Book Review #2

Brand, Myles. "The Role and Value of Intercollegiate Athletics in Universities." Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 33.1 (2006): 9-20. Print.

Myles Brand offers an excellent counter argument which will be crucial in creating a well rounded research paper. Brand begins by stating "The Standard View" of athletics in the university; athletics are perceived as being an extracurricular activity rather than a focal point for the prosperity of an institution. In Brand's description of the Standard View of college athletics he relates athletes to art and music programs. He makes a valid point in stating that art and music students are accepted into an institution based on skill, even if GPA and SAT scores are well below the minimum requirement set by the school. Student athletes and music/art students are actually quite similar; They must be accomplished in their the sport or program that they wish to be enrolled, they miss class sometimes to attend off-campus events, and the institution funds the programs. These are just a few of the examples that Myles Brand uses to justify the presence of intercollegiate athletics. Brand then presents the "Integrated View", which basically would replace the Standard view with one that is more balanced and sees athletics as part of the mission of the university. He concludes with saying that the educational value behind athletics should not be ignored, and it should be a positive part of university life and culture. 

Myles Brand is very knowledgeable on the the presence of athletic programs in American universities. He was the president of both the University of Oregon and Indiana University, as well as the president of the NCAA. At a glance it may seem that Brand is the ideal person to go to on matters pertaining to college athletics, but he actually offers a biased view. He is exactly the kind of person that feeds an institution to the wolves of the  entertainment industry that athletics represent. 

The Standard View- is the perception that intercollegiate athletics is an extracurricular activity, rather than an important part of education and campus culture.

The Integrated View- creating the perception that athletic programs are made a part of the central goal of the institution, or the educational mission of the university. 

"Some content is acquired in cognate courses, and that tends to be factual knowledge. The primary content, however, in both cases is knowledge how, and that is acquired in individual or group settings with a master teacher or coach." (12) The quote depicts how athletes do in fact learn while they are participating in the athletic programs. They learn factual things that can easily be applied to their life. 



"Division I, athletics departments should be self-supporting or, better, return revenue to the institution for central academic purposes. "(14)  Brand states that the financial funding that supports intercollegiate athletic programs should come from the program itself, and should not take away from university funding meant to enhance education; athletic programs should be self sustaining. 



"Intercollegiate athletics, at its best, demonstrates positive values. These values include striving for excellence, perseverance, resilience, hard work, respect for others, sportsmanship and civility, and losing—and winning—with grace."(17) This is yet another quote which states the positives that athletic programs bring to an institution of higher education. 


The material of this academic journal will serve as an essentially part of my counter argument. I will use the perspective of Myles Brand to question and complicate my research question. Even though big-time athletic programs take away from the intellectual integrity of the institution and sell out its resources in the name of entertainment, it still has positives that it brings to campus life and culture.

Book Review #1

Dowling, William C. Confessions of a Spoilsport: My Life and Hard Times Fighting Sports Corruption at an Old Eastern University. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007. Print.

In Dowlings, Confessions of a Spoilsport: My Life and Hard TImes Fighting Sports Corruption at an Old Eastern University, there are many different issues presented that strongly depict how big-time college athletics are toxic to the learning environment of higher education. The primary focus of Dowling's experience is at Rutgers University. Rutgers, once in what is known as the Patriot League, played Ivy League institutions such as Princeton, Colombia, and Yale, made the transition into the Big East conference. This was the beginning of an all out invasion that would prove to throw aside the intellectual foundation of the University. Increased funding and a focus on athletics inevitably resulted in a loss of a the educational environment that once consumed Rutgers. Dowling reflects on his experiences with the RU1000, a club dedicated to getting the word out about the reality of Big-time athletics in higher education. Through many ups and downs, the fight to get Rutgers back to the University that it once was would prove to be one that was out of the reach of such a small organization. All in all, Dowling provides evidence that shows just how harmful Div IA athletics are to the integrity of higher education, essentially alluding to the fact that there is no room for glorified athletics in higher education. 

William C. Dowling, once a professor of English at the University of New Mexico, experienced the corruption of athletics and how they diminish the value of education. He has seen, first hand, the negative effects that follow an institutions commitment to Div IA athletics. With his experience and ever lasting respect for education in American institutions, there is no better person to present these controversial facts. 

Some terms used frequently in his book are the "magic sphere" of Division IA athletics, and he often uses sports boosters as the reason that athletics continue to be such an important part of college.

Magic Sphere- is the term used to depict the bubble of corruption that surrounds college athletics. In this sphere anything goes , and recruits are guaranteed acceptance to a university at any cost necessary. 

Sports Boosters- sports advocates that view college athletics as the heart of a university. These people don't see any harm, only the so called benefit, that sports bring to a university. 

“a world in which the power wielded by the athletics department could rearrange, to any degree necessary, the environment in which athletes lived their daily lives” (pg. 7).-This quote describes the power tat athletics coaches have, and shows the corruption that lurks behind the curtain of college athletics programs. 

“..the only thing that matters at a university is big-time sports, the symbolic center of the institution has shifted profoundly”. (pg. 9).-The center of American institutions was once academics, but the presence of big-time athletics programs had lead to abrupt shift in the priorities of the modern institution. 

"Universities exist to transmit knowledge and understanding of ideas and values to students, and to add to the body of intellectual knowledge, not to provide entertainment for spectators or employment for athletes". -Friedman (pg.56).- Milton Friedman, a decorated Rutgers alumni endorsed the RU1000, and makes a clear point that athletics, in no way, contributes to the academic atmosphere that should be the center of a university. 

The material explained in Dowling's book strongly supports the topic of my research paper in the manner that it shows the degrading priorities of an institution committed to athletic success. It essentially provides me with the evidence needed to construct a well rounded research paper on the growing issue of Division IA athletics in higher education. It is short and to the point, with a clear message, it has proven to be exactly what I need to further my research. 

Five Scholarly Sources and Research Question

My sources: 

• Benford, Robert D. "THE COLLEGE SPORTS REFORM MOVEMENT: Reframing the “Edutainment” Industry." Sociological Quarterly 48.1 (2007): 1-28. Print. 
• Carey, Jack. "Knight Commission: Athletics Vs. Academic Spending Too Unbalanced." USA TodayPrint. 
• Dowling, William C. Confessions of a Spoilsport: My Life and Hard Times Fighting Sports Corruption at an Old Eastern University. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007. Print. 
• Goidel, Robert, and John Maxwell Hamilton. "Strengthening Higher Education through Gridiron Success? Public Perceptions of the Impact of National Football Championships on Academic Quality." Conference Papers -- American Association for Public Opinion Research (2005): 1. Print. 
• Pine, Nathan. "The Role of Athletics in the Academy: An Alternative Approach to Financial Investment." Journal of Sport & Social Issues 34.4 (2010): 475-80. Print. 

Research Question (still in the works):

Is there room for athletics in modern higher education? How has the overabundance of funding led to corruption within athletics and a loss in the quality of academics?

Unmaking the Public University

Well, another week has gone by, I intended on going to the Public University in Higher Education conference, but unfortunately couldn't make due to a change in my work schedule. I submitted the final draft for my analytic essay, but it was late as a result of me misreading the terms of the due date. Overall I think it was one of the most interesting topics I've ever written about; that is because as a student of higher education I can relate to the issue. Although I was unable to attend the conference I did do some research on one of the speakers who is a major advocate against the spread of privatization in American public colleges. Christopher Newfield, a University of California English professor, has written and spoken about the intrusion of privatization on public universities. The privatized institution is one that is focused on financial prosperity rather than the quality of education. I came across and article that is basically a criticism of Newfield's book "Unmaking the Public University and seems to explain the key points that Newfield makes while also offering some additional insight on the issue.(http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/140539-unmaking-the-public-university-by-christopher-newfield/P0). As stated in the article Christopher Newfield's 'Unmaking the Public University', "budgets shifted expenses through a reliance on teaching assistants and “visiting” rather than full-time (and tenured) faculty"(Murphy). Quality, educated faculty are being overlooked and cut in an effort for the institution to save money, as a result there are more TA's that get paid a lot less than a full-time professor would. This robs both teachers from their jobs, and students from receiving the best education for their money. Tuition rates are on the rise because state funding is decreasing; tuition rates make up for the loss of state funding, but what is there to show for it?  Technically there should not be a shift in quality if money isn't being lost. Higher education is making the shift to capitalism and it is becoming a business that prays on young students that aspire to gain freedom and opportunity from college. Murphy states, "Universities can’t be capitalist. They need to balance their books, but they need to teach from books, and produce more books, that challenge profit as the price of everything and the value of nothing". Higher education can't just sit on the sidelines and watch as the value of education diminishes, and college becomes more and more difficult for middle to lower class people to attend. College isn't about money, but academics and education; its something that should be attainable by everyone. If public universities are to become privatized the future could very well be grim for higher education, since the majority of people will not be able to attend, and the value of a college degree will all but disappear. 

RIOT review

I just finished the Rutgers RIOT tutorial and I have to say it's pretty informative. One of the things I liked most about it was the fact that you actually have to interact with the program, it makes things more interesting and keeps you pay attention. In a way its actually kind of fun and does a good job of appealing to the student. I learned a lot about research going through the program. It first touches on narrowing a research topic down to something thats manageable, yet allowing for enough to be written about. The second subject was using databases such as EBSCO host, which is much more reliable and easier to use than search engines such as google when trying to find sources for a research topic. My favorite thing (which I didn't know about) was Refworks. This seems like it makes citations so much easier by basically doing it for you. It helps you keep tract of your sources and in the end takes a load of during the last minutes before the paper is due. Keeping an organized log of sources is also something that makes things much easier so that you don't lose tract of the all the different sources that you've found. The library offers so much, and I plan to use it to its fullest potential to find the information that I need for my research paper. I like how you can use the database and find articles at no expense to you. I plan on doing the some thing that the videos showed to narrow the topic down to something interesting and easily manageable.

Analytic Essay and Privatization

It is now week 4 of the class, and I'm still not exactly sure about what I want my research paper to be about. I'm taking another class that recently touched on issues with the football program, and how athletics seems to have taken a priority over academics in terms of funding. This is an interesting topic because it can incorporate privatization and how it could effect college sports. I saw another student in the class is doing their research paper on something similar, so maybe I could focus on the football program specifically; dive into how college sports are essentially clouding the true value of higher education. Students view athletic programs as part of the college experience; there is an overwhelming focus on things that should not be taking priority over academics. The football program currently loses a lot more money than it brings in, and funding that should be going towards the salary of professors and other factors that benefit academics is being cut to make up for the immense deficit that is created by the football program. There needs to be a balance between college athletic programs and academics. If anything is to get cut it should be athletics. If privatization were to prevail it would be the students that ultimate suffer, because tuition rates would rise in an effort to make up for the funding lost from the government. 

If schools are on an inevitable path to become privatized where would the money come from to fund athletics? Would there be any room for athletics in higher education? Is there room for both athletics and academics in a privatized institution?

Initial thoughts for final paper

So, I was a bit confused about the limitations of the research paper topic, but I've got it figured out now. I've still been contemplating what to write about and haven't really come up with anything I'm willing to commit to yet. Week 2 of class we talked a lot about schools that turn a tremendous profit through promises of education. These schools are everywhere including New Jersey. I actually have a family member that is currently employed by one of these "profit" schools. The students go to this school for about a year and they told that attending this school is the path to a successful career. To attend this school, which really isn't a school at all (students just go around to hospitals and observe), students are expected to pay a tuition of around $20,000 per/year. Thats a lot of money for "schooling" that brings you no where. Though this is similar to articles and videos we watched, I'd like to look deeper into this; provide a different perspective, and find something that hasn't been covered by any of the published information on these schools .