While boards have to delegate the daily administration of athletics programs to their presidents, they must be aware of the issues and involve themselves in policy considerations that properly belong to them and can ultimately have a major impact on the institution's financial welfare and reputation. The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate…

On the surface, America has a great higher education system that works beautifully. Our colleges and universities, we are often told, are the best in the world. They consistently dominate the international rankings. A number of Nobel Prize award winners are closely associated with American institutions. Foreign students flock to our country to…

At many of the nation's most prominent institutions of higher education, sports are far more than just extracurricular activities or even campus spectacles. Contests in football, basketball, and often other sports unite colleges and universities with their students, fans, friends, and alumni, both in person and across the globe. Big-time college…

For a trustee on the governing board of one of the more than 1,000 colleges and universities that are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), intercollegiate athletics often sparks unparalleled excitement and energy. College sports create a sense of community few other campus activities can match. Indeed, sustaining campus…

Colleges must manage all types of risks on their campuses every day, and none should be of greater concern than those involving students. With students at the core of their mission, higher-education institutions should minimize any risks related to student safety and satisfaction, and governing boards should establish effective policies to support…

Presents an interview with James L. Shulman and William G. Bowen, authors of "The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values." Covers main points in their book, including problems with college sports today and findings on the academic and post-college lives of athletes versus non-athletes. (EV)

Drawing from Indiana University's experience with coach Bob Knight, asserts that trustees are responsible for ensuring that the athletics department, like any enterprise in the university, reflects the values of the institution. Describes steps trustees should take to ensure that the athletics system is firmly anchored within these values. (EV)

Describes how, after a basketball recruiting violation made national headlines, the board of St. Bonaventure University acted decisively. (EV)

Discusses how two proposed solutions to the escalation of college athletics, radically downsizing or professionalizing, are flawed, and proposes ways for Division I-A college presidents to work together and through their athletics conferences to stem the unhealthy expansion of college football and basketball. (EV)

Explores how rampant commercialism of intercollegiate athletics challenges boards to help restore an emphasis on academic mission. (EV)

Encourages trustees, as educational leaders, to honestly evaluate the influence of organized sports on their institutions and U.S. culture, asserting that the values and behavioral expectations in the athletics community run counter to those essential to the functioning of a civil society. (EV)

When four universities from its athletic conference announced they were changing conferences, Texas Christian University established a committee of university and community leaders to increase football game attendance and change marketing strategy. The integrated approach involved trustees, a task force for marketing, and creation and…

A discussion of recent movements toward reform in intercollegiate athletics concludes that college trustees must support their presidents in the reform effort, because allowing the situation to remain as it is will lead inexorably to regulation by the courts of federal government. (Author/MSE)

College/university governing boards should consider various issues in determining whether to pursue athletic success: legal considerations, including coaches' salaries and compliance with Title IX provisions; potential weakening of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's ability to enforce standards; the financial realities of major college…

A recent poll of 332 university presidents, trustees, faculty, athletic coaches and representatives, and senior women sports administrators found that in intercollegiate athletics, trustees are seen as part of the problem but are also seen as having a leadership role to play. Active trustee involvement is urged. (Author/MSE)