The Real Scandal?

            I have been looking for some sensible comment on the Duke lacrosse team case—the allegation that team members (male, white) raped a hired exotic dancer (female, African-American) at a party in the house where the team mates apparently all live together (how is that for dumb idea number one?).  The official university responses have been fine, indeed serious and significant.  But unsurprising.  It was novelist Allen Gurganus who in an op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times finally addressed the issue, in a somewhat disorganized but nonetheless vivid way.  “The imperative to win, and damn all collateral costs, is not peculiar to

Durham

—and it is killing us.”

            The real problem is simply university varsity sport programs themselves.  They are out of control, and cannot be brought back under control except by abolishing them completely.  Which should be done, at once. Think what a liberation that would be for universities across the country. 

It won’t happen, of course.  Just as every candidate for the

U.S.

presidency must fulsomely express his belief in god and church (any church, but not no church) so any newly-appointed university president must declare his allegiance to the athletic department and coaches (sometimes paid more than the president).  They all do it, it’s considered necessary to reassure the alums.  Anyone remember the days when Robert M. Hutchins, as president of the

University

of

Chicago

, proposed abolishing varsity sports?  Unthinkable at present.

            One of the several committees appointed by Duke to investigate the scandal and the university’s response to it is William G. Bowen, former president of

Princeton

and current head of the Adrew W. Mellon Foundation, who has written forcefully about the corruption of educational values by the frenetic search for winning athletic teams.  Paradoxically, the ill effects of fielding a large panoply of varsity teams may be even more visible at a relatively small school such as

Princeton

, where athletes take up a larger number of places in the entering class than at a large state university which more or less hires its teams.  And by the way, the claim that these teams make money for the university has been largely exploded.  Only if you believe they are essential for bringing in alumni contributions does that argument stand up.  And are most alums really that dim?

            It’s madness.  Why won’t any university president (or board of trustees) take the obvious step, the only one that will work: abolition?

Peter Brooks

Comments

[AmishHitman]

Plain and simple - a major Bonehead move...

No matter what, these guys (rape or not) should pay in more ways then one.

And YES – the whole team should suffer and pay. Play as a “team”…live as a team. All-for-one…one for all.

A smear as this reflects more then just the sore eye given to Duke Lax –it blackens the eye of student athlete’s as a whole.

Yet another time where collage athletes loose focus on the real reason of why and what they are attending school for.

Underage drinking – strippers at a party – nice move…NOT! Hey Duke Lacrosse – way-to-go and really represent a great sport – you should be proud.

Way to go...boneheads

[Mark JS]

Profdssor Brooks,

There are a variety of reasons that colleges will not get rid of varsity athletics. Portions of programs -- generally programs like Wrestling -- have been shut down. But unless and until university faculty and university alumni wish to shut down competitive inter-collegiate athletics (something that will not happen in our lives) it will not happen. For the most part, colleges and universities are NOT run for the students. Universities are run for the faculty and the alumni. The alumni provide the support for the college or university's endowment and funding. Faculty largely guide the administration of the school, the content of the curriculum and emphasize scholarship (for the most part) over actual classroom teaching -- especially of undergraduates. I have heard and been part of the debates -- scholarship is a proxy for teaching, good scholars are good educators, the curriculum needs to reflect modern ideals, etc. But universities and colleges are, in their essence, collections of political fiefs. The call for getting rid of college athletics because the search for winning "poisons" the atmosphere will remain hypocritical and facetious until universities get serious about: (a) having professors (full associate, and assistant) teaching almost ALL classes and carrying full teaching loads or 3 classes per term; (b) stopping grade inflation and pseudo standards; (c) ensuring a diversity of ideas on campus, not just faces; (d) encouraging rational, objectivist thinking (teaching logical systems and skills); (e) valuing teaching at least on par with scholarship; (f) demanding rigorous standards of scholarship among faculty; and (g) hiring presidents to be primarily educators rather than fund-raisers.

You show me a school that is serious about (a)-(g) and I'll show you an institution where the athletic department is under control.

[judge reinhold]

to what extent is this incident more about gender and privilege (the alleged attackers were white males and largely drawn from Northeastern prep schools) than a commentary on the dangers of intercollegiate athletics? just something to think about.

I am a former college athlete and am aware that the focus on athletics (particularly at the Division I level) is generally at odds with the academic missions of universities (although Mark's points above are duly-noted), and that reasonable people can disagree about the place of competitive athletics on campus. But it is far too facile a move to lay this at the feet of athletics when the objectification of women is so pervasive in American society.

Don't get me wrong, if a rape occured, the perpetrators should be punished to the full extent of the law, and regardless of the outcome of this case, the code of conduct for college athletes should be written to forbid even peaceful parties that include underage drinking and nude dancers (with loss of scholarship or suspension/expulsion as penalties). ANd colleges could do more: Coaches cannot continue to sidestep off-campus transgressions by claiming that such events are beyond the scope of their authority. But the attitudes that spawn such horrific events will not be cured by shutting the doors to the gym.

[Bruce]

Line breaks inspired by e.e. cummings?

it's
spring
and
......the

..........goat-footed

balloonMan......whistles
far
and
wee

[Portia]

Professor Brooks,
As a former D-1 athelete, I must admit I am biased. While I think that the arms race has gotten way out of hand in college sports, abolition is not the answer. It is well proven that athletics teaches leadership and interpersonal skills necessary for workplace success better than almost any other forum. This is another, and a better argument than just bringing in money. The key is to reform and stop the arms race, not abolish.
I was highly recruited out of high school, not for any special skill but because my SAT scores would allow me to be an academic balancer for a less intelligent but more skilled person to be on the team and still keep up SAT/GPA for the team. This is where reform can work -- set effective (better than the current NCAA) minimum standards not just median team goals. For a success story in this regard, look at Amherst College (D-III)'s experience in the last 10 years. It has reduced atheletic allowances while building more successful academic programs.

[Feminazis Strike Again]

So rich white men have an innate lust to oppress, colonize, and rape female minorities whom they pay to sexually service them. And the solution is to ban all men's sports programs.

To save time, why don't we just ban the Y chromosome and mandate castrations for half the population. Right before we deprive men of the right to vote and start mandating lesbian parthogenesis.

[Feminazis Strike Again]

Partheno, sorry. I couldn't spell because I was out raping. Yes, I'm very efficient due the training I received on varsity.

[Feminazis Strike Again]

That is, "due to". And yes, I did it again.

[Marty Lederman]

Peter: Having grown up a die-hard Michigan Wolverines fan, my instinct is to resist your radical conclusion, but I concede it's very hard to argue with your logic. Just think about what we accept in college sports that we would never for a moment countenance in the college classroom. For instance, just down the road from Durham, in a program that is as successful and admired as any, we have this conduct:

http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/042447.P.pdf

Imagine what would happen if a college professor engaged in even a single instance of such conduct, which is alleged to be business as usual in the operations of the UNC women's soccer team. Of course, the use of such humiliation and degradation is common in sports, and may even be understandable in some sense. But how can it plausibly be viewed as appropriate on a university campus? Which might simply prove your point that big-time athletics and universities are fundamentally incompatible.

[Robert Love]

While I do not disagree that college athletics is out of control at many institutions, I cannot agree with your recommendation. From a normative standpoint, I do believe that sports have cultural value. However, I think this argument is too difficult to make in the two minutes I am taking to respond to this. Also, I am not a great sports fan myself (although I am a former college athlete), and I might not be the best person to defend the cultural value of sports. I will merely make the assertion that it exists.

The real issue however is money. For many universities, much of the revenue is raised by income from the football or basketball team. People complain all the time about the amount of money spent on athletic institutions without realizing that some the revenue produced by the investment is given to various academic departments. This income is especially important for the vitality of disciplines that are not revenue-producing themselves. My major in college, philosophy, is one of these. Had the department not received significant funding from the administration, raised in large part through university revenue coming from paraphanela sales generated by athletic programs, the department would not have been as well off financially.

In short, certain universities may find it plausible to abolish athletic programs, but I seriously doubt that most schools could bear the burden well.

As a final point, one must at least recognize the opportunities that athletic programs give to kids of low socio-economic status. Princeton may be able to abolish sports and charge its elite students 30K+ in admission each year, but not everyone has the brains or the money to go to such an institution. State schools, on the other hand, tend to cost between 5K and 20K a year for tuition, and can do so in part because of revenue generated by athletic programs. Both athletes and non-athletes of low socio-economic status are given great opportunities in the process.

Even if athletes (and especially the homogenous culture of their fans) make you cringe, it is important to consider the great benefit reaped by many universities because of their presence.

[Agrees with Marty Lederman]

I agree that your logic cannot be disputed with. That is why we should ban the Y chromosome.

[bridesmaiddresses]

Do not get your girls wear a plain white bridesmaid dress on stage in order to avoid distracting.
http://www.weddingdressmart.com

[Heidi]

At last! Someone who understands! Tkahns for posting!

[Tish]

I feel so much happier now I udnretsnad all this. Thanks!