Academics gone, .. .but sports saved!

It is amazing how tolerant we are of a system that continues to make atrocious decisions.  No, I do not mean any particular university system--it is all pervasive ...

I read this about CalState at Bakersfield, which is from where I moved to Oregon.

CSUB students, faculty sad to hear of temporary cuts to some graduate programs

That news was in the local newspaper, and to get more details I checked with the university's website.
And in the home page, the news is this item "Sports Saved!"--thanks to fundraising.

Meanwhile, there is major realignment in the Pac-10, Big-10 and other NCAA leagues, and it is all because of money--this exchange between NPR host Bob Siegel, and Dan Wetzel explains it succinctly:

SIEGEL: Why? What's driving these universities to go into these conferences?
Mr. WETZEL: Well, with college athletics, you know one thing: It's not academics, it's all money. And increasingly, athletic budgets have soared and schools are desperate to try to balance their books.
Currently, one of the really two ways to make money is television contracts. So what you're seeing are schools herding together in bigger and bigger groups to try to attract the most money possible.
SIEGEL: So who stands to win in all this and who might be the losers?
Mr. WETZEL: The people who win are the athletic directors, the college football coaches who get million-dollar salaries. It's about money. It's where is the money going. They're not paying the players. It's going to someone, and it's really going to a small group of people.

Even though this money aspect is all well known, we are supposed to pretend that it is all about amateurism.  I mean, that is exactly what the NCAA said in explaining why it was punishing USC's athletics.

Finally, here in my hometown, while, as previously noted, universities are hiking up their tuition, the gazillion dollar Nike's chief, Phil Knight, donates even more to athletics .... how much did he give recently, you ask?
It is not only how much for athletics, but the manner in which it will be done:

Knight is making yet another extraordinary gift to the UO: a 100,000-square-foot addition to the Casanova and Moshofsky centers and a new field, stands and scoreboard for soccer and lacrosse. The new building would include space for a UO Football Hall of Fame and Museum, covered parking for 300 cars, surface parking for 75 cars, a 20,000-square-foot weight room and space for ticket offices and the Duck Shop. If past is prologue, no corners will be cut when it comes to design, materials and furnishings.

The gift comes with extraordinary terms. As with the stunning new John E. Jaqua Center for Student Athletes, the university will grant a license to Phit LLC, a private group financed by Knight. The license will allow Phit to lease the property and build the projects to its specifications, and give them to the UO upon completion.

The arrangement makes it a private construction job, not subject to the usual bidding requirements for state projects, though prevailing wage rules will apply. The dollar value of the gift will not be disclosed, and the UO will be obliged to maintain the facilities and staff them with a half-dozen full-time positions. It’s an arrangement that is unique to facilities donated by Knight — unique not only at the UO, but nationwide.

The higher education board approved the project with no dissenting votes, through four of 12 members abstained. “This is an act of astonishing generosity,” Lariviere said. “And instead of celebrating that generosity, we’re analyzing it to a level of scrutiny one doesn’t expect for something such as this.”

Oh, wait, UO's president also had the following to say:

In an earlier meeting with Register-Guard editors, Lariviere said he’s “bumfuzzled” by skeptical questions about Knight’s gifts. “Do I wish he’d show the same level of support for Sanskrit? Sure,” the president said of his own academic specialty. “Am I surprised that a man who made his fortune by building the biggest sports equipment company in the world is interested in athletics? Not really.”

Lariviere would be serving the UO poorly by showing anything other than unqualified gratitude for Knight’s gifts.

Blame the system.  We can't do any damn thing.
BTW, I liked one comment I recall reading somewhere: If ever University of Oregon were to play Oklahoma State University, we ought to bill that game after their respective benefactors, Phil Knight and Boone Pickens :)