The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Profs want more input on athletics
Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - 7
TAKING NAMES
ATHLETICS From page 1
report was writtenbecause athletic
departments need to be more con-
nected with their respective aca-
demic institutions.
"There are always decisions in
any unit of a university that will
need to be made by the leaders
without our knowledge," she said.
"Butwith an operationasbig as ath-
letics that controls so much of our
public image, our financial health,
our giving, it would certainly be
healthy to have more transparency
and honesty."
One of the main reforms in the
SACUA report recommended the
University athletic department
budget be integrated into the Uni-
versity general budget where pos-
sible.
University bylaws stipulate
"separate accounting and financial
statements will be made for depart-
ment funds."
At a SACUA meeting yesterday,
Athletic Director Bill Martin said
the University Athletic Depart-
ment budget is reviewed annually
by the University's chief financial
officer, the University Board of
Regents and President Mary Sue
Coleman.
"Our whole budgeting process is
totally integrated with the Univer-
sity," Martin said.
x The four recommendations in
the report - titled "Framing the
Future: Reforming Intercollegiate
Athletics" - focus on academic
integrity in athletic departments,
the student-athlete experience on
campus, campus governing of ath-
letics and fiscal responsibility in
athletic departments.
The faculty-endorsed report says
"no academic programs should be
designed specifically for student-
athletes" or created for the pur-
pose of allowing student-athletes to
maintain their eligibility.
The Athletic Department's aca-
demic integrity was in the spotlight
this summer when former Uni-
versity football player and Stan-
ford football coach Jim Harbaugh
accused University advisors of
steering student-athletes into what
he said were less rigorous programs
like the College of Literature, Sci-
ence and the Arts's general studies
degree.
SACUA members also questioned
athletics administrators at yester-
day's meeting about what they said
was a disproportionate amount of
student-athletes in the Bachelor of
General Studies program compared
to regular students.
"If the BGS program is so flex-
ible and appealing, why are there
so many football players in the BGS
program compared to the general
student body?" asked Law Prof.
Richard Friedman.
Shari Acho, an associate athletic
director, said the General Studies
program affords student-athletes
flexibility in their course selection.
"The General Studies degree lets
students sample different classes
and lets students find something
that they're interested in," she said.
The recommendations also call
for the merger of academic student-
athlete advising with existing aca-
demic advising structures.
In an interview yesterday, Sue
Shand, an associate athletic direc-
tor, said athletic academic advising
is critical because it offers students
extra help in scheduling classes
around sports schedules - some-
thing that the University's other
advising offices don't do.
"We're focused on making sure
that student-athletes don't miss
classes and that they graduate and
get their degree," Shand said.
The third section of the pro-
posal recommends that the chair
of the University's Advisory Board
on Intercollegiate Athletics - a
governing body comprised of fac-
ulty members, students, alumni
and staff - be a "senior (tenured)
faculty member," not the athletic
director.
University regent bylaws make
the athletic director - a job cur-
rently held by Bill Martin, who is
not a faculty member - the chair of
the board.
DOCUMENTARY
From page 1
Stewart said he hopes to generate
discussion on the effects the ballot
initiatives have on college campuses
and the country in general.
"The premise is togeteverything
out on the table because we have
an issue with (Proposal 2) on both
sides, and on both sides we have a
mission to educate," Stewart said.
Stewart declined to give his per-
sonal stance on affirmative action,
saying that he wants to let the doc-
umentary speak for itself.
The film, titled "Separate but
Equal," will feature interviews
with high school and college stu-
BUDGET
From page 1
The institutions should get pay-
ments this month that were delayed
from the last fiscal year, according
to Greg Bird, a spokesman for Dem-
ocratic House Speaker Andy Dillon.
The Legislature still has to act on
the budget plan, and it's likely uni-
versities will argue they should get
some sort of funding increase.
"I will be very disappointed if
there's not some type of an increase
for higher education," said Mike
Boulus of the Presidents Coun-
David Potter, SACUA's vice chair,
said replacing Martin with a facul-
ty member as chair of the advisory
board would be one of the most vis-
ible changes that could come from
the recommendations.
The SACUA proposal also rec-
ommends that the overall growth
rate in the Athletic Department's
operating costs be no greater than
that of the University's operating
costs.
The University's general bud-
get grew 1.9 percent between the
2006-2007 fiscal year and the
2007-2008 fiscal year. The Athletic
Department's budget, meanwhile,
increased 17.6 percent during that
same period.
The University Athletic Depart-
ment funds its operating budget
entirely from its own revenues.
Shepherd said the COIA report
- and pressure from groups like
SACUA at universities around the
country - will hopefully hold ath-
letic departments more fiscally
accountable.
"It's difficult to justify the con-
tinued upward, seemingly out of
control spending on athletic sup-
port services," Shepherd said.
"Many places have locker rooms
and training facilities for our ath-
letes found nowhere else in the
world, with state of the art technol-
ogy. Is this kind of spending neces-
sary?"
dents, lawyers, college administra-
tors and activists on the subjects of
education and admissions reform.
Stewart spent much of this sum-
mer shooting in Los Angeles. He
said people there were enthusias-
tic to be interviewed because there
has been a "dramatic and huge"
effect on California after Proposi-
tion 209.
"The phone rang off the hook,"
Stewart said.
Stewart said he hopes to screen
the documentary at the Detroit
Film Theatre at the Detroit Insti-
tute of Arts sometime in January,
but a date has not been set.
Larry Baranski, the associate
curator for the DIA's Department
of Film and Theatre, has yet to
cil, an organization representing
Michigan's public universities. "We
haven't seen an increase in years."
Cynthia Wilbanks, the Univer-
sity of Michigan's vice president
for government relations, said she
doesn't anticipate any changes that
will affect tuition.
"I think it's pretty close to what
we assumed," she said. "Of course,
everything is open to change these
days."
She said she doesn't the 2.5 per-
cent increase in higher education
appropriations will pass, but she is
hoping for at least a slight change.
"I'm optimistic that there might
'SHAY SPANIOLA/Dail}
Stadents participate ain nes and Walls n the Michigan Usnion last night. At the
event, which was designed In raise awareness at camoas assampttans abaut
groups and identities, students played the role of an immigrant forced to take an
American name.
Daily names
rpublic editor.
DAILY From page 1
the paper published and make
sure that it stood up to ethical
standards," Okrent said.
His appointment came after
the discovery that reporter Jay-
son Blair fabricated all or parts
of dozens of stories. A committee
createdin response to the scandal
recommended the appointment
of a public editor to investigate
allegations of wrongdoing or
unfairness by the paper.
The Daily has also dealt with
scandal and controversy.
Since 2004, the Daily has
fired three staff members for
plagiarism. In 2003, some stu-
dent groups boycotted the Daily,
accusing the paper of racial bias
in its reporting.
"Racism is difficult for a lot of
papers to handle," said Johnson,
who covered race relations for
The Bergen Record. "Part of my
role is to help the staff become
more sensitive to the needs of the
community."
Okrent said a public editor is
a good addition to the Daily in
part because it will increase the
amount of contact between the
paper and the people it covers.
He said that having a public edi-
tor helped to heighten conscious-
ness among the Times' staff about
issues important to its readers.
He joked about how a public edi-
tor would have improved his ten-
ure at the Daily.
"It's good for reporters, editors
and readers," Okrent said. "I wish
there had been one when I was
around so I didn't make so many
mistakes as a lousy reporter."
Some public editors have been
met with resistance by the staffs
they're charged with monitoring.
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"Getting people used to the
idea that someone will be looking
over their work and being critical
might be a challenge," Johnson
said.
But Stampfl said it is important
that the public editor do just that.
"My hope is that it will serve
as yet another check, as a deter-
rent," he said. "So in the event
that anyone might be thinking
about doing something unethical
it would make'him or her unlikely
to."
. Kimberly Chou, an associate
Daily arts editor, said she sup-
ports the move.
"There are a lot of people who
have issues or problems with the
Daily," Chou said. "I think it'd be
good to have a link between the
people that make the paper and
the people we make it for."
The Michigan Daily is not the
first university newspaper to
appoint a public editor.
In March 2007, The Harvard
Crimson appointed second-year
Harvard law student Michael
Kolber to the post.
"I thought it'd be an inter-
esting experiment," said Kris-
tina Moore, the president of The
Harvard Crimson. "There had
been a lot of criticism about the
Crimson not responding to read-
er feedback."
But Moore said she is having
second thoughts about just how
valuable the position of public
editor has been to the Crimson
and that the paper will likely
reevaluate his role when it elects
new editors next month.
- Karl Stampfl, who usually
edits stories that appear on these
pages, did not edit this story
because he is quoted in it.
see the film, but said he believes a
screening in the 1,100-seat theatre
will allow for a large-scale discus-
sion.
"Particularly after showing
something controversial, after the
lights come back on the audience
erupts in conversation," he said.
Rachael Tanner, a University
alum who campaigned against
Proposal 2 as a leader of Students
Supporting Affirmative Action,
supports Stewart's goal.
"If he is able to produce the type
of film he hopes, his success in cre-
ating a conversation around the
topic of education, particularly dis-
parities in education along racial
and gender lines will depend upon
his ability to reach a wide and var-
be a modest increase," she said.
Reduced state funding contrib-
uted to average tuition increases of
roughly 10 percent at Michigan's 15
public universities this fall.
Local K-12 education may get
a 1 percent funding increase, not
enough to cover inflation or give
relief from five years of stagnant or
reduced funding. Both Democrats
and Republicans say they would
like to spend more on education,
but the best they might be able to
do is hold funding relatively steady.
R Granholm originally had proposed
at least twice that much.
"We don't have the same state
ied audience," Tanner said in an e-
mail interview.
The Michigan State University
chapter of the Young Americans
for Freedom, a right-wing group
that vocally supported Proposal
2, declined to be interviewed by
Stewart. Kyle Bristow, the group's
chairman, said the group refused
the interview after finding out that
some people working on the film
had worked against Proposal 2.
Stewart said his film needs more
commentary from people against
affirmative action.
Stewart said the only anti-affir-
mative action rhetoric in his the film
is video footage of Connerly debat-
ing David .Strauss, the dean of stu-
dents at Wayne State University.
we used to have. Present revenues
are not there," said Senate Majority
Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester).
"You have to identify your priori-
ties and be able to fund them as we
can."
The $440 million in cuts or the
elimination of planned spending
increases are being used along
with the income tax increase and
new sales tax on services to erase
a $1.75 billion shortfall the state
would have faced without the
changes.
-Emily Barton and The Associated
Press contributed to this report.
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