Ninety-two of the University’s estimated 110 tenured faculty members came forward Sunday and criticized the University for focusing too much on athletics and not enough on academics.
In a letter co-written by biology professor Nathan Tublitz and English professor James Earl, the professors cited the recently announced plan for an academic center for athletes and the $2 million contract buyout of former Athletic Director Bill Moos as examples of “the university’s preoccupation with athletics at the expense of academics.”
But University President Dave Frohnmayer said their argument was misplaced. He said that the authors of the op-ed should have noted how the athletic department – which according to the letter has a budget of $41.5 million – is self-sufficient.
“The argument, really, if you look at it, is the precipitous drop in state (funding),” Frohnmayer said. “Athletics is the wrong target. The target is the decline of legislative support.”
Frohnmayer said a rebuttal will be published today in The Register-Guard.
Frohnmayer said that at most universities, intercollegiate athletics is subsidized by university funding. Because the University of Oregon’s athletic department does not receive money from the school, it saves millions of dollars, he said.
“Funds that used to go (to the athletic department) have gone to other academic uses,” he said.
Nevertheless, the authors of the letter don’t see it that way: “As professors at the university, we find it increasingly hard to tell whether the UO is an academic research and teaching institution devoted to the education of our state’s students, or a minor league training ground for elite athletes,” the letter says.
The letter also criticizes the University’s $600 million fundraising campaign for earmarking $200 million for athletics.
“We should insist that donors put their money – their good, hard earned money – to the parts of the University that are most in need,” Tublitz said in an interview.
Frohnmayer said that “we talk to donors about all needs of the University but they give to where their passion lies. Donors can’t be led around by the nose.”
The letter from faculty also reports:
? The athletic department spent $1 million in 2003-05 on football recruiting, but that money could have been used to pay tuition for 62 students for one year, or 15 students for four years.
? Faculty salaries at the University are the lowest in the American Association of Universities, which makes it difficult to compete for talented faculty and results in lower academic quality.
? “The biology department today has 20 percent fewer office staff than in 1997, but 20 percent more students. Since 1994, its annual budget has increased by 47 percent, to $3.96 million from $2.7 million, while the athletic department’s increased by 224 percent, to $41.5 million from $18.5 million,” according to the letter.
? “The University’s 2004 four- and five-year graduation rates, at 36.4 percent and 56.7 percent respectively, are significantly below our academic peers and near the bottom of the Pac-10,” according to the letter.
Motivations
Tublitz said his motivation for the letter was nothing personal. He said the letter was only sent to tenured faculty members so that untenured faculty would not feel pressured to do something that might result in retribution. It took roughly 2 1/2 weeks to gather signatures during winter break, he said.
“We’re writing this for the purpose of stimulating conversation on how to improve our academic quality, and to point out the ironic juxtaposition between raising continuous improvements on the athletics side, and a continued decline on our academic side,” he said in an interview Monday. “We don’t have anything against athletics or student athletes, we are in awe of all the work they do … but it’s not an issue of athletics or academics, its an issue of recentering our priorities.”
Student response
Robert Griesinger, Pit Crew president and business major, said that athletics play a huge role in students’ lives, and that the University’s efforts in athletics are worthwhile.
“If there’s a donor, and they’re willing to donate ‘X’ amount of money to a project that’s going to be completely athletic based … to turn them down because we’re focusing on academics is ridiculous.”
Griesinger, an out-of-state student from California, said the prominence of the University’s basketball and football programs played a significant role in his decision to attend the University of Oregon.
Sara Hamilton, ASUO senate president and philosophy major, said the issue goes beyond the University of Oregon.
“I do support (the faculty),” she said. “At the same time I would be cautious to completely find an easy target. … They’re competing for limited resources.”
Click here to read the letter from faculty