Recently my friend and student affairs colleague Jeff Lail started a blog series about The College Sports Cash Cow. Jeff is a big sports fan, so his posts are not coming from a higher-education elitist and biased position.
The Academic Senate at University of California Berkeley must have read Jeff’s blog. Last week The Daily Californian reported, “The UC Berkeley division of the Academic Senate approved a resolution Thursday urging Chancellor Robert Birgeneau to act immediately to end central campus financial support for the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.”
This could be the first punch thrown in the fight of priorities between academics and athletics during a time when monetary resources are limited. I don’t believe the debate between athletics and academics is a black and white issue, so I look forward to seeing how this will unfold at Berkeley.
