A "striking number" of professors involved in governance at universities with high-profile athletics programs say they are disconnected from and do not know much about the issues facing college sports, according to survey findings released last week by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. The survey, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan's Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, analyzed responses from more than 2,000 tenured or tenure-track faculty members at 23 institutions in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I-A. In the nationwide survey of faculty attitudes, 62 percent of the respondents said their universities' athletics programs were structurally separate from academic programs, and 50 percent said decisions about sports on their campuses were driven by the needs of the entertainment industry with "minimal regard" for the institutions' academic missions. The report also says that 72 percent of the respondents thought the salaries paid to head football and basketball coaches were excessive, though half also said that their institutions' successes in athletics spurred alumni giving to campus programs other than athletics.