The University of Louisiana at Monroe is about to lose its sports-mad president, and people like this woman, speaking at a public meeting about the school’s future, worry that ULM’s tendency, even under the current president, to spend more on academics than athletics will continue. It might even grow! You might get a new president who spends distinctly more on academics than athletics.
… Donna Cathey made an impassioned plea for support of the Warhawks’ sports programs. “The next president needs to understand the importance athletics plays in the role of the university. We spend a disproportionate amount of money on academics.”
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UD finds a sentence from this university’s welcome page strange.
Increased student enrollment, campus revitalization, avocation of online degree programs, and the expansion of the state’s only publicly supported College of Pharmacy, are just a few of the areas in which President Cofer has provided leadership during his tenure.
How do they mean avocation? They avocate online learning.
Avocate, essentially an obsolete word, means to “call off or away; to withdraw.”
Which is great, IMO, since online is a shitty way to learn.
But I suspect the University of Louisiana does not mean to say this.
July 25th, 2010 at 8:03AM
Obviously Donna has what it takes to be a big-league university administrator.
July 25th, 2010 at 9:51AM
The highlighted sentence is honest, direct, truthful and thus refreshing. Only in the U.S. do some sports franchises have to spend money on academics. Without this burden these sports franchises could become professional quality organizations instead of being relegated to amateur athletics.
July 25th, 2010 at 10:03AM
The story notes that Ms. Cathey is an alum of the school, so all this classroom emphasis may be a new development.
July 25th, 2010 at 11:44AM
Couldn’t agree with you more YequalsX. Once places like this cut out the excess, they’ll be able to shine.
July 26th, 2010 at 10:06AM
An emblematic story—horribly representative of what it means to be an “aspirational school.” I re-posted (and lambasted) this story for my FB friends. Thanks Margaret! – TL