Faculty and their Hatred of Athletics

[elfletcho]

This was an email fired out to both the faculty and staff list serve today. The story she is referring to was on page 3 of the boomerang, but isn't on their website. It detailed Tom Burman's meeting with the financial crisis committee. This is what we face every day on this campus. While this person isn't faculty, trust me this represents a fair portion of what you would call the "Studies" faculty. This is the mood on campus among a lot of faculty and some staff. I've considered passing on more of these diatribes from faculty, but always stopped short of posting.

UWstaff-l: Today's article in the Boomerang

I literally cried this morning after reading an article in the Laramie Boomerang. And I felt extremely nauseous. One-million dollars. A one-million dollar salary for the football coach. That salary is worth 28 staff with low/moderate pay ($35,000) or 40 staff at low pay ($25,000) or 83 part-time staff ($12,000). That salary is 20 faculty at $50,000 or 10 faculty at $100,000. One-million dollars. There are nationally and internationally renowned faculty and researchers at UW who may possibly have an income slightly over $100,000. One-million dollars. This university has been gutted over the last two months. Truly put this into perspective. Nineteen-million dollars in two months. In 45 working days, that is a cut of $422,000 per day.

There are staff who are being picked up out of their positions and moved like chess pieces, and are not being given any options or ability to have input on their job future. I suppose they do have an option of quitting, but that is really not a realistic option for most people. There are staff who have had their workload doubled, if not tripled, and are not being offered any more pay for the additional work. We are told, “You should just be happy that you have a job.” One-million dollars. I work 40+ hours every week plus interact with students from across the U.S and world, helping them in their academic goals. I go home stressed and frustrated. I do my job well for less than $40,000.

IN THE PAST, I felt UW produced very well rounded and socially productive students. That personal perspective has changed in the last 3-4 years. One-million dollars. I feel UW is on the path to becoming a glorified community college. The standing as a research university will soon disappear and the skeleton academic offerings will not be appealing to students. UW will be a great starter school, but not a place to have a polished education. UW has NOT been a magnet for top athletes since 1969. Why would it be? Many young people come from neighborhoods that are twice the population of the whole state. For many, that is not attractive. Athletics is an important component of college life, but it is not worth sacrificing quality education. UW athletics can be extremely successful within a reasonable scale. I have faith that the Wyoming community would still highly support UW athletics even at a lower division. All the EXCUSES coming from athletics for staying Division 1 are just that….excuses. All of UW is figuring out how to reduce, cut, and still be viable. I believe there would be a great outpouring of support from the UW community if athletics showed understanding, respect, and support for the academics in this ACADEMIC INSTITUTION. One-million dollars. Twenty-five years….that is the amount of time I would need to work at UW to make the one-year salary of the football coach.

[HiCountryCowboy]

Sounds like that person better get into a new profession - perhaps coaching.

As an aside, Bohl (there is a possibility) and Burman (yeah, right!) better start producing. Like now!

[JimmyDimes]

Sounds like that person better get into a new profession - perhaps coaching.

As an aside, Bohl (there is a possibility) and Burman (yeah, right!) better start producing. Like now!

Already too many on this board. People are going to bitch. It is what people do these days. If it doesn't favor you in someway or another, then bitch about the injustice.

I'll love to make as much as Bohl...but I don't. And those who are fans of moving down....they are in the minority.

[dutchgunz]

She should have chosen another line of work...maybe try to be a football coach. one million dollars-not enough. She chose her path...education in general is not a way to become rich. She is clearly focused on herself...although she is trying to talk about the well-being of the University. one million dollars-not enough. Newsflash lady...every university is struggling right now. Lowering the salary would do one and ONLY one thing...we would be an even worse football team and even less money would get donated to the school. one million dollars-not enough. Whether she likes it or not, athletics is one of the major faces of the University. one million dollars-not enough. We are on the right path.

[seattlecowboy]

This person obviously doesn't have a clue on how the world works. This person would probably have their head blow up if they realized coach Bohl is on the lower end of the payment scale when it comes to college football.

So does this person feel as though the UW faculty should be paid as much as Harvard faculty are paid? Because even though that sounds absurd that would be a better argument then to trying to argue that the football coach shouldn't be paid as much money as he receives.

When the faculty or teachers at UW start bringing money into the school and can market themselves to make Wyoming more known than the athletics programs do then they can bitch. Until then they should probably shut the hell up.

[Asmodeanreborn]

I think it's difficult for a lot of university employees to accept that athletics simply is a completely different market, with different demands, and different skills required, and a way more limited pool of quality employees. Hell, in many ways it's its own entity that's almost completely separated from the university itself.

UW has followed the same idiotic trend as many other universities where the "staff" and "administration" employees that once were a fraction of the work force, now are a large majority. How much does UW spend on marketing? Meanwhile, professor wages have remained stagnant for a long time, and there's increased pressure on making other people teach.

How many people go to UW because they feel a connection to the state rather than marketing efforts? How big of a part of this is what we know as Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls? Take away athletics and suddenly you lose sponsors who no longer get to feature their names/products in a prominent manner, who will no longer match donations with general student population scholarships, who will no longer bother extending money for research grants. What kind of an impact would THAT have on the university?

[joshvanklomp]

Guessing this happens at most schools....

[elfletcho]

Guessing this happens at most schools....

I agree. It is tough watching it happen and knowing that there are so many supposedly highly intelligent people looking to blame others for for their problems. The mob mentality on the campus list serve is nauseating. They all seem to think the magic elixir is for us to drop at least one division. It's always tax the rich with this crowd.

I think they might be a minority, but they are by far the most vocal of the faculty.

[djm19]

Utah has a website with every public salary. I actually enjoy looking it over and seeing what salries people are at.

http://www.utahsright.com/salaries.php?city=u_of_u

Kyle Whittingham makes more (by a LONG ways) than some of the most brilliant Cancer doctors in the world (literally). This lady has no clue. I get it, that seems steep, but it is what it is.

[McPeachy]

No doubt about it, the primary function of UW is to educate. But with that comes education outside of the classroom. It isn't necessarily what you learn from a book (or grad student, professor, etc.), it is what you learn about life, that makes some of the greater impacts on an individual.

That said, if Wyoming never had athletics (like we know it today), as is kind of being implied by this stupid bitch, enrollment would be of the community college variety today. She, nor a poop ton of her peers wouldn't be here.

[elfletcho]

Utah has a website with every public salary. I actually enjoy looking it over and seeing what salries people are at.

http://www.utahsright.com/salaries.php?city=u_of_u

Kyle Whittingham makes more (by a LONG ways) than some of the most brilliant Cancer doctors in the world (literally). This lady has no clue. I get it, that seems steep, but it is what it is.

The list of salaries for UW employees is available at the front desk at Coe Library. It requires a UW ID to be checked out for 2 hours and can't leave the building. It is very illuminating.

[Cheywypoke]

Not sure if the Boomerang article is similar to this -- I assume it is -- this was in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle today.

http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/uw-athl ... 2faa0.html

[MrTitleist]

Funny, most national publications seem to think that Wyoming is pretty good academically compared to every other university in this country. Perhaps this UW employee simply takes, or educates people, at a community college level.

[SnowyRange]

It's understandable, for those who haven't studied it much, to look at athletics when pretty hefty budget cuts are being made. It would be weird if those questions weren't asked.

But it does seem to be a quite small minority that is up in arms, and it sounds like the discussion is pretty open and frank, so anyone who listens can hear how athletics -- which is bearing its share of cuts -- is not the problem nor the solution to any problem.

[elfletcho]

Not sure if the Boomerang article is similar to this -- I assume it is -- this was in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle today.

http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/uw-athl ... 2faa0.html

Yep same article.

[DVDA]

Does Wyoming break even on athletics? If it does, football is the #1 reason why. Some donate because of men's basketball, but the majority of donations to athletics are for football. Cash cows get paid; Academics don't.

[HighPlainsDrifter]

This faculty member is obviously not in the College of Business (or at least I hope not or I'm canceling my daughter's tuition check). To assume you could eliminate football and take the HC's salary and spread it around to academics shows no understanding whatsoever of what would actually happen. No more ticket sales, no more concessions, reduced donations, etc., and the $1 million would be eliminated from both sides of UW's income statement - both revenues and expenses.

Oh, and I doubt my daughter would be paying out of state tuition to attend Wyoming if it didn't have a "big college atmosphere" (ie, competing as a D1 institution). Same could be said for many other kids.

And her comment that she'd have to work 25 years to make $1 million? Good grief - what does that have to do with anything? I'd have to work decades to make what some MLB free agents were awarded in their recent contracts. So what? You get paid what you're worth. If you don't like your salary make yourself more valuable.

Not to be overly critical but the ignorance displayed by some academics as to how the real world works is sometimes breathtaking.

[LawPoke]

I may be incorrect, but doesn't the Foundation pay a lot of Bohl's salary? Maybe I am just remembering when they have footed the bill for buyouts...

Also, while athletics have done well, main campus has done just fine. Billions in new buildings, excellence scholarships, Hathaway guaranteed money and the like.

[LanderPoke]

People in academia make me sick sometimes. It's hard to find a group who thinks more highly of themselves. Professors elevate themselves so high up in their own minds. Most of my business professors were life-long academics with little to know real world working experience and they are supposedly experts of their field? I alwys thought that was weird.

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

People in academia make me sick sometimes. It's hard to fine a group who thinks more highly of themselves. Professors elevate themselves so high up in their own minds. Most of my business professors were life-long academics with little to know real world working experience and they are supposedly experts of their field? I alwys thought that was weird.

Agreed. Having just graduated with a Business degree, outside of one or two, I was never blown away by those blowhards...