Last semester, Assistant Professor of Sociology David Brady asked his Organizations and Management class a hypothetical question: Is Duke financially justified in continuing its non-revenue athletic programs?
The question was meant to show that organizations do not always operate strictly in accordance with economic principles.
But now the question may be getting some non-hypothetical consideration.
The allegations surrounding the men's lacrosse team have brought to the forefront many of the issues currently facing Duke, not the least of which is the school's attempt to maintain a top-tier athletics department while providing Ivy League-level academics.
One of the reasons many people, myself included, are attracted to Duke is the combination of top academics and high-level athletics it offers. But has the school overstepped its limitations in its attempt to support 26 elite varsity teams within one of the smallest schools in Division I-A? Is it really possible, or even desirable, to maintain a population of more than 700 varsity athletes in a school with an undergraduate enrollment of 6,300?
Stanford, a school of similar size and academic aspirations, is always the example that it can be done. But the financial differences between the two schools are striking-Duke has only 44 of its 235 scholarships fully endowed, while Stanford works with a $375-million athletic endowment.
During the 2002-2003 academic year, sports other than football and men's basketball brought in just more than $560,000, while costing the University more than $10 million. While the athletics department as a whole operated in the black that year, the department remains heavily dependent on annual contributions from its athletic boosters, the Iron Dukes. This reality has become more noticeable as the University attempts to secure $15 million for the construction of the Center for Athletic Excellence.
The argument has consistently been that funding these non-revenue sports is an investment to further the collegiate experience of students, much like funding the English department. This point was emphasized by NCAA President Myles Brand this past weekend.
"Participating in college sports is part of the educational experience of the students," Brand told CBS. "It helps them not just on campus in terms of getting an education, but in life as well for all the lessons and values that they learn. If that's true, what we want to do is maximize the number of participants.
"As these universities become pressed in terms of their revenue streams and overextending on the other side, there may become pressure to cut back in some sports. That is a place where I think we are putting at risk the enterprise.... The goal really is to increase those participation opportunities, even in the sports that don't make revenue."
The recent counterargument at Duke, however, has become that the English department is not creating negative press on the front page of the New York Times.
Aside from the rape allegations, which as of Monday had produced no charges, there have been other non-revs making headlines that don't exactly reflect well on the University. Last year, the baseball team and former head coach Bill Hillier spent the second half of their season answering questions about steroid use.
This year, on the same day the lacrosse team was giving DNA samples, a member of the wrestling team was arrested and jailed for first-degree burglary and assaulting an officer, after admittedly eating mushrooms. Brodhead said recently that the lacrosse party was, "wholly inappropriate to the values of our athletics program and the University."
Perhaps the question now is whether the athletics program fits the values of where this University wants to go.
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