Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991 TAG: 9103210458
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Then someone discovered that others would pay good money for admission to athletic contests, first football, then basketball; and the degradation of American higher learning had begun.
The stupid college athlete, a standout on the field and a dud in class, has been a stock comedy figure for generations. But he's no longer a laughing matter. Money, the universal corrupter, has in some places turned education's purpose on its head.
There are notable exceptions. Mr. Jefferson's university maintains strict academic requirements, yet has been able to field nationally prominent teams. When Virginia Tech athletics fell prey to temptation a few years ago, the predominant reaction among alumni and other Virginians was heartening: Let's try to win, sure, but first let's clean up our act.
Still, at many institutions, sports is the tail that wags the dog. It brings in money via admissions and TV contracts. Alumni give financial support to athletics before academics. Big-name coaches make more money than university presidents.
Colleges become football and basketball factories; for many athletes, classes are at best an afterthought. After four years of football at Oklahoma State, Dexter Manley became a professional standout with the Washington Redskins; years later he admitted he couldn't read. The University of Nevada-Las Vegas, defending national basketball champions, has a string of victories stretching unbroken back into last season; but the school's academic reputation is negligible.
Regularly there are new revelations of recruiting violations and other kinds of cheating by colleges and coaches that put winning above all. Such are the monetary rewards available - both atop and under the table - that countless college athletes are amateurs in name only.
No wonder there's widespread disillusionment about the role of these institutions. College athletic associations have tried to police themselves, but violations continue; the direst punishments, such as suspensions from tournament competition, do not deter those that still are big box office.
A drastic switch in priorities is overdue, and the pressure for reform received a boost this week. A report from the Knight Foundation's Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics has recommended that universities take control of all athletic revenues. No-pass, no-play should become the standard. College athletes should be ineligible to play unless they're on track to graduate within five years. "Nothing short of a new structure," says the report, "holds much promise for restoring intercollegiate athletics to their proper place."
Of course, nothing stops individual schools from imposing stricter standards on their own. But it would help if the effort were concerted, so they'd have less fear of being put at a financial or other disadvantage. That's why the Knight Report suggests the most logical level for reform is within conference groupings.
Hoopla over college sports obscures the fact that their athletes are often among the prime victims of the mania for victory. This was noted by Notre Dame's president emeritus, the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, who with former University of North Carolina President William Friday chaired the commission. College athletes, Hesburgh said, "are brought in, used and then discarded like so much rubbish on the scrap heap of humanity." A tiny minority will reach professional ranks. Many, unqualified ever to be in college, leave with little or no education.
More than a century ago, the president of an Ivy League college cancelled a football game with a rival school, saying he wouldn't let a group of students travel 100 miles "to agitate a bag of wind." Time for some of that kind of authority to return to the prexies' offices. What are colleges and universities for?
by CNB