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Chapter 30

College Athletics: The Control of the Campus

Ernest Boyer The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

November 22, 1938. One of America's most popular publications, Look magazine (newstand price IOC), featured Claudette Colbert on the cover doing the can-can. Another eye-catcher was a bold headline

EXPOSED—College Football is a Racket

Inside, the article said:

Back in the days when the season ended on Thanksgiving there was a college sport called football....But onlv old alumni remember it as a sport....Today, it has become a big business. Hypocritical as Snow White's stepmother-a S50 million racket that wears out turnstiles, amateur rules and educational standards, (p. 6)

That was more than 45 years ago. About 10 years before Look magazine e x p o s e - i n 1929, to be e x a c t - t n e

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching prepared a massive report. Bulletin No. 23, entitled American College Athletics (Savage, 1929). The report while quaint sounding, still has a familiar ring. A few key quotations f rom that 1929 report are as follows:

The extreme development of competitive games in the colleges has reached into secondary schools. The college athlete begins his career before he gets to college.

Once in college the student who goes in for competitive sports, finds himself under a pressure, hard to resist, to give full time to his athletic career. No college boy training for a major team can have much time for thought and study.

405

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The college athlete finds himself suddenly an importan man on campus^He begm to live on a scale never before imagined. A special table is provided. Sport clothes and expensive trips are furnished him out of the athletic chest.

He works under paid professional coaches. Any father who has listened to the pro-fessional coaching a college team will have some misgivings as to the cultural value

of the process. A system of recruiting and subsidizing has grown up, under which boys are offered pecuniary and other inducements to enter a particular college.

For many games the strict organization and the tendency to commercialize the sport has taken the joy out of the game.

Finally, it is said that the blaze of publicity in which the college athlete lives is

a demoralizing influence. The irony is that what the Carnegie Foundation called a "demoralizing in-

fluence" in 1929 looks like the age of innocence today. Today, college coaches become folk heroes on campuses and across the state. They are more powerful than presidents, they operate private fiefdoms on the campus arid earn more han two or three professors or more than the president himself. Today, scandalous offers of multimillion dollar contracts are offered to young students. Also it is estimated that today colleges spend about $500 million each year to recruit athletes.

Today, big-time sports has become the slave of two powerful corrupting masters—professional athletics and TV. As far back as 1969, William Johnson said in Sports Illustrated,

In the past ten years sports in America has come to be the stepchild of television and in a sense, handmaiden to the vicissitudes of Madison Avenue...the impact of television in these last ten years has produced more revolutionary-and irrevocable-changes in sports than anything since mankind began to play orga-nized games.

In that same article, the late Bear Bryant is quoted as saying, " W e think TV exposure is so important to our program and so important to this university that we will schedule ourselves to fit the medium. I ' l l play at midnight if that s what

TV w a n t s " (Johnson, 1969). . . Hovering over the twin industries of professional sports and television is the

" i n d u s t r y " of gambling. The goal is to field the teams, keep television ratings high and the gambling coffers full. Recently, the Chronicle of Higher Education (Paul 1983) had a page 1 article headlined "Gambl ing on College Games Said To Be Up Dramat ica l ly ." The Chronicle story estimated that wagering on col-lege sports annually has topped SI billion.

Today gambling, TV, and professional sports have their own a g e n d a - a n d it is money. Students are simply " u s e d " as raw material for the profit-makers. The nation's campuses have become the " f a r m c lubs" of pro football and basket-ball and the situation can only get worse.

CONTROL OF THE CAMPUS 407

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Recently, the United States Football League was established. What was once an autumn-winter sport will now go into spring and summer. Pressures-to recruit players before they graduate will get more intense, and the likelihood of abuse will increase. The truth is that a small but influential core of the nation s colleges and universities are caught in a corrupting web of activity that deceives students distorts priorities on campus, and connects higher education to professional

athletics, gambling, and vice. The greatest tragedy, of course, is the terrible disservice to youth. Big-time

sport is depicted as a way to fame and riches. The fact is, however, that only a tiny fraction of those who compete in big-time college sports will make it to the pros and only a fraction of those who do will make the overpublicized salaries of top stars. Furthermore, they are academically diminished. In 1982, only about half the college seniors who competed in major college basketball conferences throughout the nation graduated in 4 years. In the Big Ten Conference alone, whose membership includes some of the most prestigious public institutions less than a third of the basketball dribbling stars were able to score academically on time with a diploma. In the Southwest Conference, only 17% of those playing graduated in 4 years. Most of these young men will not find careers on profes-sional teams. The vast majority who have poured all their energies into athletics will often find themselves consigned to a life of frustration, even failure, for play-ing instead of learning.

Frankly, there is something disgraceful about keeping athletes on campus for 4 years to use up their eligibility and then letting them go for failure to make academic progress; about a wire-service picture of the betting line inside a Las Vegas casino with the names of academic institutions in the background; about college coaches flying in university-owned jets to swoop down on young recruits and sign them up before the competition gets there; and about a university of-ficial screaming to his players f rom the sidelines and having his abusive language and childish tantrums reported in the local press. Yet, all of this goes on while the older generation wonders what has happened to the morals of our youth.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

The 1929 Carnegie report on athletics (Savage, 1929) asked the central question, What should be done? The 1983 version of this agonizing question is, Can anything be done?

In the Carnegie Report, Henry Pritchett, the outspoken president of the t-oun-dation, put the matter bluntly. He said,

The paid coach, the gate receipts, the special training tables, the costly sweaters and extensive journeys on Pullman cars, the recruiting from high school, the demoralizing publicity showered on the players, the devotion of an undue propor-tion of time to training, the devices for putting a desirable athlete, but a weak scholar.

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across the hurdles of examinations—these ought to stop and the inter-college and intramural sports be brought back to stage in which they can be enjoyed by large numbers of students and where they do not involve an expenditure of time and money wholly at variance with any ideal of honest study.

It is interesting to note, however, that in 1905, over 2 decades before the Pritchett statement, the President of Stanford, David Starr Jordan, had a solution of his own. Jordan said,

Let the football team become frankly professional. Cast off all the deception. Get the best professional coach. Pay him well and let him have the best men the town and alumni will pay for....Let the teams struggle in perfectly honest warfare, known for what it is and with no masquerade of amateurism or academic ideas....The evil in current football rests not in the hired men, but in academic lying and in the falsifica-tion of our own standards as associations of scholars and men of honor.

ATHLETICS TODAY

What about today? Can anything be done today? Quite frankly, I am enormously pessimistic. For almost 100 years, scandals in athletics have been noted, exposes have been written, reforms have been proposed, and still abuses grow. It may take an academic "Black Socks Scandal" or more to jolt the academic community into action. Meanwhile, we must continue to chip away. Recently, the National Collegiate Athletic Association approved tougher academic standards for players and stiffer rules for recruiting.

Also, there is new talk of barring all freshmen from intercollegiate basketball and football competition. Recently, Joe Paterno, one of the winningest coaches in the business was quoted in The New York Times (1983) as saying, " I ' v e always been opposed to freshmen eligibility for varsity sports . . . . I think a student needs his first year as a period of adjustment to college l i f e . " Such an arrangement would say to the new arrival on the campus: "You have come here as a student, first and foremost. You are just the same as all other students with no special training requirements or p e r k s . " Indeed, in entering the " c u l t u r e " of the stu-dent rather that of the athlete, the potential team player may at least have time to sort out priorities on his own.

More than rule-changing and tinkering is needed, however. Reduction of sports' abuse will come only when a wave of moral indignation sweeps the campuses. Perhaps the time has come for faculty at universities engaged in big-time athletics to organize a day of protest, to set aside a time to examine how the purpose of the universities is being subverted and how integrity is lost.

Furthermore, I propose that when serious athletic violations are discovered, the accreditation status of the institution should be revoked—along with the

CONTROL OF THE CAMPUS 409

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eligibility status for NCAA. It 's ironic that one periodically hears that a univer-sity has lost its athletic eligibility, but never does one hear that a college has been put on accreditation probation or has been academically suspended because of unethical behavior or for the abuse of students. And yet nothing strikes closer to the integrity of the institution. I also propose that presidents of universities and colleges begin to say publicly what they acknowledge privately: that big-time sports are out of control.

In a caustic criticism of presidential leadership, Henry Pntchett in the 1929 Carnegie Report on Athletes (Savage, 1929) said that

Perhaps our fundamental error has consisted in an inability to distinguish between undue expansion and requisite growth....Be that as it may at a time when the col-lege president might have curbed his alumni in their hue and cry for numbers, he ran with the noisiest.

and Pritchett added

There can be no doubt as to where lies the responsibility to correct this situation. The defense of the intellectual integrity of the college and universities lies with the president and (athletic) faculty.

It is not quite that simple, as every president clearly understands. Indeed, several years ago the president of one of this nation's most sports active institutions said that every president in his conference would be fired if he said what he actually felt about athletics.

However, presidents can begin to take some very specific steps. Campus leaders can meet with each other and talk about cutting back expenditures for recruit-ment and training, and they can continue to get involved in NCAA deliberation. It is a sign of hope that 100 college leaders participated in the last NCAA delibera-tion.' By reaching agreements within the various conferences, we can begin scaling back on commitment to big-time athletics without individual schools jeopardizing their standing.

Furthermore, governing boards have an absolutely critical role to play in stop-ping the corruption of big-time sports. When a president wants to fire a coach and is told by the board that he will have to go before the coach does, as has happened, then we see how much erosion of academic integrity has been lost. I get the clear impression that some trustees would rather see a Heisman Trophy than a Nobel Prize on campus.

'Robert Atwell, Brace Grimes, and Donna Lopiano write about SALT-type negotiations to get the process started in the Money game: Financing collegiate athletics. (1980). Washington, DC: American Council on Education. (A good idea, I believe.)

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A RENEWED INTEREST IN WELLNESS

Many institutions have athletic programs that do not involve the destructive spirit I have just described. At these institutions competitive sports are kept in appropriate perspective, and at most of the nat ion 's colleges, priority is given to the needs of all the students, not just a privileged few. Indeed, the silver lining in the dark cloud I have painted is the renewed interest in health on campuses today.

There is a growing respect for wellness among the students. Nutrition is bet-ter understood. Regular exercise is now a way of life for many. Intramural sports are popular. Life-destroying habits, such as smoking, are far less popular today. At Princeton University, for example, the health director reported that only about 5% of entering freshmen smoke. I propose that in the decade of the 1980s the nation's colleges and universities will shift priorities f rom destructive competi-tion for the few to health-related programs for the many.

Specifically, I suggest that all students, as a part of high school or college general education, be introduced to the miracle of the human body. I suggest that all students be taught about nutritious food and about exercise, and begin to understand that caring for one ' s body is a sacred trust, and that wellness is a prerequisite to all else. Furthermore, I propose that all students participate in sports, and that the college not only help organize such programs, but provide facilities as well.

Recently, the director of health at a large East Coast university put the matter bluntly, stating, "Student health and big-time athletes have nothing to do with each o t h e r . " Indeed, health directors at colleges and universities talk about how students, quite literally, " w e a r o u t " their bodies through grueling competition. Their bodies are battered, their bones broken. Turning to another sport, the director added,

Think about the swimmer who spends six hours a day in the pool, whose shoulders have been worn out. What does looking at the bottom of a pool for six hours a day have to do with liberal education. It even ceases to be fun.

This leads to an important footnote: I am convinced the placement of the medical directors in the administrative hierarchy of the college is critically important. At large and highly competitive institutions, the sport medical doctor reports to the director of athletics—which is a conflict of interest and may jeopardize the medical doctor 's integrity. The medical director should report to the general administra-tion to retain independence and to assure his concern about the students—not the protection of the system.

BIG-TIME ATHLETICS' EFFECT ON STUDENTS

This brings me back to where I began. The tragedy of big-time athletics is not just corruption on the campus, but the damaging of students.

CONTROL OF THE CAMPUS 411

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In writing of the recent Herschel Walker episode, columnist Richard Cohen

(1983) said in the Washington Post,

There is no escaping the conclusion that big-time football does nothing but corrode college life. It has nothing to do with education, which is what college is supposed to be about, except in the sense that it mocks it. You cannot be both a semi-pro player and a full-time student. No one has that kind of time. Even in college the day has just twenty-four hours...You can't blame Walker for doing what he did. He was schooled by people who have little regard for education and tutored by in-stitutions that have prostituted themselves to sports, (p. 61)

Cohen goes on to note that the Walker incident " re inforced the view that sports and not education is what pays o f f ' (C . l ) . "This is actually the case for Walker, Cohen says, " b u t it is not the case for your average k i d - n o t even for your exceptional k id . . . .There is just not much room at the top. For most kids, sports is just another way to stay at the bo t tom" ( C . l ) .

Recently the Carnegie Foundation published a study entitled, The Control of the Campus-A Report on the Governance of Higher Education (1983). In glanc-ina through that document, it seemed to shed some light on the problem of athletics in higher education. In discussing the integrity of higher education, we say that the academy must have full authority over the essential functions on the campus. While we warned against Washington interference and corporate interference, not a word was said about the loss of integrity through professional athletics or TV or even gambling interference. No mention is made of pressure f rom alumni, board members , coaches, in the misguided notion that a team must win at any cost In the end, these pressures may be the most destructive threats of all. l o the extent that colleges and universities allow standards to be compromised through athletics, the integrity of the campus is lost just as surely as if it had been taken by political interference. In our report on governance, we call for a renewal of presidential leadership that can help colleges define their own academic standards and social obligations rather than wait passively for such standards to be imposed by others.

More than a half-century ago, the Carnegie study on athletics stated,

Commercialism...(has) been permitted to corrupt a forni of activity that might have been of great value in training the powers of youth. Now that the current is flowing with its full force, the college president must consume years of persuasions to ac-complish in athletics results that thirty or even ten years ago he might have achieved in months. In this respect, he has been a leader who has not led. (Savage, 1929).

The time has come for everyone who cares about the future of higher educa-tion, not just the president, to oppose the abuses of big-time athletics and more importantly, to urge a larger vision on campus. That larger vision is the wellness

of all students. In the decade of the '80s, health and that old-fashioned word sport should

become an essential part of campus life. The physical well-being of every stu-

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dent should be pursued not just as an indulgence or frill, but as an important and sacred obligation.

REFERENCES

COHEN, R. (1983, February 27). Suckers. Washington Post, p. c . l .

THE control of the campus—A report on the governance of higher education. (1983). The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Washington, DC.

EXPOSED—College football is a racket. (1938, November 22). Look, pp. 6-7.

PAUL, A. (1983, March 2). Gambling on college games said to be up dramatically. Chronicle of Higher Education, 1, 16-18.

SAVAGE, H.J. (1929). American college athletics. New York: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.