RIT Trustees Share the Tiger Spirit

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A. Sue Weisler

RIT trustee Dancy Duffus attended the screening with her husband, Jim Duffus.

The RIT Board of Trustees meet three times a year—in April, July and November—but by 2:45 p.m. today the governing body turned its attention to the Tigers debut at the NCAA Frozen Four games in Detroit.

Trustee Jeff Harris from Washington, D.C., said he was leaving his room at the Marriott Hotel this morning when a custodian approached him and said “‘It’s our time; thank you for putting RIT on the map.’

“This is a Cinderella story,” Harris affirmed. “The RIT Tigers have come up in the ranks and showed they are a team to be reckoned with.”

The Board of Trustees enjoyed a special screening of Thursday night’s hockey game in the Student Life Center of the Gordon Field House, and the 35 members who watched the game never gave up hope of a comeback between the Tigers and the Wisconsin Badgers even as the tide turned against the RIT team.

“These guys have already won it; it doesn’t matter what happens tonight,” said Harry Trueheart, chairman of Nixon Peabody LLP. “There are no athletic scholarships to come here to RIT; these are good students with great academic records who aren’t in the same league as the Wisconsin Badgers, yet they have taken everyone by surprise and become a major contender.”

And of course a few trustees showed their true colors, including Dancy Duffus, who has served on the RIT board for more than 20 years. “This is exciting and I’m wearing an orange T-shirt from last year’s Innovation Festival and my RIT scarf,” she said. “I wanted to show my Tiger spirit.”

Meanwhile, the longest-serving and oldest RIT trustee member, 95 year-old Richard Eisenhart, watched the game from home but his heart was with the RIT community. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” he said.