HEY, everybody! Let's all rally round the Math Department!
HEY, everybody! Let's all rally round the Math Department!
It doesn't make sense to shift to full paying students when the entire aim of the cuts is to AVOID harming the university's core mission, which is academics. I love collegiate sports as much as everyone else, but ultimately our university system needs to focus on academics in an era of government cuts to academia.
The Pac 10 has more national titles than any conference, by a long way. How do you measure success? The SEC can suck it.
Also, as has already been covered, there are lots of ways to reorganize the budget. It's my guess that these professors have an agenda, have had this agenda for a long time, and are taking advantage of tough times to push this agenda. I don't think it's right that the Athletic Department should be borrowing from the Academic side and have the debt be forgiven. I'm sure that there are concessions needed in several places to make the right decision.
I don't see the university's core mission as academics. I see it as education, that is, as an institution that should be student centered.
I gained more out of my college athletic career than out of a host of classes that I took. I think most athletes would agree with that. I never received an athletic scholarship, but I did receive many intangible benefits from participating in sports that have served me well throughout my life.
I absolutely agree that in times of fiscal difficulty all departments - including the athletic department - should tighten their belts, but calls to eliminate programs, such as sports, that are actively and enthusiastically pursued by students are wrong headed. Where there is waste, cut it.
But don't start with eliminating sports, one of the most vibrant student activities there is on campus.
Agreed that said professors probably have a vendetta against sports and are taking advantage of this opportunity. Cutting any non-self-sufficient program would basically mean cutting everything but football.
That being said, academics are the top priority of a university (duh). Being a state school, Cal is obviously suffering from the asinine budgetary situation that california has gotetn itself in. But regardless, cuts have to happen, and they should probably happen in athletics before academics. But you don't need to trash a whole program to save money. Stop flying teams out to games in other states, or stop buying new uniforms, or cut the salary of the coaches.
Retaining revenue generating sports makes sense, but lets face it, this isn't high school. We don't need to have so many student organizations like glee club and debate team when indulging their existence threatens the very existence of the learning institution. Unfortunately, its the second-tier men's sports' heads that traditionally fall under the axe. Affirmative action provisions of Title IX ensure that any cut to women's sports that upsets the quota risks legal ramifications, whereas no such protection is offered for their male counterparts. Its the sad status quo of "equal opportunity" in the United States
wfeoijds wrote:
2. Cuts have been made to every department at the school. Professors are being forced to take vacation days "furloughs", which basically means pay cuts. Why should the athletic department be excluded from these departmental cuts? I think we all agree that athletics are secondary to education, but somehow it's the only thing that isn't being affected.
YOU ARE 100% WRONG.
The fact of the matter is that every single head coach at CAL has taken a 10% pay cut. Furthermore, every single assistant coach has taken a 6-8% pay cut and this includes ALL intercollegiate Olympic sports such as swimming, water polo, gymnastics, track and field, etc., which obviously don't draw the kind of glory (and television revenues) that football and basketball generate.
On a similar note, the Cal Football team did not fly down to Los Angeles for their game against UCLA last month. They took a bus down in order to save the athletic department and University $35,000. This was well publicized in all of the newspapers such as the San Francisco Chronicle.
I suggest that you really need to do a little "homework" before you open up your mouth again with all sorts lies and misrepresentations.
This article says that both Cal and San Jose State saved $100,000 each by having their football programs take the bus for games down in the Los Angeles area last month vs UCLA and USC.
The fact of the matter is that STANFORD is an academic institution that funds and fields 35 D-1 Sports via a very well structured endowment that was set-up back in the 70's for the purpose of funding their athletic programs. They have won the Sears Athletic Directors Cup Trophy 15 straight years.
CAL is also highly academic institution that is a public university that funds and fields 27 D-1 Sports. CAL finished 7th in the nation last year in the Sears Athletic Directors Cup Trophy and has finished in the Top 10 the last 4 years in a row. Thus, the fact of the matter is that Cal fields a highly competitive athletic program in a conference that holds the most NCAA Champions and Championships.
I have friends that are Cal Football season ticket holders and they see Cal Chancellor, Robert Birgenau at every single Cal Football home game. He truly enjoys athletics and the fact that Cal has been ranked in the Top 10 in the Sears Directors Cup standings over the last 4 years tells you that the Chancellor is committed to athletics. Make no mistake about that.
http://www.nacda.com/directorscup/nacda-directorscup-previous-scoring.html
Golden Stater wrote:
I have friends that are Cal Football season ticket holders and they see Cal Chancellor, Robert Birgenau at every single Cal Football home game. He truly enjoys athletics and the fact that Cal has been ranked in the Top 10 in the Sears Directors Cup standings over the last 4 years tells you that the Chancellor is committed to athletics. Make no mistake about that.
...then he probably should and will be replaced....the house is on fire and he is vacuuming the carpet?
Either that, or it is good politics to be seen at "Bread and Circus" events.
Sears Cup!?!? I always thought that was another name for a jockstrap. WHO CARES!? They have no money....and the only people who think that sport should take precedence over academics are the same baseball cap wearing morons who spend their whole lives jumping on the back of the intellectual garbage truck.
What percentage of the university's annual budget is taken up by the athletic department? What amount of money is generated by the athletic department and what amount of money is donated to the university by former athletes?
Would anyone have those figures?
they might break it out in the notes.
It doesn't matter - there is a YAWNING US$5bn hole in the employee retirement fund (at the UCB level)....this comes first...so everything else moves to the back of the queue.
Off the Grid wrote:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/finreports/index.php?file=/07-08/pdf/auditedstatements2008.pdfthey might break it out in the notes.
It doesn't matter - there is a YAWNING US$5bn hole in the employee retirement fund (at the UCB level)....this comes first...so everything else moves to the back of the queue.
sorry the retirement hole is on the system level - so even less sympathy for athletics anywhere...
those gits in wa spend $trillions for middle east genocide yet can't throw a few matzoballs for ncaa athletics. rats !
If you think that athletics at Cal, UCLA, Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara or any other UC school are going away anytime soon, you are sadly mistaken.
As for Chancellor Birgenau, he's not going anywhere anytime soon either and its HIS call. The resolution by these faculty members is strictly SYMBOLIC. It carries absolutely NO WEIGHT!
perspective wrote:
What percentage of the university's annual budget is taken up by the athletic department? What amount of money is generated by the athletic department and what amount of money is donated to the university by former athletes?
Would anyone have those figures?
Through ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, television rights fees, fundraising and endowment income the athletic department at Cal generates about 89% of its budget.
Funny how a lot of these liberal professors don't care about taxing others to pay for their $175,000 per year salaries, but when it finally hits them in the pocket-book, they get pissed-off.
Athletics did not cause the problem nor will cutting it fix the problem. It does make sense, however, to look at any needless/wasteful expenditures.
Without athletics, Cal will become a school for nerds. Cool!
Off the Grid wrote:
It doesn't matter - there is a YAWNING US$5bn hole in the employee retirement fund (at the UCB level)....this comes first...so everything else moves to the back of the queue.
As of June of 2008, the UC employees pension fund stood at 103% funded. Given the decline in the stock market in Q4 of last year into Q1 of this year, please show me a pension fund that is not currently 100% funded.
Moreover, thanks to the stunning returns over the years ( the pension fund was 154% funded in 2000 ) 80% of UC employees have NEVER CONTRIBUTED TO THE PENSION FUND!!!
In fact, there has been an 18 YEAR contribution "holiday".
That has been unprecedented for any public employer!
Why do we have to wait for a recession to start looking into budget cuts for Cal's cross country and running programs. Look the results for the last couple of decades. Where the hell were the performance evaluations?!