Written by Charles Passey
Higher education should be about education.
If you pay close attention to the world of higher education, you may have heard the latest news. No, it has nothing to do with the student movement over the war between Israel and Gaza. Or the name of another university president.
It’s about the fact that the Florida State University football team, despite going undefeated this season, has yet to qualify for the national championship.
But if you’re like me, you may be wondering what on earth this has to do with the true mission of universities: educating young people.
It’s not that I’m not interested in sports. Baseball is my special obsession. But I follow professional sports. The student version has no appeal for me. It’s like getting hooked on minor league baseball, when the major league version is just as accessible.
But it’s also something deeper. I have an inherent aversion to the glorification of athletics within academia. It’s one thing for the Dallas Cowboys, for example, to give their all to the game, but it’s another. That is their only purpose. But Florida State University should be known for what it teaches, whether it’s its renowned criminal justice program or its top-ranked film school that has produced Oscar-caliber talent.
It’s no secret why universities place such emphasis on sports, especially their football and basketball teams. Naturally, it has something to do with money. According to a recent USA Today ranking, 22 schools each earn his $150 million or more in revenue (think lucrative television contracts) from their athletic programs. And that amount is bigger than ever, with one analysis showing that nearly a decade ago, just one school in the most important SEC division exceeded that $150 million mark.
It’s also important to remember how athletic programs can serve as a rallying point for alumni and other school supporters, which can generate significant donations. A 2012 study found that five more wins in a college football season could increase donations to a school by 28%, or $682,000 in real dollars. . It is also possible that more high school students will apply to that university.
Let’s be honest: We are a country that loves sports, and we love winning sports teams even more. Universities just found a way to take advantage of it. Or my former journalist colleague Tom Peeling, who spends most of his fall Saturdays watching college football (particularly his alma mater, Penn State football), who, in my opinion, uses sports as a PR vehicle. It’s all about using it. For schools.
“It’s good to get your name out there,” he says.
However, it is questionable whether the ends justify the means. I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Let’s be honest: We are a country that loves sports, and we love winning sports teams even more. Universities just found a way to take advantage of it.
College admissions consultant Craig Meister is outraged by the simple idea that so many college students spend their Saturdays rooting for their soccer team when they could be doing other things, like studying. “The time people spend cheering and tailgating is time they’re not focusing on schoolwork,” he says.
Iliya Rybchin is a US-based partner at global management consulting firm Elixirr, and part of her job focuses on the business of sports. But even he feels he puts too much emphasis on college athletics.
“We’ve all seen countless stories of schools spending tens of millions of dollars on new, state-of-the-art soccer stadiums,” he says. “When was the last time you saw a school spend $100,000 on a new computer lab, maker studio, or robotics program?”
Let’s not get into the fact that student-athletes, who theoretically stand to benefit most from college sports programs, are being given brief opportunities through a variety of means. While universities rake in millions of dollars from the efforts of these students, young athletes receive little or no financial benefit. Thankfully, efforts and demands to change this system are growing, and the issue was even the subject of a U.S. Senate hearing in October.
I hear naysayers say that my argument ignores the concept of sports and school spirit. After all, it would be great to fill a concert hall and cheer on the student orchestra — “Good luck, Beethoven!” — but for most people, that’s not the same thing as gathering in a stadium and celebrating every touchdown. . Fall Saturdays are very meaningful to the University community.
Yet I say that college sports are increasingly destroying the ideals of college for the sake of almighty money. And I say this as someone who certainly didn’t worry too much about academics during his four years in the higher education world. But I read Plato, studied Shakespeare (I majored in English), and moved forward in my world to the point where I felt like everything had meaning.
And that point had nothing to do with winning soccer games.
-Charles Passey
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12/05/23 0928ET
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