http://www.toledoblade.com/UT/2013/06/04...tment.html

Rocket athletics leads the way!

The athletic department has done a great job going under budget recently, so they aren't part of the sweeping changes. My question is if the enrollment rises and state funding increases, where in the pecking order with athletics be with the new money?

(06-04-2013 08:22 AM)Rocket Pirate Wrote:  My question is if the enrollment rises and state funding increases, where in the pecking order with athletics be with the new money?

I am afraid your question is likely to remain hypothetical because significant increases in either enrollment or state funding are just not in the cards for the foreseeable future. Higher education across the US is in a heap of trouble and I expect things will get worse before they get better.

Always find it fascinating that for decades UT is in the bottom half of the MAC in budget yet many times leads in attendance. I know we have a better shot at getting crowds because of the metro area and a great product but that being said MOB and staff have delivered year in and year out with less than most of the MAC, Period.

I have mixed feelings about this. I'm a big Rocket sports fan, so I would hate to see budget cuts that would hurt that quality of our teams. However, the academic programs at the university are currently being cut in ways that really matter. The administration is not just cutting fat. They're cutting things that impact the academic quality of the university. Can you really justify that while athletics is spared? The athletic department says that it was already cut to the bone, but almost every program in the university is saying the same thing, yet they still face further cuts.

Quote:“This is an organization of value,” Jacobs said of athletics. “They contributed early on, and they continue to contribute, both in terms of developing a lean organization and contributing to the stature and the brand of the institution.”

UT Athletics is one of a only few things that are keeping us as residents in the greater Toledo area. It is certainly not job opportunities, weather, urban blight, crime, etc.

You can't put a number on the marketing value the athletic dept. provides to the entire institution. The academic side tends to forget this at all schools. Is the typical HS valedictorian hanging on every FB victory, probably not, but for the general average joe prospective 3.0 business student, our name is out there and having that kind of exposure helps attracts students. Getting students to any campus is a difficult and integrated strategy of acadmic programs, respected faculty, student life, career opportunities and the physical campus. You could argue that our beautiful campus has just as much to do with attracting students as our athletic programs. Would you advocate for UT to stop cutting the grass, letting the trees fall over and not refurbishing buildings?

Cuts are happening everywhere, but there are different pools of money and most don't understand that campus rennovations don't come from the same pool of money as programs and salaries. Athletics is raising the bulk of the money for their additions/rennovations. Athletics is a profit center, just like attracting new students is a profit center. Making cuts to depts that generate revenue isn't smart business. It would be like cutting from our admissions office right now. How many math or english professors are hitting the streets to raise money for new labs and classrooms- probably zero? Instutional Advancement is working hard through comprehensive capital campaigns to support the academic side of the institution. I don't have exact figures, but Wolf Hall was pretty well gutted and refurbished for Chemistry and Biology after the Pharmacy program moved to the UTMC. There are some pretty impressive incubator related buildings added onto Nitschke Hall for Engineering. A huge classroom and auditorium addition was added to the Nursing building on the UTMC campus.

What better time to suport academics and athletics by making a gift.

Emanoh

(06-04-2013 09:31 AM)Dwight Wrote:  I have mixed feelings about this. I'm a big Rocket sports fan, so I would hate to see budget cuts that would hurt that quality of our teams. However, the academic programs at the university are currently being cut in ways that really matter. The administration is not just cutting fat. They're cutting things that impact the academic quality of the university. Can you really justify that while athletics is spared? The athletic department says that it was already cut to the bone, but almost every program in the university is saying the same thing, yet they still face further cuts.

Unfortunately one area that always seems to be protected when the going gets rough is the central administration. This is not just true at UT or other universities but throughout much of modern corporate American where CEOs are interchangeable, and always surround themselves with trusted cronies, build their administrative empires often at the expense of the long term interest of the institution and those who actually perform productive labor. All administrators are loathe to cut the size of their own administrative staffs but are much more willing to cut the people at the bottom of the food chain that actually make a product or produce a billable service.

The first cuts any University facing a financial squeeze makes are the part-time faculty because administratively, they are the easiest cuts to make. Of course these are the instructors who deliver by far the most cost effective student instruction because they are very poorly paid and are without benefits. Then there is the hiring freeze/attrition step which is also an administratively easy cut to make----of course it seems that high level administrative positions are usually exempted from such freezes.

So, without dipping into the classrooms or the athletic field of play there is the realm of administration that has enjoyed wildly disproportionate growth in salaries, resources consumed and particularly, in numbers over the past several decades. However, don't hold your breath for many cuts in these areas because it is the administrators who decide what cuts to make and few if any will ever diminish their own fiefdoms by reducing the size of their own staff because the size of their staff along with their salary and the size and grandeur of their office suite is the generally recognized measuring stick for their personal standing within the institutional pecking order and few are not loathe to reduce their own standing regardless of the cost of not doing so.

Another very interesting point is that at ALL of our fellow MAC peers and I mean ALL, the UT athletic department is the least subsidized of them all! Its because we bring in more donations and have more revenue then everyone else. Its too bad that this isnt mentioned in the article. Some universities like Eastern Michigan are almost 100% in the form of direct and indirect money from their universities.

(06-04-2013 12:18 PM)Stpetebeachrocketfan Wrote:  Another very interesting point is that at ALL of our fellow MAC peers and I mean ALL, the UT athletic department is the least subsidized of them all! Its because we bring in more donations and have more revenue then everyone else. Its too bad that this isnt mentioned in the article. Some universities like Eastern Michigan are almost 100% in the form of direct and indirect money from their universities.

Approximately 45 percent of student fees, or a little over $11 million per year, are put towards the UT athletic program.

http://www.independentcollegian.com/news...a5C5ZwuvKe

(06-04-2013 02:43 PM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(06-04-2013 12:18 PM)Stpetebeachrocketfan Wrote:  Another very interesting point is that at ALL of our fellow MAC peers and I mean ALL, the UT athletic department is the least subsidized of them all! Its because we bring in more donations and have more revenue then everyone else. Its too bad that this isnt mentioned in the article. Some universities like Eastern Michigan are almost 100% in the form of direct and indirect money from their universities.

Approximately 45 percent of student fees, or a little over $11 million per year, are put towards the UT athletic program.

http://www.independentcollegian.com/news...a5C5ZwuvKe

This is the lowest amount in the MAC meaning we are the most self sufficient program in the conference.

(06-04-2013 12:13 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(06-04-2013 09:31 AM)Dwight Wrote:  I have mixed feelings about this. I'm a big Rocket sports fan, so I would hate to see budget cuts that would hurt that quality of our teams. However, the academic programs at the university are currently being cut in ways that really matter. The administration is not just cutting fat. They're cutting things that impact the academic quality of the university. Can you really justify that while athletics is spared? The athletic department says that it was already cut to the bone, but almost every program in the university is saying the same thing, yet they still face further cuts.

Unfortunately one area that always seems to be protected when the going gets rough is the central administration. This is not just true at UT or other universities but throughout much of modern corporate American where CEOs are interchangeable, and always surround themselves with trusted cronies, build their administrative empires often at the expense of the long term interest of the institution and those who actually perform productive labor. All administrators are loathe to cut the size of their own administrative staffs but are much more willing to cut the people at the bottom of the food chain that actually make a product or produce a billable service.

The first cuts any University facing a financial squeeze makes are the part-time faculty because administratively, they are the easiest cuts to make. Of course these are the instructors who deliver by far the most cost effective student instruction because they are very poorly paid and are without benefits. Then there is the hiring freeze/attrition step which is also an administratively easy cut to make----of course it seems that high level administrative positions are usually exempted from such freezes.

So, without dipping into the classrooms or the athletic field of play there is the realm of administration that has enjoyed wildly disproportionate growth in salaries, resources consumed and particularly, in numbers over the past several decades. However, don't hold your breath for many cuts in these areas because it is the administrators who decide what cuts to make and few if any will ever diminish their own fiefdoms by reducing the size of their own staff because the size of their staff along with their salary and the size and grandeur of their office suite is the generally recognized measuring stick for their personal standing within the institutional pecking order and few are loathe to reduce their own standing regardless of the cost of not doing so.

Well said. Describes almost all of corporate America. It would be easy to go off on a rant on that topic, but this is not the forum for that and I don't have updated data on the topic of salaried vs. hourly wages ratios in the US compared to other nations. I also don't know the inner workings of the University, but suspect it is not much different than most corporate enterprises. There is a reason why private equity companies exist and prosper.

Let's see, 10.5 FT positions will be laid off while president Jacobs (most likely) gets a 6 figure bonus.

Colleges are a business, plain and simple. The difference is that public universities rely on tax payer money to operate. This is just part of trimming the fat. If universities were simply about getting your degree, you wouldn't be required to take unrelated courses from departments that cannot support themselves and students wouldn't have to pay fees to support athletics (and from what I've seen, most UT students do not attend sporting events). However, a lot of people take pride in saying they have an athletic program and I enjoy attending. So, it is what it is.

(06-04-2013 10:15 PM)falconplucker Wrote:  Colleges are a business, plain and simple. The difference is that public universities rely on tax payer money to operate. This is just part of trimming the fat. If universities were simply about getting your degree, you wouldn't be required to take unrelated courses from departments that cannot support themselves and students wouldn't have to pay fees to support athletics (and from what I've seen, most UT students do not attend sporting events). However, a lot of people take pride in saying they have an athletic program and I enjoy attending. So, it is what it is.

At the Air Force Academy, unless you have guard duty, you are required to attend home football games. Finally, an institution of higher learning that has it's priorities straight!!!!!!!!!!