We all now know, post-audit, that it let itself be cut down to Auburn size by bullying administrators and cynical coaches. But UD wants to shine a godzillatron-like light on professors who whore for the teams.

Because — If UD may alter Joyce Kilmer:

Fiascos are made by the AD and prez
But only professors can kill a school dead.

By which I mean that only people like Leo Wilton and Sharon Holmes, tenured professors with real power over departments, can destroy the academic integrity of entire institutions.

Holmes, who teaches Feminist Pedagogy and then trembles like a leaf whenever the basketball program approaches her. Wilton, who advises NIH on ethical issues, and runs his department like the Camorra. These are the people who drive serious students away from certain universities, who turn intellectually ambitious places like Binghamton into sports-whore zones.

Two recent graduates of Binghamton’s ridiculous human development program are quoted in Pete Thamel’s piece about all of this in the New York Times:

“I can’t stress enough how amazing this program used to be,” Grisar said. “It’s a shame that it’s unrecognizable. The atmosphere isn’t just different, it’s scary and not healthy. It’s a place where students aren’t encouraged to ask questions or think critically about what’s going on. That’s what education is supposed to be all about.”

She added she used to speak to prospective students about the department. But now, Grisar said, she “couldn’t in good conscience recommend someone go there now.”

When the department moved to a new building downtown in the fall of 2007, students’ concerns included parking and safety. Grisar and Murphy said that requests for simple things like vending machines and bulletin boards were rebuffed. While administrators and professors were going to great lengths to accommodate basketball players, Grisar and Murphy said, they were ignoring the needs of regular students.

The atmosphere became so toxic, Grisar said, that professors felt as if “they had to look over their shoulder when they sneezed.”

Murphy said: “They systematically went through and weeded out anyone who wasn’t willing to blindly follow them. The professors that supported the students were the ones who lost their positions, and the people they could manipulate wound up in charge.”

Grisar added, “It’s really ironic, and at some point you have to laugh, that these are the people teaching us about morals.”