Tapsearch Com EditorTom Palaima explores the wind mills of our minds at UT
Don Quixote at the University of Texas
About Tom Paliama , a regular contributor to the EthicsBox.
Tom call this - " An obituary for me "
I call it ......
A Man from La Mancha doing his time at the University of Texas
Tom has led the way in seeking a balance between sports and education especially in the way the costs of college sports affect education in general.
I met Tom a few years ago and soon after that he asked me to send my quotation from Thomas Merton that guides me in my advocacies for human dignity in the workday, fair trade and local value added economies.
Apparently, it guides Tom too.....
" Do not depend on the hope of results,
When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no worth at all, if not perhaps, results opposite to what you expect.
As you get used to this idea, you will start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of te work itself."
Thomas Merton
The above is also at part 1 of this story at Ethicsbox about Tom Palaima part 1
According to an NCAA survey released at its
convention earlier this year, student athletes at
Division 1 schools like Texas spend 43.3 hours
per week on athletics during football season.
That number decreases to 42.1 hours for baseball
and 39 hours for basketball. Women's basketball
reported 37.6 hours per week.
The allowable maximum, according to NCAA regulations, is 20 hours.
"I can't even imagine that," Palaima says.
"That's a full time job. The NCAA has the
information right there and they don't do
anything about it."
Well-funded tutoring facilities and increased
one-on-one academic advisor attention can't
replace favorable studying conditions. "The
system's almost set up to ensure they fail,"
Palaima says. "It's a flaw in the structure."
If you're an athlete with talent suitable for
UT's top-notch program but could benefit
academically from time in junior college like
Mitchell, then being a Longhorn is doing you a
disservice. It's good to reach for the apple,
Palaima says "but because the coaches are so
highly paid, you have to generate the money to
pay them. You got to win. Which means bringing in
athletes that are better suited elsewhere."
He questions whether the sports department has
the best interests of the student athlete at
heart, citing the Buck Burnette case.
It was November 2008 and Barack Obama has just
been elected President of the United States.
Burnette, a sophomore backup lineman, updated
his Facebook status shortly after: "All the
hunters gather up, we have a c%&n in the
whitehouse."
The next day, he was not only dismissed from the
team for his racist remark, but transferred to
Abilene Christian University. His comments made
national news. So, crisis averted, right? Wrong,
Palaima says. "I could see a big business, a
professional sports team sweeping this under the
rug, but a school institution should address the
problem in a way that helps the whole," he says.
"They had a damage control mentality."
There was no counseling or team discussion, even
though many of Burnette's teammates were African
American. Instead of turning Burnette's offense
into a learning experience, Longhorn officials
simply killed the messenger.
"They're very protective of reputation," Palaima
said. "Which is not necessarily in the interest
of the student athlete. They dropped that kid so
fastŠ"
Palaima was equally shocked when UT signed Jamie
Carey to the women's basketball team in 2002,
after her previous school, Stanford, advised her
to never play again because of recurring
concussions. (She successfully played as a
Longhorn for three years and was drafted into the
WNBA).
So what is UT supposed to do? Treat student
athletes like students who play sports, not
athletes who have to be in school to keep playing
here, Palaima says.
He laments that virtually no university has
figured out how to balance sports and academics
in a meaningful way. The latest report of the
Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
said 95 out of 114 university presidents surveyed
said they felt hopeless about NCAA reform. "But
the truth is nobody's got it right because
nobody's trying," says Palaima.
***
In April, Palaima made his final coalition
presentation to the Faculty Council. For the last
time, he listed his solutions.
The first is to turn the sports program's
"voluntary" annual donation to the university
into a mandatory one. In 2010, the athletic
department donated $5 million to the academic
side. The thought of applauding a division of
the university for giving back to the institution
it is a part of is laughable, Palaima says.
Second, instead of splitting revenue from
trademark licensing 90-10, sports's share should
be lowered to 40 percent. And instead of handing
the money to the president's office to be doled
out as he sees fit, create a fund with oversight
from faculty, staff, and students.
Palaima also wants stronger enforcement of NCAA
code violations. The 2011 college basketball
season was riddled with compliance issues. The
University of Toledo basketball team had an
cademic progress rate of 858. In response, the
NCAA revoked three scholarships. Rather than
play without a scholarship, student athletes left
out of the deal and transferred to other schools.
He also wants to keep sports extracurricular.
"Any student who would choose a flagship
university because of its football team is no
student most faculty would want in their
classes," he argues.
He is under no illusion that any of these
proposals will be adopted. In fact, all the
momentum is heading in the opposite direction.
Just recently the university announced it has
signed a $300 million, 20-year contract with ESPN
to create the Longhorn Network, a 24-hour
television broadcast network for all things Burnt
Orange. UT gets $12.4 million per year. Half of
the revenue from the first several years of the
contract is earmarked for academics. Already in
the works are two $1 million-endowed faculty
chair positions in philosophy and physics. In
tough economic times, it's a hard gift to turn
down. But it gives the university's
industrial-size sports program even more leverage
in the battle over resources and prestige.
***
As for Tom Palaima, he says it's time to move on.
He will resign from the coalition after the
academic year ends. He's wrapped up his thoughts
in his last two pieces, one for the Statesman,
the other for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
"It's a rather thankless position," he says.
"Sometimes I wonder why I'm here."
He's written over 180 articles for the Statesman
alone, from sports to his passion of history.
People know where he stands after more than a
decade of op-eds, meetings, debates and
interviews. "A voice becomes tired after a
while," he says. "We need fresh and new voices."
Palaima believes that Powers is a special
president---open and tolerant---even though he is
a passionate advocate of all things sports.
Voices like Palaima's are free to exist and
criticism are welcomed and addressed. Powers is
present at Faculty Council meetings and responds
to comments on his blog.
Still, Palaima adds, "It's safe to say I don't
think I'll ever be invited to the president's
skybox again." And that's okay by him. "I don't
like being in the sky box," he says. "I feel
uneasy and I get the creeps. Too much power and
wealth, like 'look at those people down there.
Our playthings.'"
The debate about college sports stems back to
1920, when coaches and presidents argued about
football players using helmets. Tom Palaima
believes the debate has a long way to run. He's a
realist---anyone criticizing sports at a place
like the University of Texas has to be. Still, he
says he's glad he tried.
"I just want to get it on record," he says. "At
least when they go back in history, they'll see
'well yes at least somebody tried'. I don't have
any illusions that I'll change things. The point
is that you never know the impact of your words.
All of a sudden something happens and they might
finally get it."
Part 2 of this story is at Don Quixote at Texas U part 2
Ray Tapajna -
About Tom Paliama , a regular contributor to the EthicsBox.
Tom call this - " An obituary for me "
I call it ......
A Man from La Mancha doing his time at the University of Texas
Tom has led the way in seeking a balance between sports and education especially in the way the costs of college sports affect education in general.
I met Tom a few years ago and soon after that he asked me to send my quotation from Thomas Merton that guides me in my advocacies for human dignity in the workday, fair trade and local value added economies.
Apparently, it guides Tom too.....
" Do not depend on the hope of results,
When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no worth at all, if not perhaps, results opposite to what you expect.
As you get used to this idea, you will start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of te work itself."
Thomas Merton
The above is also at part 1 of this story at Ethicsbox about Tom Palaima part 1
According to an NCAA survey released at its
convention earlier this year, student athletes at
Division 1 schools like Texas spend 43.3 hours
per week on athletics during football season.
That number decreases to 42.1 hours for baseball
and 39 hours for basketball. Women's basketball
reported 37.6 hours per week.
The allowable maximum, according to NCAA regulations, is 20 hours.
"I can't even imagine that," Palaima says.
"That's a full time job. The NCAA has the
information right there and they don't do
anything about it."
Well-funded tutoring facilities and increased
one-on-one academic advisor attention can't
replace favorable studying conditions. "The
system's almost set up to ensure they fail,"
Palaima says. "It's a flaw in the structure."
If you're an athlete with talent suitable for
UT's top-notch program but could benefit
academically from time in junior college like
Mitchell, then being a Longhorn is doing you a
disservice. It's good to reach for the apple,
Palaima says "but because the coaches are so
highly paid, you have to generate the money to
pay them. You got to win. Which means bringing in
athletes that are better suited elsewhere."
He questions whether the sports department has
the best interests of the student athlete at
heart, citing the Buck Burnette case.
It was November 2008 and Barack Obama has just
been elected President of the United States.
Burnette, a sophomore backup lineman, updated
his Facebook status shortly after: "All the
hunters gather up, we have a c%&n in the
whitehouse."
The next day, he was not only dismissed from the
team for his racist remark, but transferred to
Abilene Christian University. His comments made
national news. So, crisis averted, right? Wrong,
Palaima says. "I could see a big business, a
professional sports team sweeping this under the
rug, but a school institution should address the
problem in a way that helps the whole," he says.
"They had a damage control mentality."
There was no counseling or team discussion, even
though many of Burnette's teammates were African
American. Instead of turning Burnette's offense
into a learning experience, Longhorn officials
simply killed the messenger.
"They're very protective of reputation," Palaima
said. "Which is not necessarily in the interest
of the student athlete. They dropped that kid so
fastŠ"
Palaima was equally shocked when UT signed Jamie
Carey to the women's basketball team in 2002,
after her previous school, Stanford, advised her
to never play again because of recurring
concussions. (She successfully played as a
Longhorn for three years and was drafted into the
WNBA).
So what is UT supposed to do? Treat student
athletes like students who play sports, not
athletes who have to be in school to keep playing
here, Palaima says.
He laments that virtually no university has
figured out how to balance sports and academics
in a meaningful way. The latest report of the
Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
said 95 out of 114 university presidents surveyed
said they felt hopeless about NCAA reform. "But
the truth is nobody's got it right because
nobody's trying," says Palaima.
***
In April, Palaima made his final coalition
presentation to the Faculty Council. For the last
time, he listed his solutions.
The first is to turn the sports program's
"voluntary" annual donation to the university
into a mandatory one. In 2010, the athletic
department donated $5 million to the academic
side. The thought of applauding a division of
the university for giving back to the institution
it is a part of is laughable, Palaima says.
Second, instead of splitting revenue from
trademark licensing 90-10, sports's share should
be lowered to 40 percent. And instead of handing
the money to the president's office to be doled
out as he sees fit, create a fund with oversight
from faculty, staff, and students.
Palaima also wants stronger enforcement of NCAA
code violations. The 2011 college basketball
season was riddled with compliance issues. The
University of Toledo basketball team had an
cademic progress rate of 858. In response, the
NCAA revoked three scholarships. Rather than
play without a scholarship, student athletes left
out of the deal and transferred to other schools.
He also wants to keep sports extracurricular.
"Any student who would choose a flagship
university because of its football team is no
student most faculty would want in their
classes," he argues.
He is under no illusion that any of these
proposals will be adopted. In fact, all the
momentum is heading in the opposite direction.
Just recently the university announced it has
signed a $300 million, 20-year contract with ESPN
to create the Longhorn Network, a 24-hour
television broadcast network for all things Burnt
Orange. UT gets $12.4 million per year. Half of
the revenue from the first several years of the
contract is earmarked for academics. Already in
the works are two $1 million-endowed faculty
chair positions in philosophy and physics. In
tough economic times, it's a hard gift to turn
down. But it gives the university's
industrial-size sports program even more leverage
in the battle over resources and prestige.
***
As for Tom Palaima, he says it's time to move on.
He will resign from the coalition after the
academic year ends. He's wrapped up his thoughts
in his last two pieces, one for the Statesman,
the other for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
"It's a rather thankless position," he says.
"Sometimes I wonder why I'm here."
He's written over 180 articles for the Statesman
alone, from sports to his passion of history.
People know where he stands after more than a
decade of op-eds, meetings, debates and
interviews. "A voice becomes tired after a
while," he says. "We need fresh and new voices."
Palaima believes that Powers is a special
president---open and tolerant---even though he is
a passionate advocate of all things sports.
Voices like Palaima's are free to exist and
criticism are welcomed and addressed. Powers is
present at Faculty Council meetings and responds
to comments on his blog.
Still, Palaima adds, "It's safe to say I don't
think I'll ever be invited to the president's
skybox again." And that's okay by him. "I don't
like being in the sky box," he says. "I feel
uneasy and I get the creeps. Too much power and
wealth, like 'look at those people down there.
Our playthings.'"
The debate about college sports stems back to
1920, when coaches and presidents argued about
football players using helmets. Tom Palaima
believes the debate has a long way to run. He's a
realist---anyone criticizing sports at a place
like the University of Texas has to be. Still, he
says he's glad he tried.
"I just want to get it on record," he says. "At
least when they go back in history, they'll see
'well yes at least somebody tried'. I don't have
any illusions that I'll change things. The point
is that you never know the impact of your words.
All of a sudden something happens and they might
finally get it."
Part 2 of this story is at Don Quixote at Texas U part 2
Ray Tapajna -
