Is It Real Money?

“No state-appropriated or tuition dollars are being used for these expenses.” Lew Margolis

Enough already of this rationalizing footnote from UNC as it released its latest accounting of legal and public relations costs stemming from the athletics/academic scandal. Where the bookkeepers say these millions of dollars come from is far less important than the realization that there are countless ways to spend these valuable resources.

How about student scholarships, support for young faculty, and upgrades of facilities that are inaccessible to individuals with even minimal disabilities?

There are many needs beyond the walls of the university. These dollars could help to strengthen established partnerships between the university and communities in North Carolina and around the world. I encourage WCHL listeners to generate their own lists.

Listen to Lew Margolis’ Commentary here

The reported millions do not begin to reveal the inestimable hours and energy spent by university leaders slogging through the quagmire of this scandal. How could those resources be better allocated?

The latest posting on the Carolina Commitment website explains the costs by these firms “to help address the past academic irregularities.”

Irregularities?

We don’t have irregularities. What we have is a failure of UNC and virtually every other university dazed by the culture of “Big Time Sports” to acknowledge the conflicts of interest between universities as centers of research, scholarship and creativity and the much narrower goal of the sports enterprise to win games and championships. If UNC were informed by an understanding of that fundamental conflict and motivated to address it, it is likely that there would not be exorbitant, wasteful expenditures, causing us to wonder about “state-appropriated or tuition dollars.”

— Lew Margolis

Listen to Lew Margolis’ Commentary here

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