Varsity sports are a marginal part of life at universities, where the focus is supposed to be on academics, but because of their high profile, sports sometimes place the spotlight on ailments that plague higher education.
A current example is the firing of Oregon track coach Martin Smith. Although some claim he resigned, employees do not qualify for severance pay when they choose to leave the school. Smith got an attractive departure gift: $500,000.
His firing reminds me of the early 1970s, when Oregon deprived itself of an outstanding football coach who also did not deserve to be fired, Jerry Frei. No one wanted Frei to leave, but significant donors did not like his assistant, John Robinson, and insisted he be fired. Frei said no, so the boosters went after Frei. He left along with Robinson.
That change was significant; it suggests that an institution that depends on private donations has to “jump” when the donors say “jump.” That’s the case, even though donors know little about how the University operates.
At the University itself — financially hamstrung by the loss of state revenues — “jumping” becomes part of the routine in far more important areas. It’s like a bribe coming from a private donor or an agency of government. Getting the money is essential when the budget is sinking. So there are times when “jumping” affects areas far more essential than athletics.
It’s hard to blame school administrators. Unhappily, when taxpayers choose to deprive the state of money needed to keep the ship’s deck on an even keel, it begins to list with a danger of capsizing. Private donors, some generous, some self-serving, have to be cultivated to stay afloat.
Getting back to sports, boosters who messed up things for Frei were mainly Portland alums. Sound familiar? It should to anyone who saw a generous Portland alumnus, Phil Knight, withdraw his multimillion-dollar pledge for Autzen expansion a few years ago. He was mad because the University had hooked up with the Worker Rights Consortium, which monitors firms like Knight’s Nike in overseas operations.
Then Higher Ed changed its rules so WRC membership was not allowed. Knight came back and Autzen expanded. With his track record and the opposition he has voiced to Smith, it’s easy to see how Knight and others may again be biting the hand they feed.
George Beres lives in Eugene