RateItAll: The Opinion Network

My alma mater - Tulane University, wanted to do this a couple years ago. The school President had a scehduled Athletic Review done and it was soon discovered that he had intentions of dropping the school's athletic programs to either Div-II or , preferably Div-III, much like the school he had come from - Case Western in Ohio. Folks got wind of the idea and a big fuss was made out of it. Alumni and fans of the school's Sports teams wrote personal and intelligent letters and e-mails to the President about why Tulane - hardly a college powerhouse in anything except Baseall, should stay in Div-1. The arguements to stay in Div-1 mentioned the value of exposure and name recognition the school gets from athletics. It is priceless. People like having the school mentioned in athletics and , like it or not, that is one of the main ways people come to hear of the school. NCAA athletics also helps generate alumni donations to the school and Tulane enjoys the benefits of being one of the few schools that actually tries to balance academics and athletics. Graduation rates for athletes is high and a source of pride ( Hot Rod Williams was an exception to most of the TU athletes at the school). Without Div-1 athletics and being in the NCAA, Tulane would be just another very good university without the fanfare that comes with athletic accomplishments. The Board voted down the idea of dropping from Div-1 and the school has undertaken a project to raise money for the Athletic Dept.

The sentiments expressed on this subcategory have, so far, been admirable, but in keeping with the radical notion, how's about this: pool a percentage of the broadcasting and merchandising revenues garnered by all sports programs into a General Access Fund that could be operated like a grant-making foundation for purposes of research and development, scholarships, facility upgrades, etc. Schools are already partnering with the corporate world in the field of athletics (the Chevrolet Player Of The Game Award, where $1000.00 goes into a scholarship tank), and states are forever espousing the virtues bestowed upon education where their lotteries are concerned; an omni-collegiate dedication to continued learning would be a public-relations slam-dunk (pun intended) that might serve to soften the farm-combine outcries from a public that knows a growing problem when it sees one.

Schools are intended to be places of learning and growth. They are, however, they have also become the equivalent of minor league/farm system for aspiring professional athletes. The result? The most visible members of many colleges and universities are academically unfit to be college students and hardly representative of the caliber/quality of most pupils in the school's student body. Think Allan Iverson, Hot Rod Williams and Randy Moss. Were they the best or even typical of what Georgetown, Tulane and Marshall produce? An automatic way to enhance a school's academic reputation is to withdraw from the NCAA. Don't play NCAA schools anymore, play other schools. Don't enroll student-athletes anymore who have a high school GPA of 2.0 and SAT score of 700 but can put quarters on the top of a backboard. Get real students-athletes to act as the school's most visible parties. People with GPAs above 2.5 and SATs of 1000+. Let the NBDL, CBA, USBL, ABA and NFL Europe act as the minor league for aspiring athletes who have no business being on a college campus. Withdrawing from the NCAA automatically states (by actions rather than words) that your institution is concerned about learning rather than sports entertainment. Alumni from these schools will benefit from their school's enhanced reputations throughout their working careers. Who do you want as an engineer in your operations plant? An MIT grad or a Texas Tech grad? Who should be your lawyer? The Emory alumnus or the Ohio State alumnus? Curtail the attack upon educational standards. Refuse to participate in the NCAA.