|

Are some administrators shivering?

Byuclafaculty
No, not because of the cold weather in other parts of the country.  Rather, because of the headline regarding Northwestern University’s football program in today’s Inside Higher Ed: 

Athletes Move to Unionize

The Internet – or at least, the piece of the Internet where people pay moderate attention to college sports – blew up Tuesday afternoon with the news that some number of Northwestern University football players are seeking to unionize.  The apparently unprecedented step is a potential watershed moment for athletes in commercial sports programs like those at Northwestern, who were lauded by outspoken critics and sports columnists who have driven much of the public interest in whether athletes deserve more than they’re getting for all the revenue they bring institutions in the era of highly commercialized sports. If they succeed, the athletes could gain a crucial say in hot-button issues like safety rules, revenue sharing and scholarship limitations…
Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/29/long-road-ahead-northwestern-athletes-move-unionize
The thought of losing some control of the “business model” for university athletics programs undoubtedly is cause for shivers in high places.

Similar Posts

| |

Is the ball still in their court or has the train left the station?

Byuclafaculty

Hey! Let’s rebuild the old stadium! Sorry to mix metaphors.  But Inside Higher Ed today has a long story on Berkeley athletics which have recently been in the news for low graduation rates and problems in funding a stadium upgrade.  A white paper from the Berkeley Center for the Study of Higher Education suggests that the program is running as an autonomous and relatively uncontrolled business operation. It is written by a former vice chancellor – who can now tell all -and a Berkeley grad student. See http://cshe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/publications/docs/ROPS.CSHE_.12.13.Cummins%26Hextrum.CalAthletics.1.6.2014.pdf and http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/08/highlighting-berkeley-paper-explores-academic-damage-expanding-independent-athletics The issue is whether control can be retaken or whether…

| | | | | | |

Q&A

Byuclafaculty

The Contra Costa Times ran an interview with UC president Napolitano that was published yesterday.  But apparently the interview occurred in late 2013.  Here are the questions:Q: One of your first proposals was to make tuition rates more predictable. What might that look like? Q: At the last UC regents meeting, Gov. Jerry Brown said UC had slim chances of securing additional state funding, with all of the competing needs in Sacramento. What did you make of that? Q: Were you surprised by the low graduation rates for some student-athletes at Cal? (UC Berkeley’s football team had the lowest graduation…

| | | | | | | |

Lessons from Berkeley’s White Elephant Stadium for UCLA, the Regents, and UC?

Byuclafaculty

People keep noticing Berkeley’s White Elephant money-draining stadium – one of the grand capital projects that the Regents routinely approve based on pretty slides and business plans offered by the campuses.  Peter Schrag in the San Francisco Chronicle today ties the low graduation rates of Berkeley athletes with the stadium: …Fueling the… issue is the chronic matter of cost – what the university kicks in to the sports program – and what someone called “its gold plated” spending. Brian Barsky, a Berkeley computer science professor and vocal critic of the athletics program, says between 2003 and 2011, athletics “drained campus…

|

Berkeley admits to serious student-athlete flaws

Byuclafaculty

From the San Francisco Chronicle: UC Berkeley officials, responding to recent reports of lax admissions standards and poor graduation rates among student athletes, admitted this week that the university has a serious problem that is at times exacerbated by the desire to succeed on the field. “At a point, the pressure to win caused us to put more focus on the athletic piece and, as a result, we saw less performance on the academic side,” said Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour… “We have an issue. No doubt,” said Barbour…. “It’s a serious one. And we have taken several measures to correct…

|

Did Wiseman Catch This? (Check Prior Post)

Byuclafaculty

UC Berkeley, the world’s top-ranked public university, is admitting student athletes with shockingly low grades and scores if they show promise as revenue-generating football or basketball players, say two Cal scholars whose new study helps explain why athletes on campus have the worst graduation rates in the country. While the highly competitive university routinely turns away applicants who earn straight A’s in high school, it has also been admitting student athletes on full scholarship even if their average high school grade was a B-minus. Its policy, in fact, permits a C average.Also disparate is the way Cal evaluates students’ scores on the…

|

UCLA’s Lawsuit to Retain Baseball Stadium at VA Property Criticized by LA Times

Byuclafaculty

Westwood’s Veterans Home, back in the day Blog readers will know that various tenants of the VA property in Westwood are facing litigation and potential eviction on the grounds that the property is not being used for its intended purpose.  UCLA’s baseball team uses the internal stadium: From yesterday’s LA Times‘ editorial page: [excerpt]: …Instead of appealing the decision, UCLA could play a helpful role by urging the VA to sit down with the plaintiffs to work out an agreement that meets the needs of the interested parties but also ensures that the federal government fulfills its responsibility. If baseball…