Saturday was a great day for Wisconsin. Sure we lost, and sure it would have been much better to present Coach Barry Alverez with a victory at his last home game in an extraordinary career.

The bleak day was saved by an emotional demonstration of school pride by the thousands of dedicated fans who stayed in the rain and cold to pay tribute to a man who has built UW football into a program we all love. And even those of us who don't understand all the "x's and o's" in the coach's playbook can figure out that he's a good man and a great leader worth celebrating.

So where was the chancellor? The one sour note of the otherwise moving ceremony was the booing when his name was mentioned, because he wasn't there. Wasn't the coach important enough? Wasn't it important to recognize what he's done for UW football, which brings in so much money that it supports most of the athletic program? Sure, Alverez will still be around as athletic director and still working with the chancellor, but isn't this one of those events the chancellor should have penciled in his calendar between calling parents about their kids' drinking problems and firing guilty professors?

It turns out the chancellor was in South Africa, at the dedication of the South African Large Telescope. No, I'm not kidding. According Amy Toburen, communications director for the Chancellor's Office, Mr. Wiley attended the event with several UW-Madison astronomers. "The telescope was dedicated Thursday with the help of South African President Thabo Mbeki," Toburen said in an e-mail Monday. "UW-Madison is the second-largest partner after the South African government in this initiative." SALT is one of the world's largest optical telescopes.

On the other hand, Alverez is one of the greatest football coaches in the history of the Big Ten. And he's ours.

In case Wiley's presence at the SALT event doesn't rustle your feathers enough, maybe this will: in the same e-mail, Toburen explained that the chancellor is also participating in a UW event called "Wisconsin Week Away." And, she added, "Part of his trip will be personal vacation."

Better?

The whole thing starts to take on the symbolism of the age-old debate over what's more important — academics or athletics — even putting aside the fact the chancellor was combining the telescope dedication with some personal vacation. You could say the chancellor was coming down on the side of academic investigation of the universe through a magnificent and prestigious new piece of scientific equipment — and you could argue that's where he should be.

But this is Barry Alverez we're talking about. His retirement from the head coach position was announced in February 2005. With just a little bit of advance planning, it should have been possible for the chancellor to put his heart where the coach's heart has been: Wisconsin.

Emily Friedman ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism and legal studies.