For those of you who think sports don't do anything for universities

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=rovell_darren
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Can you spare a dime?
The Patriots' run will be an interesting case study in the debate over whether sports success necessarily leads to school success. Two years ago, Saint Joseph's made a nice run as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Today, the school has the highest number of applications to sift through and the highest donation rate in its history, according to The Washington Times. But some will argue that Saint Joe's received more attention for its run because the Hawks had an undefeated regular season.

Then there's Gonzaga, which received 1,841 applications in 1999, the first year it made a dent in the tournament. Today, Gonzaga receives more than 4,000 applications and donations are at an all-time high, according to the Times. Kudos to GMU for trying to cash in quickly on the success. The front of its athletics Web site has a link to donate directly to the school. The site notes that donations made to the booster club after March 23 will not affect priority seats for the Final Four.

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[taterguy]

1. was hoping it was an article about Duke's lacrosse team :)

[Scout1071]

2. I was hoping is wasn't an article on Duke's lacrosse team.

Shouldn't be a reflection on college athletics in general. Sounds like some real tools on a Duke lacrosse team thought they were above the law. Imagine that....Duke students/alumni thinking they are better than the rest.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Here are the questions:

1) Are the donations to the athletic department or to the academic programs?

2) Are the new students of high calibre or are they the kind of unthinking trendoids who apply to a school just because they've heard of it, i.e. the kind who actually worsen the atmosphere of a campus?

3) If the donations are to the general fund, how are they used? To hire more administrators or to hire more full-time professors and upgrade the facilities?

I taught at a college that had won national championships in two sports in its NCAA division, and it was mediocre because the sports fan alumni kept pressuring the president who in turn pressured the admissions committee to admit marginal students. The PR department was good buddies with the athletic director, so the college's name was in the paper only when the teams played.

Then we got a new president who came in and said, "That new athletic center you're building is great, but it's so much better-looking and better-equipped than anything else on this campus that it's ridiculous. Your library is tiny, antiquated, and not wheelchair accessible. The theater department does miracles on a shoestring and deserves something better than the hole in the wall it currently has. I'm appalled at the grades and test scores of the average incoming freshman. And what's this? A 1600-student campus and the only students of color are from other countries? Most administrative and academic departments don't have Internet connections?"

Oh, the athletic alumni screamed and hollered, but this new president ordered that no more special admits were to be given for athletes. Furthermore, there was to be a fundraising campaign for a new library.

The athletic alumni tried to lobby the faculty for a vote of no-confidence in the president, but surprise, surprise, the faculty were happy with this turn of events. I'm still on the school's mailing list, and they're doing just fine.