Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The UK Faculty and the Athletic Department

The next time someone in the UK faculty wants to complain to his buddy Jerry Tipton about how the UK athletic department is a force of evil, I would urge them to ask themselves the following questions:

1. How many hours a week do I work at my job? How many hours a week does a typical UK football or basketball coach work at his job?

2. How many colleges would be interested in hiring me away from UK? How many colleges would be interested in hiring John Calipari from UK?

3. How often has my department been ranked as one of the top 10 in the nation? How often has UK's basketball program been ranked in the top 10?

4. If I held a clinic for Ph.D. candidates, how many of them would want to hear me? If Coach Cal hosted a clinic for young coaches, how many of them would show up?

5. Do I consider myself to be in competition with the very best people in my profession? Am I judged on whether my articles and books are as good as what is being produced at the top schools in my field? If not, am I in any position to judge those who are?

6. If my biography states that I haven't published anything since 2002, can I honestly say that Kentuckians are getting their money's worth for my services?

Intellectuals in Kentucky often complain that Kentuckians are anti-intellectual. But a big part of the problem is that Kentuckians almost never see first-class intellectuals. Too often, the only intellectuals they see are third-tier people who lack the drive and talent to get hired at a better school. We don't respect Calipari because he knows more about basketball than we do; we respect him because he knows more about basketball than other basketball experts do. Similarly, if you want our respect, don't just go on and on about how you're smarter than us -- show that you're smarter than your professional peers. Then we'll take you more seriously.

Also, you might want to remember that Calipari is actually trying to bring joy and happiness into our lives -- he doesn't take it upon himself to denounce us as a bunch of losers. Too often, intellectuals in Kentucky see it as their job not to help the rest of the state -- but to criticize it for not being like Boston or New York. Given that Kentuckians don't want to live like people in Boston or New York, it is hardly surprising that such criticisms fall on deaf ears. Instead of berating us for not living up to your ideals, why don't you try to show us how your talents and knowledge can make our lives better?

Oh, and one word of advice to Tipton: The next time you run this sort of hit piece on the UK athletic program, you might want to pick a faculty member who didn't attend Syracuse and the University of North Carolina.

8 comments:

  1. As someone who has spent years working in a university setting I'll make a few comments.

    I worked at the University of North Carolina from 2000 until we moved last year. In that time UNC won two national championships, upgraded their football stadium, hired a multi-million dollar football coach, hired a multi-million dollar basketball coach, made it to the baseball world series, etc. In that time I never heard faculty complain about money being spent on athletics because the faculty were always taken care of. While the rest of us suffered pay cuts and setbacks, the faculty received pay increases and better compensation. UNC is one of the top academic schools because they understand if you want to succeed you pay the faculty, just as they understand if you want to win at basketball you pay the coaches.

    I think where this faculty member makes his mistake is in saying that the university should punish the athletic program for its success, because others have been punished. What he should be saying is that the university should take the same approach toward academics that they take toward athletics, specifically basketball.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also, as a graduate of the University of Kentucky, I don't appreciate your implication that UK stinks as an academic school. I'm sure there are plenty of faculty at UK who would meet your criteria for being able to question the athletic program.

    Since you are a Vanderbilt grad and an Ivy Leaguer I know you love to snub your nose at UK as an academic school, and you would much rather give your money to athletics than academia because the athletics are there to entertain you. Well as a UK grad I would say keep your money and your mouth shut when you want to slam UK's academic standing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wasn't criticizing UK's academic standing at all. For all I know, UK may be one of the best universities in the whole country -- and I'm sure it is, at least in certain fields. But my guess is that the most talented members of the UK faculty would be much less likely to whine about the attention paid to the sports program. They're too busy focused on their own work.

    What I don't like is that in Kentucky, you have a lot of people who consider themselves to be these mighty intellectuals and who look down on everyone else in the state as a result -- but who are not great intellectuals when you compare them to their peers.

    If you're a professor at UK, and you think UK's academic reputation should be better, then in my opinion you should see that as a challenge to yourself. Don't just complain that you don't have enough resources. Do great things for the state and persuade people to give you the resources.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sad to say the world of academia is not that simple. UNC has one of the top analytical chemistry programs in the country. They maintain that status in part because they pay the faculty. In the middle of layoffs there were faculty getting better than 15% pay increases to stay, and deals that gave them less teaching exposure, etc. in the process. Yes these faculty do solid research and bring in a lot of money and attract the top grad students, but they are able to do it because the University is willing to plunk down the money to back them. In other words the University is there to give them all the resources they want and ask for. UNC has over a billion dollars in money to back academic work. The majority of that is money they have managed to raise themselves through grants, but a lot of that is money contributed to the University by donors who understand what it takes to be one of the best academic schools.

    It's easy to crack on a faculty member and say work harder, but the truth is they do require financial and resource backing in order to make it to the top.

    ReplyDelete
  5. As for the Lexington intellectuals, well that's another matter all together. And I say Lexington intellectuals because that's where all this negativity is based. Trust me I lived there long enough to know about it and I doubt it's changed that much. The majority of Lexington loves UK and the athletics program, but there is a small and powerful group in Lexington that hates the athletics program.

    They are a powerful group as they have all of the old money and see themselves as the holders of everything that is wonderful and beautiful about Kentucky. People like Tipton love to kiss up to these people and say what they want to hear so that they can be invited to fancy parties and treated like something they aren't. I love Lexington, but this underlying class issue is something I never could stand. It affects Lexington in a very bad way. If you think the wealthy in NY have disdain for people in KY, imagine if they actually lived in KY just how much they would hate everyone around them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I see your point, but I'm just saying that they would be more likely to get that support if they could show how they were making our lives better. Instead, they're getting quoted in the press complaining about the Athletic Department. How is that going to persuade the legislature to give you more money?

    ReplyDelete
  7. And on your point about the Lexington intellectuals, I totally agree. I would only add that same logic holds. They think of themselves as being so rich and powerful, but a few neighborhoods in Long Island could buy out Fayette County and not even miss the money.

    Truly great leaders -- like FDR or George Washington -- don't look down on the people they are trying to lead. Instead of putting down the rest of the state, the old-money folks in Lexington should be trying to make it better.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Like I said in my first comment I agree with that. This guys an idiot and should actually be praising the athletic department and talking about how he wants the University to take the same approach toward academics that they take toward athletics.

    ReplyDelete