Obscene yearly increases in student fees, a stadium whose construction they keep postponing because fund-raising efforts are for shit, a fourth-tier university … Florida Atlantic has it all.
Its athletic director explains:
He said with FAU’s planned stadium, the university is working to create a model where athletics is supported more from outside sources than student fees. But he said the fee increases just help the university maintain the status quo.
“If there needs to be a discussion of whether universities think it is time to devalue or downgrade their athletic programs, that is another story,” he said. “However, with athletics many times being the ‘front porch’ to the university and arguably the most visible, it may be a tricky exercise.”
Working to create… You know, that new stadium (the current, much smaller FAU stadium sits more than half empty at most games) was supposed to have opened years ago; this guy insisted it’d all get done with outside money, only it didn’t, blahblah…
But this front porch thing… The only idea coaches ever learn is this thing about the porch and they’re always sharing it with journalists… And the guy’s right – football and basketball are the most visible…
The most visible what? He doesn’t say. Let’s complete the idea.
For most American universities, and quite notoriously for FAU, big time sports are the most visible manifestation of their moral, intellectual, and financial failure. They are the ‘front debtors’ prison’ to the university.
June 23rd, 2010 at 10:05AM
“Front porch”?
I’m thinking more like “outhouse”.