It has been tough to read the recent comments of Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin and not be concerned about how a man in such a leadership position is so lacking in perspective.

Bowen clearly is angry that Kansas University and other members of the Big 12 have refused to waive their rights to wage litigation if Texas A&M moves ahead on plans to leave the conference. He recently told The Associated Press, “We are being held hostage right now. Essentially, we’re being told that you must stay here against your will, and we think that really flies in the face of what makes us Americans … and makes us free people.”

Really? Just days before this country paused to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the leader of a respected institution compares this Texas spitting contest to America’s freedom?

Quite frankly, that is an insult to the idea of freedom and the responsibilities that come with it.

Texas A&M is in no way forced to stay in this conference. Not much is clear in this conference mess, but this is: When the next Big 12 season starts, no one will physically force the Texas A&M Aggies to march onto any field or court. It is completely in Texas A&M’s control to never play another game in this conference. They are free to leave it, and of course with Monday’s announcement by the Southeast Conference it looks like A&M indeed will. So much for being held hostage.

Now, could there be a price for A&M to pay for exercising that freedom? Of course. That’s the way freedom works. Texas A&M, after all, made a legal commitment when it agreed to a 13-year deal with Fox Sports to televise Big 12 football games. Exactly what that commitment entails is a matter that may have to be decided in a court of law.

That is not being held hostage, Mr. Loftin. That’s facing your responsibilities.

After reading comments Loftin made about how other Big 12 institutions — presumably KU included — are breaking trust, we sense that Loftin may have a difficult time facing many things at the moment, not the least of which is his own role in the current Big 12 unrest. He told The Associated Press that he considered it a “violation of trust” that conference institutions may refuse to waive their right to litigation. That’s because Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe previously wrote a letter indicating that Big 12 members would waive their litigation rights under certain circumstances.

Granted, the letter was poorly written and poorly timed, but how much gall does it take for Texas A&M to say that other members have violated trust?

Texas A&M during the last conference realignment was publicly flirting with the Southeast Conference, but at the end of the day, the Aggies said they were going to be a proud member of the Big 12. Now, less than a year later, Texas A&M wants us all to forget that commitment.

What hubris — and what an embarrassment for a leader who, one hopes, is trying to teach his students the meaning of freedom and responsibility.