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(Austin-American Statesman) Professor challenges the role of athletics at UT

Discussion in 'Other Sports' started by percicles, Mar 3, 2006.

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  1. percicles

    percicles Member

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    What do you think UT Alum? What appealed to me about UT when I enrolled was the perfect balance of Academics and Sports. Something that at the time was rivaled only by the Univerisity of Michigan. Seems like the scales have tipped a bit towards sports since I graduated. The 52nd national university ranking is indicative of this. I'm not paticularly interested in student athlete graduation rates. This topic has been beat ad nauseum. I'm more interested in, as the article states, the culture. Are we in danger of turning into an Ohio State ...or worse A&M?

    http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/3palaima.html

    A classics professor challenges the role of athletics at UT
    Too much money, not enough oversight, says Thomas Palaima
    By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz

    AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

    As a scholar of early Greek culture and writing, Thomas Palaima knows well the story of the plague that the god Apollo visits upon the Greek army in Homer's "Iliad."

    Greek king Agamemnon's insulting treatment of a priest is to blame, but nobody has the courage to explain this to Agamemnon. Only when the warrior Achilles promises to provide protection from Agamemnon does the prophet Calchas agree to speak up.

    It's still true today: Most people are reluctant to question power. Palaima, 54, a professor of classics at the University of Texas, is not one of them.

    He is challenging a new university president, UT's governing board and a sacred institution — Longhorn sports — in a campaign against what he regards as the outsized role of intercollegiate athletics.

    Among his beefs are the following:

    The low graduation rates of some athletes. About 61 percent of freshman student athletes entering UT in the 1998-99 school year graduated, according to NCAA statistics; 74 percent of UT freshmen overall graduated.

    The practice of charging fans up to $75,000 for a stadium suite, with 80 percent of that amount considered a charitable donation for income tax purposes. The free seats given to regents and other VIPs at a value of more than $1 million a year. The policy allowing athletic programs to retain the vast majority of more than $80 million in annual revenue instead of contributing more for academic purposes.

    That a lawyer, rather than an academic, oversees athletics. A culture that insists upon first-rate performance in athletics but seems satisfied with a No. 52 ranking among national universities by U.S. News & World Report.

    Especially galling to Palaima — pronounced pahl-EYE-muh — were decisions by the regents last month to approve a raise of more than $390,000 in salary, now $2.6 million, for football coach Mack Brown, and to authorize a $149.9 million expansion of the stadium.

    Those actions came a few weeks after the Longhorns won the Rose Bowl, securing their first national championship in football in more than 30 years.

    Palaima doesn't buy the explanation that athletics pays its own way without consuming any taxes or tuition money. "I'm a sports fan. I played baseball all my life," Palaima said. "But the athletic programs have grown into a monster."

    It's largely a one-man campaign, fought in e-mails, in various campus settings and in opinion columns written for the Austin American-Statesman and other publications.

    When Palaima questioned UT President William Powers Jr. at a faculty council meeting last week on the role of athletics, no other professors spoke up.

    Powers said Palaima raised worthwhile questions but defended the university's policies. Powers, who took office Feb. 1, also promised to provide a more detailed analysis of male athletes' academic performance.

    The lack of public support from colleagues doesn't thrill Palaima.

    "It's very easy to marginalize a single voice," he said.

    On the other hand, it's not hard to understand why even tenured professors might be reluctant to get involved.

    "Anytime you make waves, you're not making friends. You're viewed as an oddball," said Michael Granof, an accounting professor and friend of Palaima's. "For most of the faculty, athletics does not affect their vital interest. They've come to the University of Texas knowing what it is, and they expect it."

    Palaima might have a point on whether athletics is truly self-funded, Granof said.

    "If you were to full-cost it, taking into account all of the benefits athletics gets that are not included in the budget, most notable of which is land, I suspect virtually all programs in the country would be in the red. On the other hand, what's very hard to measure is the goodwill athletics brings."

    Edwin Dorn, a professor and former dean of public affairs, said Palaima reflects the views of a substantial portion of the faculty.

    "To some extent, he's beating his head against the wall because it is very hard to envision a major change in the relationship that big public universities have with athletics," Dorn said. "He can, however, have some influence at the margin. It's very important that athletics programs are held accountable for the academic performance of their students."

    Palaima said he learned his sense of right and wrong from the Roman Catholic Church in Cleveland, where he grew up the son of a postal worker. Although he transferred his emotional and intellectual devotion to the study of humanities in college, a certain reverence and piety stuck.

    Like many classicists, Palaima has broad interests. He is equally comfortable quoting Euripides and Dylan. One of the courses he teaches is titled "Myths of War and Violence, Ancient and Modern."

    He said he replies to every e-mail he receives in response to his commentary pieces, often copying the exchange — after deleting the sender's name for privacy — to more than 300 people on his e-mail list.

    His honors include a Fulbright fellowship and teaching awards from UT's alumni association and honors program. But it was the announcement of his MacArthur fellowship, nicknamed the "genius grant," that prompted the university to recruit him 21 years ago, shortly after turning down his application for a faculty position.

    "That gave me a sense of the whimsy of life," he said.
     
    #1 percicles, Mar 3, 2006
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2006
  2. A-Train

    A-Train Member

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    Let's not forget all those t-shirts, caps, jerseys, bumper stickers, etc. that people buy with the orange longhorn on them...People don't buy those because of UT's journalism or computer science programs!
     
    #2 A-Train, Mar 3, 2006
  3. torque

    torque Member
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    Yep, and also big-time athletics are what attracts a LOT of money and prospective students (who might be the geniuses UT desires) towards UT. Strong athletics tremendously help schools. This professor is just bitter.
     
    #3 torque, Mar 3, 2006
  4. Baqui99

    Baqui99 Member

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    cue bigtex in 5...4...3....
     
    #4 Baqui99, Mar 3, 2006
  5. BMoney

    BMoney Member

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    You can reduce anything to the bottom line can't you...even an institution of higher learning. I don't mean to crack on you, specifically, A Train, but this is frustrating. I forgot that things don't have value unless it can be slapped on a t-shirt made in Taiwan and sold at Target.
     
    #5 BMoney, Mar 3, 2006
  6. MR. MEOWGI

    MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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    Some do.
     
    #6 MR. MEOWGI, Mar 3, 2006
  7. francis 4 prez

    francis 4 prez Member

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    i think UT was slightly better than top 50 when i got here, and now, 6 years later, we're 52. i'm sure part of that has just been the 10% rule affecting things. it's not as if our academics aren't respected. a bunch of the undergraduate colleges are well thought of and a bunch of the graduate colleges are well thought of. for the price, it would seem to be a damn good education.

    as for athletics, one of the reasons i came to UT was athletics. rice was the only other school i considered and, even if UT didn't have the better engineering school or wasn't much cheaper, i still might've come here just for the athletics programs. rooting for UT football and basketball has been great these past 6 years, and has definitely enhanced the whole UT experience. i want there to be a continued focus on athletics dominance, and i'm sure lots of people who donate money want the same. if the athletes graduation rate has to be 13% lower than the general student population, then so be it. if they have to keep most of the revenue within the athletics department, then so be it. athletics bring a lot of prestige to UT and they should never willingly be slighted.

    as for being galled at mack's brown raise, considering the resurgence in UT football that he has overseen, and how much additional money he has brought the university, he deserves every penny he's getting. even w/o the national title, he had brought a ton of money in, and from a purely economic perspective, deserves his piece of the pie.


    edit: and to BMoney (who is ironically arguing against the bottom line), even an institution of higher learning has to generate revenue to keep going and to provide quality higher learning. even if athletics revenue doesn't directly affect academics, there is surely some residual benefit just from what it means to the university's image as a whole.
     
    #7 francis 4 prez, Mar 3, 2006
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2006
  8. Desert Scar

    Desert Scar Member

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    The football and basketball players make a lot of money for UT and other major Universities. The cover the cost of lots of non-revenue schlarships that would otherwise come out of the Universities general funds (e.g., taxpayers).

    In football in particular and other professional sports where there is nothing remotely like a free enterprise system, there are limited alternatives to prepare for the professional ranks other than the college system.

    They (NCAA/colleges) should just get rid of the pretense all the athletes have to go to class like everyone else. It makes lots of people's jobs more frustrating--professors with more non-committed kids in the classroom, serious students in water downed classes by the former, and professional athletes in training having to sleep in unfamilar places like classrooms.

    Got to be a better system handling athletes (pros and colleges), that part I agree with this prof.
     
    #8 Desert Scar, Mar 3, 2006
  9. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    when I was ut athletics sucked in the early to mid nineties. bball was alright, football was bad considering the school.

    I don't understand this guy's beef. ut doesn't need its sports money. If the school was broke it would be a problem. its a non-issue.
     
    #9 pgabriel, Mar 3, 2006
  10. Buck Turgidson

    Buck Turgidson Member

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    Same here.

    I don't see why academic & athletic excellence are (or have been) mutually exclusive. That should be the continued goal of UT.
     
    #10 Buck Turgidson, Mar 3, 2006
  11. gucci888

    gucci888 Member

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    This debate isn't only limited to UT, I wrote a paper on a topic similar to this last year. There are advocates out there looking to put an end to Athletic Departments in the NCAA, and that athletics should be ran out of regular departments like Student Affaris.

    "Palaima doesn't buy the explanation that athletics pays its own way without consuming any taxes or tuition money. " - Of course athletics consumes taxes and uses tuition money, but I guess he doesn't realize the type of revenue UT sports has brought in the last 5 years. 2 Baseball Championship, 2 BCS Championships. the incredible increase in merchandise sales.

    I don't feel bad for one second that part of my tuition is going to athletics, at least they are successful. I came to UT knowing some of my money will be going to athletics (doesn't every university use tuition money to fund athletics?) and I don't mind paying a measley $85 to get tickets to all the football games, basketball games, baseball games, etc...
     
    #11 gucci888, Mar 3, 2006
  12. Rocket Fan

    Rocket Fan Member

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    gucci.. I would be one of those that support the end to athletic departments...and having them ran by student life. From what I've seen thus far, it can work well and helps to make sure that athletics stay under control of the chancellor.. not an athletic director that thinks he has unlimied power...

    :)
     
    #12 Rocket Fan, Mar 3, 2006
  13. bejezuz

    bejezuz Member

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    Even before the championships, all of UT Athletics was paid for by the money brought in from the football program. They are completely self-sufficient. And lots of students non-traditional athletes get their educations subsidized by the program.

    I'd love for UT to be the next Michigan or Berkeley academically, but that is never going to happen with the way that the college systems are layed out in Texas. Without a true state flagship school, it's hard to compete with the public ivys.
     
    #13 bejezuz, Mar 3, 2006
  14. Rocket Fan

    Rocket Fan Member

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    The time you calculate in stadium costs, etc... I don't think athletic departments make nearly as much money as most think they do...

    I think most are in the red.. and even the profiable ones aren't puling in hundreds of millions a year or anything..
     
    #14 Rocket Fan, Mar 3, 2006
  15. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    one canno escape the hard facts of economics

    Without that money
    The prof's Salary would be much lower
    and maybe the books would be more expensive
    and the overall quality of the university would be less

    Rocket River
     
    #15 Rocket River, Mar 3, 2006
  16. Rocket Fan

    Rocket Fan Member

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    rocket river..

    you think athletic profits are used to help students have cheaper textbooks?
     
    #16 Rocket Fan, Mar 3, 2006
  17. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    You have to remember
    those include alot of sports that bring in NO MONEY
    that COST
    Unfortunately . . alot of those are FEMALE athletics
    Title IX - If you removed the NON-profitable sports
    it would not cost the university anything
    but that may mean almost a complete wipe out of all female sports

    Rocket River
     
    #17 Rocket River, Mar 3, 2006
  18. Rocket Fan

    Rocket Fan Member

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    rocket river.. I know, and I think most people don't realize that.

    I'm speaking of the entire athletic department.. the time you pay for all sports that don't bring in much money... I wonder what the profits are... because there are a LOT of costs.. especially if you calculate in tuition for the athletes etc...

    if it were just football it would probably be more profitable. .but I'm counting all sports in the athletic department
     
    #18 Rocket Fan, Mar 3, 2006
  19. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    somewhat
    I lot of the money goes back into the teams
    but
    if the rest that does to the school is not put in
    then the school would pass the expense on to you . .
    via fees and perhaps textbooks

    Rocket River
     
    #19 Rocket River, Mar 3, 2006
  20. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    i think people put way too much stock into these rankings, to begin with.
     
    #20 MadMax, Mar 3, 2006
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