After reading former football co-captain Joe Mele’s letter Monday (“Football uncertainty fueled fire”), I was glad to see the effort to protect Husky football was maintaining its momentum.

But Mele’s suggestion that Ricky Thompson and Matt Foster acted on mere “rumors” in reporting that Athletics Director Peter Roby was considering cutting the football program bothered me.

I understand that the buzz around campus must have taken its toll on the team’s morale last fall, but why pick a fight with The News now, nearly three months after the original article appeared? Given the four other articles, three columns, four letters (including Mele’s) and three staff-authored editorials about the football team that followed, I’d say Thompson and Foster are vindicated.

The News has worked hard to make this a public issue. We’ve called for transparency on the Athletics Review Panel and asked Northeastern students to support the football program alongside alumni, who have pledged some $100,000 to help the ailing athletics department.

We do not see ourselves as “Woodward and Bernstein.” This is as real for us as it is for the rest of the university. Please reconsider your accusations.

– Derek Hawkins is a senior journalism major and managing editor of The News.