The athletic department at the University of Oregon has a budget of nearly $100 million, and faculty think that should go to academics, like student scholarships. If this new legislation passes, it might.
While the Board of Trustees was having their winter meeting, the University Senate met and approved a resolution to have athletics pay the academic side a 3 percent dividend out of its $98 million budget.
Many faculty consider the monetary focus UO puts on athletics over the top, like paying head coach Mark Helfrich more than the university president  –  though less than average for a college football coach. Economics professor Bill Harbaugh, the sponsor of the bill, has criticized the university and athletics department for years on his blog and has several followers.
The athletics budget is only 2 percent subsidized by the university – it makes most of its budget, according to athletic director Rob Mullens who was quoted in The Register Guard.
But Harbaugh said that looking at the other money athletics gets tells another story.
UO pays $2.2 million a year on running the Jaqua Center, used by student athletes (tutoring, etc.), and nearly half a million of that money comes out of UO’s academic budget to pay off the purchase of the land under Matt Court. In addition, $1.6 million in mandatory student money goes toward purchasing tickets.
Besides that, Harbaugh said that it’s unclear if the athletics department has to pay for things such as legal costs – which are substantial, especially when taking into account the suing of Dana Altman and the university by an alleged survivor of sexual assault.
“Obviously, Rob Mullens seems to be great at getting money for himself,” Harbaugh said. “It’s time for them to step-up and show they help out the academic side.”
The university has not yet commented because the Senate hasn’t given them formal notice of the legislation. It would have to be ratified by the president.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article stated that the Board of Trustees would have to ratify the legislation. This decision is up to the president of the university.
The article also said that student fees pay for MacArthur Court. They actually pay for Matthew Knight Arena.
Follow Scott Greenstone on Twitter @smgreenstone