"Level the playing field, cut UAlbany sports"

[Uncle Buck]

These are not my words and I didn't see it posted here, but Brett Bowles of the TimesUnion.com wrote an article proposing such a cut. The university will apparently be "deactivating" programs and positions to save money, but Bowles thinks it should come from sports.

It's sad that he mentions Hofstra in the article as setting a precedent with their elimination of football. First of all, it was the murder of a program and the places he said the money went, nothing has been documented by Hofstra to show how it has helped. Hofstra's fiscal crisis, that school wasn't in a state of fiscal crisis, it just has a non-athlete asshole for a president.

I hope the president at UA stands strong.

http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Level-the-playing-field-cut-UAlbany-sports-792637.php

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Of course not. UAlbany's sports teams compete in conferences that receive almost no national exposure and do not have access to the lucrative television broadcast contracts, merchandising or revenue sharing agreements enjoyed by large, nationally known programs.

Two comments:

1. I give UAlbany national exposure they would not otherwise get.
2. This debases athletics as something that should make money or not exist. If that's the philosophy, how does keeping the French department make sense?


At a time of severe budget crisis when a business model is being invoked to justify the elimination of academic programs, non-academic units such as athletics should be held to the same standard of cost effectiveness. At a minimum, athletics should be expected to rely on the intercollegiate athletics fee and whatever external revenue they manage to attract.

While I'm not saying the athletics program makes money, I am absolutely certain that the football program creates more revenue than the French program.


If those savings do not sufficiently address future academic budgetary needs, athletics should be downsized before eliminating academic programs and compromising the educational mission of the university.

This is exactly the strategy being followed by renowned institutions such as the University of California at Berkeley, which recently announced the deactivation of men's baseball, women's gymnastics and women's lacrosse at the end of the 2010-11 season, as well as the conversion of its men's rugby team from NCAA status to a club sport. The savings for 2011-12 will be $4 million, with another million to be trimmed from the annual athletics budget by 2014 (http://tinyurl.com/3akdhnf).

Umm... 'kay. Cal-Berkley, member of the BCS, Pac-12, "revenue-generating".


A second precedent is that of Hofstra University, whose football team competed in the same football championship subdivision of the NCAA as UAlbany. Hofstra eliminated football at the end of the 2009-10 in response to its own budget crisis, saving $4.5 million annually. That money has been reinvested in new faculty positions, academic programs and need-based scholarships (http://tinyurl.com/32bt94b).

Hofstra is not saving $4.5 million annually.

http://lehighfootballnation.blogspot.com/2009/12/still-mad-about-losing-hofstra-football.html


$4.5 million certainly sounds like a lot of money. But the way Rabinowitz talks about the numbers, he makes it sound like Hofstra takes a check from its general fund that would normally go towards making the world safe for puppies, kittens and babies and instead have to make a check out for $4.5 million for the football program. That's a lie.

The great majority of "money" "spent" on the football program is financial aid. Hofstra's tuition is $42,526 a year. Multiply that times 60, and you get a little over $2.5 million in scholarship money. (Money which - oh by the way - largely goes to folks who need full or partial assistance anyway, and goes to the most diverse team on campus.)

So let's say that this is put back into the main scholarship pool. This money will go towards all students now - unless the goal is to replace the one hundred or so football players with more well-to-do, less diverse, less needy students.

If it's about saving money, the plan has to be to make the student body less diverse and less needy - the only case in which there is significant scholarship cost savings in dropping football, since "needy" students would be replaced with "not-needy" students (probably students that are whiter and richer, too). Either that, or else the university will use those funds to target diverse students that need financial aid - in which case there will be no savings.

I'm no friend of cutting French programs, but this person's request to cut UAlbany athletics instead seems to only be a reactionary op-ed piece, filled with the same sort of false logic we've all seen before.

[danefan]

This guy's an idiot.

The didn't cut any language classes. All they did was cut the language majors, which IMO don't really have any real value at a Research University anyway.

[Bogus Megapardus]

. . . non-academic units such as athletics should be held to the same standard of cost effectiveness . . .

So that means that French Studies ought to produce revenue equivalent to football or be eliminated, correct?

I will ask for the umpteenth time - this time to Mr. Bowles - why do colleges have football teams? For that matter, why do they have grassy quadrangles, or fraternity houses, or dormitories?

[Mr. C]

This guy's an idiot.

The didn't cut any language classes. All they did was cut the language majors, which IMO don't really have any real value at a Research University anyway.

This guy is a knucklehead. That is one of the worst columns I've ever read in terms of its use of logic. I was wondering the same thing as Dane Fan, how can you compare language majors to athletics? I'm sure the language programs are going to do a lot for Albany's name recognition and for drumming up financial support.

Why is it that athletics is suppose to pay for itself, when other departments do not? And using Hofstra as evidence to support your opinion is a total failure.

[danefan]

This guy is a knucklehead. That is one of the worst columns I've ever read in terms of its use of logic. I was wondering the same thing as Dane Fan, how can you compare language majors to athletics? I'm sure the language programs are going to do a lot for Albany's name recognition and for drumming up financial support.

Why is it that athletics is suppose to pay for itself, when other departments do not? And using Hofstra as evidence to support your opinion is a total failure.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Times Union has a transparent vendetta against UAlbany. Its in bed financially with Siena (Times Union has the naming rights to Sien's bball arena), UAlbany's cross-town rival.

[Mr. C]

One thing to keep in mind is that the Times Union has a transparent vendetta against UAlbany. Its in bed financially with Siena (Times Union has the naming rights to Sien's bball arena), UAlbany's cross-town rival.
So did the Times-Union support the elimination of football at Siena? Perhaps we should get rid of Siena's successful basketball team, because it doesn't pay for itself every year? Pretty bad ethics if this opinion writer really is supporting a Siena over Albany position.

[danefan]

So did the Times-Union support the elimination of football at Siena? Perhaps we should get rid of Siena's successful basketball team, because it doesn't pay for itself every year? Pretty bad ethics if this opinion writer really is supporting a Siena over Albany position.

No. The TU ran numerous articles about alumni trying to save the Siena football program.

The TU has zero ethics when it comes to writing about UAlbany. You should read some of the articles and blogs written by our former beat writer whining about how our head bball coach won't speak to him. The beat writer was recently transferred to the Siena beat after the Siena beat writer got "reassigned" to the city desk not long after writing numerous blog entries on DWI arrests of former and current Siena basketball players.

We've been writing letters to the editor for years about the slanted coverage all of which are returned with the repsonse that there is no interest in UAlbany athletics that would warrant coverage.

Another great feature of the TU website - a Google map showing crime related to UAlbany students titled something like UAlbany Crime Map. It doesn't mention that in most instances the crimes are against UAlbany student victims or the fact that a huge number of Siena (and other local college) students live in the same areas identified on the UAlbany Crime Map. It was accompanied by an article discussing the number of crimes perpetrated by UAlbany students.

All the while the President of the UAlbany Foundation is none other than George R. Hearst III, Publisher of the Times Union. Complete and utter BS that he lets it go on right under his nose.

[Seawolf97]

First I cannot see any four year SUNY school dropping sports. The Big 4 are D1 and the smaller four year schools have pretty solid D3 programs. This guy is an idiot , maybe he went to high school with Hofstra's President. In any event I think Albany
will be in Division 1 for quite awhile.

[Uncle Buck]

I've been away from the computer and just had a chance to catch up on some posts. LFN, how i would love to get you on a stage to debate the scumbag Rabinowitz at Hofstra.

Just a thought about eliminating sports and keeping language majors. The other day while driving in the car with my wife, she was talking about being nervous going on her first job interview in 9 years since our first child was born. She looks at me and tells me that she envies the level of self-confidence that i have and then asks was i always this confident and if not, then how did i get this way? Now i don't consider myself to be arrogant, but i have a certain confidence about me that if i want to, i can do anything i set my mind to. I explained that i learned it from playing sports, from competing and pushing myself all the time. I told her if you weren't confident on the field, you'd get eaten alive. Bottom line, the classes i took at Hofstra didn't make me who i am today, the hard work, pain and sweat i put in on the field did.

[DFW HOYA]

These are not my words and I didn't see it posted here, but Brett Bowles of the TimesUnion.com wrote an article proposing such a cut. The university will apparently be "deactivating" programs and positions to save money, but Bowles thinks it should come from sports. http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Level-the-playing-field-cut-UAlbany-sports-792637.php

Didn't anyone see the tagline: "Brett Bowles is an associate professor of French Studies at UAlbany and director of the French Studies program"? His department is among the programs that are considered to be decativated.

[bkrownd]

I have close connections to a graduate of their language programs. Gotta say, I've experienced the financial reality their students and instructors have to deal with, and it's pretty depressing. Got a lot of respect for people who can hang in there under those circumstances. Don't think dropping football will help that at all, though.

[Uncle Buck]

To tell you the truth, i looked at the the name of the moron who wrote it and neglected to see the nexis between the two, but if that is what he is, then yes, it certainly makes sense. Unfortunately for him, it's still an uninformed opinion piece that should be used as fish wrapping.

[danefan]

To tell you the truth, i looked at the the name of the moron who wrote it and neglected to see the nexis between the two, but if that is what he is, then yes, it certainly makes sense. Unfortunately for him, it's still an uninformed opinion piece that should be used as fish wrapping.

Yeah, its sour grapes at its finest.

I feel no sympathy for the language programs that got cut. UAlbany is a research university whose focus is on major cutting edge technology. Language majors have no place anymore. Even if the budget cuts weren't a catalyst, this is probably a decision that would have been made eventually. There are plenty of other SUNY schools that you can get a French major at.

[Franks Tanks]

Yeah, its sour grapes at its finest.

I feel no sympathy for the language programs that got cut. UAlbany is a research university whose focus is on major cutting edge technology. Language majors have no place anymore. Even if the budget cuts weren't a catalyst, this is probably a decision that would have been made eventually. There are plenty of other SUNY schools that you can get a French major at.

Yup, every institution of higher learning can't be all things to all people. The SUNY system has schools like Bing and Genesco that provide wonderful programs in the liberal arts. I see nothing wrong with Albany making a push to be the tech or science campus if that fits their strategy and the needs of the SUNY system.

[Franks Tanks]

I've been away from the computer and just had a chance to catch up on some posts. LFN, how i would love to get you on a stage to debate the scumbag Rabinowitz at Hofstra.

Just a thought about eliminating sports and keeping language majors. The other day while driving in the car with my wife, she was talking about being nervous going on her first job interview in 9 years since our first child was born. She looks at me and tells me that she envies the level of self-confidence that i have and then asks was i always this confident and if not, then how did i get this way? Now i don't consider myself to be arrogant, but i have a certain confidence about me that if i want to, i can do anything i set my mind to. I explained that i learned it from playing sports, from competing and pushing myself all the time. I told her if you weren't confident on the field, you'd get eaten alive. Bottom line, the classes i took at Hofstra didn't make me who i am today, the hard work, pain and sweat i put in on the field did.

Good points. Many senior business leaders have competed in sports; they understand how to prepare and take on competition with confidence.

The new leader of my group at work is a big football guy. He can take any situation and turn it into a FB analogy. About twice a day he uses the "You are what your record says you are quote". I am obviously a big football guy and even I grow tired of his references. I can imagine what some of my co-workers think.

[danefan]

Yup, every institution of higher learning can't be all things to all people. The SUNY system has schools like Bing and Genesco that provide wonderful programs in the liberal arts. I see nothing wrong with Albany making a push to be the tech or science campus if that fits their strategy and the needs of the SUNY system.

The mentality that ever SUNY needs to have everything is the major philosophical problem with the SUNY system, IMO. The SUNY system should offer everything to meet its goal of providing an affordable education to all students in NY. But the duplication in the system for programs is ridiculous. Why should SUNY schools that are less than 2 hours apart need to offer the same major program? its a huge overhead on the entire system, but because its run by politicians they'll never change it. Its easier to get votes the way it is now. Easier to explain it.

[Franks Tanks]

The mentality that ever SUNY needs to have everything is the major philosophical problem with the SUNY system, IMO. The SUNY system should offer everything to meet its goal of providing an affordable education to all students in NY. But the duplication in the system for programs is ridiculous. Why should SUNY schools that are less than 2 hours apart need to offer the same major program? its a huge overhead on the entire system, but because its run by politicians they'll never change it. Its easier to get votes the way it is now. Easier to explain it.

The PA state schools have similar issues.

[downbythebeach]

Wanna learn French culture, save some money and live in Europe for a year, or buy Rosetta Stone.