Universities have a mission of educating students, but at Division I schools, it seems like that mission can be dwarfed by the emphasis placed on the not-so-academic basketball and football programs. Caught in the middle of this misguided system are the student-athletes, who receive only a measly college education for their athletic feats. Successful sports teams bring a ginormous amount of money to universities, creating substantial incentives for schools to use whatever means necessary to coax elite athletes to suit up for their teams.
An article in the enemy paper last week shows that even our beloved Badgers are not immune from the scourge of big-time college athletics. It reported student-athletes have been using some of their housing scholarship money to buy mopeds, and the first lady of
Athletes should absolutely be coddled and given access to perks that make the rest of the student body jealous. For better or for worse, successful football and basketball teams play a crucial role in building Badger pride and even attracting additional funds for academic programs. It is thus in the university’s collective best interest to attract the best athletic talent by offering sweet perks and a relaxed moral code.
Students who cherish the experience of being a Badger are able to make the connection between the excitement produced by sporting events, such as football Saturdays, and their love of attending UW-Madison. College sporting events are unique spectacles that enliven a campus like no academic talk can. Other students pay a small price if the elite athletes who provide exhilarating diversions from calculus and chemistry are treated better than they are.
Critics who think the college athletic system is exploitive or detrimental to the university’s academic mission have other options available. Other elite academic schools, such as Northwestern, field “Division I” athletic teams, which undoubtedly provide equally enthralling sporting experiences. In
Admittedly, making the UW-Madison “experience” one of the best in the country is hardly a noble goal for the university. Those mopeds must be worth more than just Ollie Undergrad’s “Jump Around” experience.
The most important value of a successful athletic program is that it proves that trickle-down economics might actually work. When a student graduates from UW-Madison and enters the real world, his connections with happenings in
Americans love siding with a winner, and so when the Badgers win, logic would dictate that alumni feel more inclined to donate money to their alma mater. This logic generally seems to be held by university administrators and is supported by a study by economics professors Robert Baade and Jeffery Sundberg that shows a correlation between bowl game and NCAA appearances and increased donations to public universities.
The effects of Badger success also can potentially trickle down to prospective students via what has been coined “The Flutie Effect.” It turns out that young 18-year-olds also like to run with a winner, with history showing that applications to a university usually increase after a school has a solid football or basketball season. At UW-Madison, the result of athletic success is precisely: more application fees, more of the coveted out-of-state tuition and maybe even a few more elite students.
Stories about the perks given to college student-athletes never fail to bring choruses of criticism of big-time college athletics. Most sports fans and other reasonable people, however, recognize that athletic success facilitated by the heroic feats of pampered student-athletes have a positive impact on both the big-school college experience and academic success in the labs and classrooms.
Zachary ([email protected]) is a graduate student studying water resources engineering and water resource management.
