Trustees and Presidents: A Podcast for University Leaders On College Athletics

Division II and III athletic conferences have been discontinuing fall sports at a record pace this month. It is devastating for athletes, and for campus budgets. Many private colleges have built their enrollment strategies on having as many as 50% of the total student body comprised of athletes. In the era of Covid-19, now what? Many are wondering if some of them will survive.

Does the thinking hold up in 2020? Will sports continue to be a lifeline for enrollment? And will more colleges add football to try to address the declining population of male students? In 2018, the Council of Independent Colleges commissioned a report on the growth of college athletics on their 766 campuses across the U.S.. Welch Suggs is a co-author of this study, provides insight into the overall strategy and general trends. 

It's important to understand who is sitting at the table when it comes to critical institutional decisions. It's even more telling who is NOT sitting at the table.

Today's conversation is focused on both the HOW and WHY of "return to campus" decisions that are made for Fall 2020. Presidents are under intense financial and political pressures (from all sides) to make the right decision, while considering the impact it will have on students, faculty, staff and the entire community.

My guest is Kevin McClure, PhD., an Associate Professor at University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Kevin recently wrote an article that outlined his research on who served on these committees, and sometimes, who was left out.  He discusses the Presidential messaging cues that seem misguided, using Mitch Daniels (Purdue), and John Jenkins (Notre Dame) as important examples. He also cites Michael Sorrell (Paul Quinn) and Katherine Newman (UMASS-Boston) as providing great examples of WHY they made the decisions they did on behalf of their institutions.

As we continue to read re-opening decisions, keep this conversation in mind, and ask yourself "did the announcement tell me WHY they made this decision? Or just HOW they were going to execute it? That distinction is important.

This week is a time like no other-the Ivy League announced the cancellation of Fall 2020 sports, Vanderbilt University, part of the powerful SEC football conference, announced the near elimination of their athletic communications department, and Stanford University announced the discontinuation of 11 Olympic sports. Prior to that, many other universities have announced cutbacks to their athletic programs.

My guest is Steve Dittmore, Ph.D, a professor and assistant dean at the University of Arkansas, recently analyzed the messaging around delivering this difficult news to stakeholders. Examining 22 Division i schools, he looked deeply at the patterns that emerged, and offers senior leaders advice on how to tell the story with directness and fairness to all your audiences, including the athletes who are impacted.

Today we’re going to examine the fate of regional public institutions, particularly in the Upper Midwest and the Mid Atlantic regions.  An overwhelming number of these institutions have robust athletics programs on their campuses in all NCAA divisions. 

The Brookings Institute recently assessed the economic, educational effects and overall well-being of regional public universities within the Great Lakes region, which consists of six Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. While these states have been important sources of natural resources and centers of economic activity over the past two decades, economic trends such as globalization and automation have hollowed out their labor markets. We'll also look at Pennsylvania.

I'm joined today by Sara Hebel, a co-founder of Open Campus Media, a nonprofit news organization focused on transforming local reporting about higher education. A former assistant managing editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education, Sara has more than two decades of experience as a newsroom leader and higher-education journalist.

This week's podcast leads with a personal conversation with Charles Hallman, a Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder journalist. Having this conversation with Charles has been on my mind since the horrific video of George Floyd's death consumed the nation three weeks ago, Floyd's death has led to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, discussions about police brutality and white nationalism, and is currently surging in the streets of cities and towns around the world. 

Charles' 40 year career in journalism has been filled with a unique perspective and a unique voice, one that is not afraid to call out race and equity issues in all of sports. Steeped in personal connections to many college and pro athletes, Hallman and I had a frank conversation about where the riots happened, what those streets look like today, the potential impact of new Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren's Anti Race and Anti Hatred initiative on the Big Ten Conference, and the influence that Richard Lapchick's work had on him. Lapchick is best known as a civil rights activist, producing an annual racial and gender equity report card in college athletics via the TIDES report.

Read Charles' work 

All anyone can think about right now is if/when college sports will be back.  Will it be in the fall? Will football be back?. How about DIII schools? Presidents are overwhelmed with all of the what if scenarios, but Richard Giller, Partner and Insurance Recovery Lawyer in the Los Angeles law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, walks college leaders through the intricacies of opening up your campus.  Richard brings excellent perspective on balancing the risks with re-opening college sports with the rewards of having students back on campus.

Jordan Acker, the first University of Michigan Regent who graduated from the University in the 21st century, is a ball of fire. Part of the Obama White House, and a part of former Homeland Security Director and current University of California System President Janet Napolitano's homeland and cybersecurity team, Acker brings deep understanding of the important role the Regents play in the life of campus and in Ann Arbor. Our wide ranging discussion included the recent #BlackLivesMatter protests on campus, athlete social protests,, and why Jim Harbaugh is the right football coach for UM. 

This week has been stunning. With the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, the city is in the national spotlight. Two days after he dies, University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel, with only an hour's notice to her Board of Regents, announced the University was severing ties with the Minneapolis Police Department for all large scale policing partnerships, including football games. Needless to say, it took Regent Michael Hsu by surprise. 

While our conversation had been scheduled before this tragedy occurred, Michael and I discussed his deep concerns over the role that Regents play in athletics oversight at the University. We also talked about the role that the Regents are (or are not) playing in making the decision for the campus to re-open in the fall. I think you'll find the discussion both enlightening and maddening. 

Michael emphasized that he is speaking for himself and not on behalf of the other Regents. Also, I spent four years at the University of Minnesota as an Associate Athletics Director, and while there, lived about 15 blocks from the epicenter of the rioting.

Thanks for join us!

The last time Dr. Keith Hamilton and I saw each other, we went to an NBA basketball game a week before Christmas. The arena was sold out with fans excited to see Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia Sixers play the Washington Wizards. We are both sports fans, both former college athletes, so going to a sporting event was a natural. Since then, Hamilton, an infectious disease specialist and associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, has been in the trenches fighting the coronavirus.

For more depth on this topic, read my article in Forbes.com.

This week, you'll hear my interview with KYW News Radio in Philadelphia, talking about a recent article in Forbes.com. The American College Health Association published return to campus guidelines in May, including athletics. If you are a college president, trustee or athletics director, I encourage you to listen to the recommendations.