Don't Divert Money from Academics to Pay for Sports

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USA Today serves up diverging opinions: (a) USA Today, Souring Pay for Coaches Throws Academics for a Loss: "These types of numbers, along with enormous sums universities are pumping into sports facilities, certainly look bad at a time of economic distress and academic cutbacks. A recent survey of college presidents, by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, found them overwhelmingly of the opinion that spending on college sports is unsustainable. Some 85% specially cited coaches salaries as too high." (b) Jim Isch, Spending Isn't Out of Control: Prevailing conventional wisdom tells us that colleges and universities in the USA are overspending in their intercollegiate athletics programs — especially among the top programs and especially for head and assistance coaches. In some instances, maybe even many, that is likely true. But some context for the spending would be helpful.

New Journal: Journal of Issues in Collegiate Athletics

Everyone on a campus has an opinion about collegiate athletics. Planners often have the need to be at least as well-informed, most likely better-informed, that other administrators. This new open access journal may be of interest:

Created as an initiative by the College Sport Research Institute (CSRI) the
Journal of Issues in Collegiate Athletics is "intended to foster an
atmosphere that encourages personal and intellectual growth for faculty and
students, demands excellence and professional integrity from faculty and
student affiliates, supports independent critical college-sport research,
and advocates for college athletes' rights and education." Visitors to the
site can look over information about their editorial board and staff, their
complete mission statement, and then make their way to the actual journal.
The publication was started in 2008, and visitors can view articles such as
"Collegiate Sport Chaplaincy: Problems and Promise" and "Can the Faculty
Reform Intercollegiate Athletics? A Past, Present, and Future Perspective".
The site is rounded out by a listing of links to related organizations,
conferences, and online resources. [KMG]

Rise in Fancy Academic Centers for Athletes Raises Questions of Fairness

Does it really matter where the dollars come from? Is it fair? The Chronicle of Higher Education dives deep into the "facilities arms race in college sports" which is says "has a new frontier: academic-services buildings." You will need access to the online Chronicle via suscription of day pass to access this item.

Over the past decade, a dozen major college programs have built stand-alone academic centers, most of them for the exclusive use of athletes. At least seven more colleges are planning new buildings or major renovations in coming years. Some facilities are as big as 50,000 square feet — the size of some student unions — and many are as swank and well appointed as any buildings on campus.

The facilities growth, paid for largely by private donations, is at the center of a spending boom in academic support for athletes, a Chronicle survey has found. Since 1997, the budgets for academic services for athletes at more than half of the 73 biggest athletics programs in the country have more than doubled, on average, to over $1-million a year. One program spent almost $3-million in 2007 — an average of over $6,000 per athlete.

Spending has surged for several reasons: Competition for players has eased admissions standards in recent years, while the National Collegiate Athletic Association's academic-progress requirements have stiffened. That means it's easier for an athlete to get into college but harder to stay eligible for sports.

Teams that fail to meet minimum academic cutoffs lose scholarships. The pressure has led to academic improprieties in several high-profile programs, raising the stakes everywhere.

Athletics officials and some faculty members say the extra spending and attention have sharpened players' classroom focus and kept more athletes on track to graduate. But others complain that the lavish buildings give athletes an unfair advantage over other students.

"The big question I have is, Are these buildings in any way taking away from resources for other students? And I think they are," says Gwendolyn J. Dungy, executive director of Naspa — Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. "Instead of raising money for these special facilities for athletes, universities could be out raising money for buildings that serve all students."