[Vision2020] UI Backs Off From $4 million for Athletics

[Nicholas Gier]

Dear Scott,

Thank you for contributing to those academic scholarships.

The Morrill Act was amended in 1890 and athletics was still not part of the
core mission of land-grant institutions.  The UI Constitution is from 1889
and it does not mention athletics as the core mission of the University.

UI athletic positions are filled on a regular basis, but staff and faculty
vacancies are not.  My position has never been filled, and UI students can
no longer take courses in Asian philosophy.

My Buddhism course was taught for several years after my retirement, but it
has now been eliminated.  We are losing our competitive edge to the Asians
every day, and it is imperative that we understand their culture.  Having a
great football team does not aid in that task at all.

All other campus units have tried to survive within very tight budget
constraints.  Athletics must learn to do the same.

Go Vandals (within the Big Sky)!

Nick

On Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 1:23 AM, Scott Dredge <scooterd408 at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Dr. Gier,
>
> The two major revenue producing college sports are football and men's
> basketball.  The sport of football did not exist in America until 1869.
> Basketball was not invented until and 1891.  The Morrill Act of 1862
> saying "nothing about athletics" is an extremely weak argument to raise in
> regard to budgeting of the athletic department.  This type of logic is as
> ineffective as stating "nowhere in the Constitution is the word 'abortion'
> mentioned" as a justification for states to enact and enforce laws
> criminalizing abortion.
>
> Your second point that 'you can see no reason that UI athletics cannot
> live within the limits of its generous annual subsidy of $949,500' comes
> off to me that you simply lack vision.  Idaho is in the midst of taking the
> unprecedented action of moving from FBS to FCS and thus will be
> experiencing a significant downturn in revenue.  They're heading into very
> troubled waters and maybe to your delight.  Certainly not mine.  I can
> attest that the three endowments for the U of I that I created to fund
> *academic* scholarships (and I received a record 10 thank you notes this
> year from scholarship recipients) can be directly credited to Idaho's move
> from Division I-AA to Division I *athletics*.  You can probably count how
> much more money I'll be donating on zero hands.  Be my guest in taking
> credit for this turn-about.
>
> -Scott
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Nicholas Gier <ngier006 at gmail.com>
> *To:* vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 19, 2017 1:16 PM
> *Subject:* [Vision2020] UI Backs Off From $4 million for Athletics
>
> Dear Visionaries:
>
> Both faculty and students can take credit for this turn-about.  Here are
> excerpts from a revised version of my column that appeared in the Argonaut
> yesterday. One faculty senator noted that the Morrill Act of 1862, which
> established our land-grant institutions (of which UI is one), said nothing
> about athletics.
>
> UI Finance Vice-President Brian Foisy estimates a deficit between $900,000
> and $1,000,000.  The athletics department had originally requested $1
> million a year for four years to bring the budget out of the red.
>
> After some hard questioning at last Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting and a
> revealing investigative report by a UI student (see below), Vice-President
> Foisy has now announced that the request will be $950,000 for this year
> alone.  . . .
>
> Vice-President Foisy has argued that all campus units require a subsidy,
> but those faculty and staff contribute to the core mission of the
> University. Land grant universities such as the UI were authorized by the
> Morrill Act 1862, signed by President Abraham Lincoln. Nowhere in this
> legislation nor in the UI Constitution is athletics described as essential
> to the function of these institutions.
>
> Over the 45 years that I have been associated with the UI, I have seen my
> department and many others cut their budgets to the bone—some have no
> travel money and some have no faculty telephones—so I see no reason that UI
> athletics cannot live within the limits of its generous annual subsidy of
> $949,500.
>
> --
>
> A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
> shall never sit in.
>
> -Greek proverb
>
> “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
> Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
> from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
> lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
> guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own
> understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.
>
> --Immanuel Kant
>
>
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>


-- 

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in.

-Greek proverb

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own
understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.

--Immanuel Kant
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