Members of SPICE chess team rebuked student journalist Dan Bauman for unprofessional conduct

https://chessdailynews.com/the-importance-of-college-chess/

(Members of the chess team were disgusted with the behavior and motive of Mr. Dan Bauman. They were outraged with his conduct. They felt that he was acting quite unprofessionally and they sent him the email below prior to the story coming out:

Dan [Bauman],

We, members of the Webster University chess team, believe that your conduct as a student journalist for the Journal, is quite unprofessional.

It is very clear to us that you deliberately tried for weeks to sabotage our preparation for this year’s Final Four. It is not right for you to constantly harass and hound us while we needed to be fully focused to prepare to win another national championship for Webster University.

In addition, you used Mackenzie Wilder to set up meetings with various chess team members, only to find out that you were there waiting to “catch” us. No credible journalist should be doing this, ever.

All of us are students here and we came to Webster University because of the prestigious chess program. We love Webster and we want to make this university and our fellow students proud. But you have made us feel very unwelcome.

Given your history of conduct, we question your credibility as a journalist. In addition, we do not believe you are going to write a fair or accurate story. Therefore, we do not wish to speak to you on this or any matter. Please stop bothering any of us.

Thank you.
All members of Webster University Chess Team

Mr. Bauman did not apologize to any member of the chess team so far. We are not surprised by this.

Here is an email sent to this journalist by me in my capacity as coach of the team. I have dealt with journalists from many major publications around the world for decades. I have never dealt with anyone as unprofessional as Mr. Bauman. His articles contain full of mistakes and misinformation. He manipulated the stories to fit his agenda. The way he approached some other individuals outside of the chess team for information is also quite unprofessional. Here is what I wrote:

Mr. Bauman,

I echo the sentiment of the members of the chess team. In your email to Susan on March 20th, and to me on March 27th (exactly 1 and 2 weeks before the Final Four), you acknowledged that you were fully aware that the Final Four competition was coming up. In spite of this, you repeatedly tried distract all of us from our intense daily preparation.

You went as far as constantly bothering members of the Webster University chess team on their Social Media pages, as well as calling us several times at our private residence, and personal cell phone. You also showed up to our office without any appointment. You purposely timed this during the busiest and most important time for the Webster University chess program. There is absolutely no reason for this story to be done at the time you wanted when we were all extremely busy. It could have been done 2 or 3 months ago, or anytime before that.

When you asked (in person) to interview me right before the Final Four celebration at Marletto’s last Wednesday, I told you point blank that it was a very inappropriate time for this interview, and to go ahead and make an appointment with my assistant. You did not follow up and you did not ask to make any appointment since. You decided to trick several of the chess team members instead by asking Ms. Mackenzie Wilder to request for meetings with her, and not you, to talk about their chess experiences during their careers and at Webster. When the first student showed up, you were there waiting to ambush him. This is highly unethical. Therefore, I ask that you immediately remove yourself from this story since it is abundantly clear that you have your own bias, and you will go to any extent to “create” a story. In addition, I also ask that you issue a written apology to the chess team for your questionable conduct.

It is very obvious to me, and all the members of the Webster University chess team, that you have your own agenda, and you have no intention to report things fairly, or truthfully. You have lost all credibility as a journalist with us. Instead of reporting an accurate story, you decided to inject yourself into it when the facts clearly contradict your narrative. Because of this, I have no desire to grant you any interview. I also ask that you stop contacting me or anyone on the chess team.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Paul Truong
Coach of Webster University chess team)

Update: Mr. Bauman refused to apologize to the members of the Webster University Chess Team. He did not even have the professional courtesy to respond to either of the letters above.