......when Dr. Hilton proposed the construction of the Center......part of the plan was that ISU students be employed there. One reason obviously, was to help students out with their expenses at school. Another reason though was that Dr. Hilton hoped that their experience of working there would be a good experience and would affect their future support of the Center, or their donations to the ISU Foundation, or ISU in general.
JP's response was arrogant and unprofessional, and IMO an embarrassment to the University. I hope the response is not really from him.......if it is......that is really too bad.
