An editorial in the University of Kansas newspaper:
The Olympic Village project is simply the latest in a long line of building projects that have dramatically changed the face of athletics at the University in the past six years…
… Athletics must strike a balance among providing reasonable facilities for its athletes, accommodating spectators and appealing to donors and recruits. But most importantly, it must contribute to the overall success of the University, which is ultimately measured in terms of academics. Keeping in mind the terms and constraints of the relationship of Athletics to the University, it is disconcerting to see the construction of yet another huge and costly athletics facility while the rest of the University literally crumbles around it. Deferred maintenance costs for older parts of campus have plagued the University for a decade and detrimentally affected academics. Now, with a full-blown recession, large budget cuts are projected for the next two years, and maintenance will no doubt be deferred once again, not to mention faculty layoffs and deep cuts in student services…
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Oh: And here’s a nice companion piece.
April 18th, 2009 at 2:32PM
Note this fact, buried in the article: "Before Perkins came to Lawrence in 2003, he managed a comparably massive expansion of athletics facilities at the University of Connecticut." What a breathtakingly dumb misallocation of resources to be building such a complex in the first place, not to mention in this era of tight academic budgets!