A professor at the University of Maine looks at the athletics program there and writes a letter to the student newspaper.

I have read the recent articles in The Maine Campus on the Department of Athletics. Overall, I think they were done well, but you let the director of athletics get away with something in your interview.

At the end of Monday’s article, Athletic Director Blake James said: “I don’t think we should be funded like Ohio State, Florida, Penn State or any of the big programs.”

I bet he doesn’t. According to a database of the finances of public university athletic programs available on USA Today’s Web site, both Ohio State and Florida athletics received $0.00 of direct university support in 2008-2009, while University of Maine Athletics received $9,548,688.

It is important to note that the “big programs” are successful at self-sufficiency by large ticket sales, alumni donations, conference guarantees for away games, etc.

In contrast, UMaine provides well over 50 percent of the budget for the athletics program here — money that comes from the same source that should be used to support the mission of the university: education and research.

For the most part, the academic programs generate more than they receive — my own Department of Physics has a budget of $1.9 million and generated $2.5 million in student credit hours.

The bottom line is the academic programs are being forced to support a bloated administration and a not particularly successful athletics program — with the possible exception of hockey. This is unsustainable, and the Academic Program Prioritization Working Group had no chance of “achieving sustainability” since they were directed by administration to focus solely on proposing cuts to academics.

Dean Astumian
Professor of physics