Wednesday, August 17, 2011

College Athletics: the Most Rotten Thing in Higher Ed

Right now on ESPN Mike Greenberg is trying to argue that the only solution to the boosters paying student athletes and programs is just to let it happen and do away with the rule, totally missing the point that colleges do not exist (or aren't suppose to) as sports-entertainment programs.
Can't be too harsh on sports talk show hosts though, many running academia do think that is the purpose.  Bloomburg reports athletic spending at Rutgers University is higher than any other public university, and 40 percent of the funds coming from student fees and the university's general fund.  At the same time deep budget cuts have been made to academic programs, witha salary freeze for professors. Each year the football coach, Greg Schiano, stays on, the university forgives $100,000 of a no-interest home loan it made to him. Schiano is paid $2.03 million a year. The average associate professor earns less than the amount his home loan is reduced each year.

The faculty do have leverage, they can all walk. It's extreme and those who make up tenured faculty in general are the type of people who demand action from others while never taking any themselves. It's a shame.

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