<div dir="ltr"><div>I suppose this is obvious, but the issue of athletics generating revenue or not, vs. academic funding or the lack thereof, given a limited budget, is a distraction from the critical priority of generous funding of</div><div>higher education from state and/or federal sources. This should be a fundamental value in a civilized humane democracy, as essential as military spending on the so called "Department of Defense" (more accurately termed "Department of War").</div><div><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-09-19/bring-back-the-department-of-war">https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-09-19/bring-back-the-department-of-war</a></div><div><br></div><div>Athletics should not displace academics as critical to a university, right? If a choice has to be made between the two, academics comes first. But in our sports obsessed culture, many appear to think otherwise.</div><div>And athletics as a profit generating activity for higher education should <strong>not have to be relied upon </strong>to fund academics: Having wrote that, I think funding for college athletics should also be generously supported, but not pursued cynically as a profit generating cash cow, as it is at some universities, where the athletes are exploited by the universities and NCAA.</div><div><br></div><div><div>A well educated electorate is absolutely necessary for a democracy to function as intended, or the nation can fall prey to the manipulations of political charlatans and demagogues.<br></div></div><div>The election 2017 hammered this point home:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/">http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/</a></div><div><br></div><div><span class="gmail-datetime">Nov. 22, 2016</span> at <span title="2016-11-22T14:53:52+00:00" class="gmail-datetime gmail-updated">2:53 PM</span> <div class="gmail-single-header"><h1 class="gmail-article-title gmail-article-title-single entry-title"> Education, Not Income, Predicted Who Would Vote For Trump </h1></div><div class="gmail-single-header-metadata-and-share-wrap"><div class="gmail-single-header-metadata-wrap"><p class="gmail-single-metadata gmail-single-byline gmail-vcard">By <a title="" class="gmail-author gmail-url gmail-fn" href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/contributors/nate-silver/" rel="author"><font color="#000080">Nate Silver</font></a></p><p class="gmail-single-metadata gmail-single-byline gmail-vcard">-------------------------------------------</p><p class="gmail-single-metadata gmail-single-byline gmail-vcard">Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett<br></p></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 1:23 AM, Scott Dredge <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:scooterd408@hotmail.com" target="_blank">scooterd408@hotmail.com</a>></span> wrote:</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid">
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<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78690" dir="ltr"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78689" size="3"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78688" face="georgia, serif">Dr. Gier,<br>
</font></font></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79264" dir="ltr"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78689" size="3"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78688" face="georgia, serif"><br>
</font></font></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79282" dir="ltr"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79640" size="3"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79641" face="georgia, serif">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.
</font></font><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78689" size="3"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78688" face="georgia, serif"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79642" size="3"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79643" face="georgia, serif">The
Morrill Act of 1862 saying "nothing about athletics" is an extremely weak argument to raise in regard to budgeting of the athletic department.
</font></font>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.<br>
</font></font></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79119" dir="ltr"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78689" size="3"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78688" face="georgia, serif"><br>
</font></font></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79241" dir="ltr"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79784" size="3"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79785" face="georgia, serif">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
<u id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_82196">academic</u> 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
<u id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_82217">athletics</u>. 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.</font></font><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79787" style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif"><br>
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<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_81400" dir="ltr"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79787" style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif"><font size="3">-Scott</font><br>
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<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78386" style="font-family:HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:16px">
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78390" dir="ltr"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78389" face="Arial" size="2">
<hr size="1" id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79318">
<b id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79861"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79860" style="font-weight:bold">From:</span></b> Nicholas Gier <<a href="mailto:ngier006@gmail.com" target="_blank">ngier006@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79987"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79986" style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> vision2020 <<a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020@moscow.com</a>>
<br>
<b id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78732"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78731" style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, April 19, 2017 1:16 PM<br>
<b id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78667"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78666" style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] UI Backs Off From $4 million for Athletics<br>
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<div class="m_-2095202903097003691y_msg_container" id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78385"><div><div class="h5"><br>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yiv6154815486">
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78391" dir="ltr"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78669" face="georgia, serif">Dear Visionaries:</font>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78392"><font face="georgia, serif"><br>
</font></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78393"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78394" face="georgia, serif">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.</font></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78683"><span style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif"><br>
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<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78846"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78845" style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif">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. </span></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78734"><span style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif"><br>
</span></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78738"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78737" style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif">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. . . .</span></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78686"><span style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif"><br>
</span></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78741"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_78740" style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif">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.</span></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79283"><span style="color:black;line-height:150%;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif"><br>
</span></div>
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79157"><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79156" style="color:black;line-height:150%;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif">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
</span><span id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79779" style="color:black;text-indent:0.5in;font-family:georgia,serif">$949,500.</span></div>
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<font face="georgia, serif">-- <br>
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<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79165"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79164" size="2">
<div id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79163"><font id="m_-2095202903097003691yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492619043271_79162" face="georgia, serif">A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. <br>
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-Greek proverb</font></div>
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“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.<br>
<br>
--Immanuel Kant<br>
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