The O got the go-ahead today to publish the dirt that was inadvertently turned over to it concerning those bad boys on the top of the Nike organizational chart. (The story was outside the Paywall of Pity for a moment there, but alas, it’s now been placed behind.) In a classic case of Portland Polite, the oldies at the O are not naming names or giving any details, but they are very busy crowing that they have the goods on the hostile environment, and worse, in Swooshland. And they’re proud to say they’re free to spill the beans, if only they had the guts.
The new surveys obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive appear to support claims previously made by plaintiffs in the case that Nike’s problems were connected to the company’s power elite. In 2018, Nike said its problems were not widespread but rather limited to an “insular group of high-level managers.”
The new documents obtained by the news organization includes the names of numerous Nike executives who are alleged by co-workers to have engaged in inappropriate conduct, including unwanted sexual advances toward female subordinates, non-consensual touching, invitations to hotel rooms and displaying graphic content on cell phones.
“Sadly, unwelcome advances, insults, jokes, unwanted physical conduct etc., are/have been a part of Nike’s culture,” wrote one survey respondent. “Most women know upon coming to work here that you need to learn to ‘hang’ + dodge as best you can.”
Maybe someday we’ll learn who’s done what to whom at Nike over the years, but I doubt it will be thanks to the folks at the O. Even when the good stuff falls into their lap, as it did here, their reaction is to hold a lot of it back.