To the Editor:
On Tuesday, April 8 I, Tony Spackmann, set out to entertain many students and faculty during the Mr. RPI contest. The contest is a charity event, which is put on by the Pi Beta Phi sorority. Although the atmosphere of the event has always been a college setting in which “college sexual” humor is used, I stepped over that boundary. The first mistake I made was to consume an excessive amount of liquor. This bad decision impaired my ability to realize that boundary. Also, I ended up not even doing what I had planned for my skit a few weeks before; instead, I made my second mistake of using many lewd comments, vulgarities, and offensive actions towards the judges and the audience. The culmination of my actions resulted in many people of the Rensselaer community being offended, upset, and angry.
The reason I write this letter to you today is to express my apology to the students, faculty, and other members of this college. I offended many people with my actions. I’m extremely sorry for this. I never meant to offend anyone. Although the damage is done, I hope this letter and the apologies that I have already given to all the judges, some faculty, and the Pi Beta Phi sisters can start to repair the damage that has resulted from these mistakes. For those of you that know me, you’ll agree with me, that wasn’t the real Tony Spackmann; and for those of you who don’t know me I hope that the Mr. RPI contest is not how you will remember me.
After meeting with the judges and some other respected faculty, I want to thank them for being there for me. Although they disagree with what I did and were offended, they still met with me and accepted my apology. They also agreed with the approach I was taking to try and remedy the damage that I caused. Thank you.
Again this letter is written to the editor but more importantly to the Rensselaer community and is written with my greatest apology.
Tony Spackmann
MATH ’03
