If you’re the faculty at Western Michigan University, you’d really like to know.
Or, I mean, you do know.
“Every department is hurting — bleeding faculty,” said [history professor Lewis] Pyenson. “We’re not going to be able to hire brilliant young professors. Older professors who know how to teach are going to retire. There likely will be shotgun marriages for departments.”
Pyenson contrasted the cuts in the College of Arts and Sciences with the amount spent on men’s football, saying that in a time of financial crisis, “what goes on in the classroom is clearly more important than what is going on at the 50-yard line. We should be fostering the mind instead of knocking kids senseless on the football field.”
December 18th, 2013 at 12:10PM
“clearly more important”, maybe not so clear by all appearances..
December 18th, 2013 at 12:52PM
WMU is a commuter college, a close friend of mine attended the school, which he paid by working full, and later, part time. Praised the school highly, it did its job of teaching working class students.
Point being, if the school’s legacy has a large segment of nontraditional students, why would administrators hand over so many resources for football? The alumni base for the most part j doesn’t care about sports, they want their education, they’re not interested in getting laid, loaded and drunk, and tailgating. WMU sold their soul to the football Moloch, and got nothing in the bargain….
December 18th, 2013 at 7:34PM
Maybe they should look at other parts of the university first? I’m sure that there’s plenty of bloat in other academic departments.
If WMU is putting a priority on football, they are doing a horrendous job of it at a 2-10 record in the MAC.
December 18th, 2013 at 8:21PM
If they want to win more football games, they should do like Eastern Michigan and schedule Army.
December 18th, 2013 at 8:23PM
Academic Mule: That’s the beauty of it all – they’re losers.
December 18th, 2013 at 10:46PM
Remember – this is the site of the world’s largest medieval conference, the <a href="http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/"International Medieval Congress. Every medievalist in the anglophone world wants to be in Kalamazoo in early May. Football? Who knew?