- Reflections, 2016-21: A Sequel to an Odyssey of Reform Initiatives, 1986-2015. - Reflections, 2016-21: A Sequel to an Odyssey of Reform Initiatives, 1986-2015. Dr. Frank Splitt, Longtime Drake Group Member and Recipient of the Robert Maynard Hutchins Award has posted a sequel to his 1986-2015 Odyssey of Reform Initiatives. A prolific and nationally respected voice advocating for intercollegiate athletics reform, this new collection of writings continues to ... Read more
- Reclaiming Academic Primacy in Higher Education: The Revised IRS Form 990 Can Accelerate the Process - The revised Form 990, “Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax,” filed by many public charities and other exempt organizations, has the potential to fully expose the Achilles’ Heel of the NCAA and its member institutions – the extremely weak, if any, educational basis for the current financial structure of big-time college sports. This would ... Read more
- Striking Parallels of Abuse - It is difficult to differentiate between the behavior of the Catholic Church when it was confronted with many hundreds of worldwide pedophile cases and the behavior at Penn State University detailed in the July 12, 2012, Freeh Report that made liberal use of phrases like “extremely poor leadership,” “irresponsibility,” “creating dangerous situations for children,” “repeatedly concealed ... Read more
- “Confidence Men”…On Wall Stree and College Campuses - Many ways. It involves one of America’s biggest business sectors—higher education. Many of America’s colleges and universities are experiencing serious troubles with proliferating scandals in their professional sports entertainment businesses that are led by their own brand of fat-cat confidence men—NCAA, BCS Conference, and school officials, as well as very wealthy boosters and trustees. »Read ... Read more
- Why the NCAA and the Knight Commission Miss the Seamy Side of College Sports - Since it is in the financial interest of conference commissioners, the NCAA and its member schools—presidents, trustees, ADs, coaches, and boosters—to portray athletes as legitimate, degree-seeking students, they are likely be quite forceful in the use of their influence and powers of intimidation to getwhat they want. What they want is the very best athletes—no ... Read more
- NCAA March Madness Tournament Eligibility: On Factoring in Academics - A close examination of the NCAA’s rule changes over the past 50 years or so will show that these changes have not been to support or reinforce their stated purpose and principle of amateurism, but rather have been to increase their market size and revenues by professionalizing their big-time football and men’s basketball programs at ... Read more
- Faculty Action at UC-Berkeley Warrants Emulation - This is an opportune time to not only take advantage of the work done by the UC-Berkeley faculty, but also to exploit the fact that many of America’s colleges and universities are now beginning to recognize that their presidents are apparently powerless to curtail out-of-control spending by their athletic departments »Read more
- Cleaning Up the Mess in College Sports Demands More Than Policy Statements - Doug Lederman opened a recent Inside Higher Ed news report by saying what has been obvious for many years (if not decades), to wit: Members of college and university governing boards interfere inappropriately “in the hiring of coaches and other decisions, emphasizing sports to the exclusion of other, arguably more central, institutional matters.” »Read more
- The TAO of College Sport Reform - The Drake Group supports the introduction of strong TAO (transparency, accountability, oversight) measures at the NCAA and in the athletics programs at its member institutions to help restore academic integrity in higher education—reducing the level of academic corruption that enables America’s colleges and universities to pass off athletes who are academically, socially, and/or time disadvantaged, ... Read more
- Best Remedy for the College Sports Mess: Transparency, Accountability and Oversight - The NCAA’s continued success at professionalizing big-time college athletics, while thwarting serious reform puts academic corruption and cheating on par with prostitution, illegal gambling, and speeding violations as acceptable forms of social misconduct in America— it’s OK so long as you don’t get caught. »Read more
- Dancing Partners: The NCAA and the Knight Commission - It seems that there is no end to the means to which the NCAA and the KCIA will go to defend the NCAA’s big-money turf and the status quo in collegiate athletics. The Kirwan-Turner opinion piece had a clear ring to it—prompting a question: Isn’t the pot calling the kettle black? »Read more
- The Rutgers 1000: A Profile in Academic Courage - The formidable task of getting priorities right at Rutgers, and other schools supporting big-time football and men’s basketball programs, must be taken on by others. Reform-minded faculty members in the Rutgers 1000 will likely feel the really heavy weight of their reform lances — risking burnout when they face the defensive efforts of those opposing ... Read more
- On the Faculty Role in College Sports Oversight: An Afterword - Aside from federal intervention, there is no way that university and college presidents, governing boards, and/or faculty members can be motivated to do whatever is necessary to eliminate academic corruption in college sports. Put another way, these parties cannot be educated and/or embarrassed to do the right thing, no matter how logical it seems to ... Read more
- On the Faculty Role in College Sports Oversight - Valuable insights applicable to subsequent reform campaigns and the faculty role in college sports oversight were obtained via experience in the 1990s with projects related to environmental and national information infrastructure initiatives. For example, the campaign for systemic engineering education reform was the first to build on this experience. In turn, this campaign helped guide ... Read more
- More on Taxing the Sports Factory - The context within which college athletics functions is compromised academic integrity that enables out-of-control commercialization with its distracting influence on school officials, on America’s youth, and on the nation’s diminishing prospects as a leader in the 21st century’s global economy. All too often, secrecy, deceit, and deception, are hallmarks of the business of college-sports entertainment ... Read more
- A Revised IRS Form Can Serve as Occam’s Razor for the Core Problem in College Sports - The core problem of academic corruption in big-time college sports is directly related to institutional misbehavior. By this is meant that institutions of higher education have become masters of deception – scheming and cheating to field competitive, professional-level teams, especially in big-time (NCAA Div 1) football and men’s basketball. “The Gordian-knot-like dilemma in college sports ... Read more
- Don’t Overlook the Congress for Serious College Sports Reform - Federal tax policy will continue to force parents, students, and other American taxpayers to help foot the bill for multimillion-dollar salaries for coaches, ‘stadium wars,’ tax breaks for wealthy boosters, NFL and NBA minor league teams, and other artifacts of the big-time college sports arms race while the NCAA will work to effectively thwart any ... Read more
- Recommendations for Sports Program Transparency and Reporting at the NCAA and Its Member Institutions - There is a compelling need to require the NCAA and its member institutions to provide tangible evidence that their athletes function as real students. In the end, the implementation of these recommendations will help restore academic and financial integrity in colleges and universities supporting big-time (NCAA D-1A) sports programs, especially football and men’s basketball. »Read ... Read more
