Ohio University's Faculty Senate has been discussing athletic spending this year through an ad hoc committee and through membership in a national organization that hopes to change the way Division I schools fund their athletic programs.
Two OU faculty members attended a Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics conference in late January and heard presentations on student-athlete welfare, athletics budgets and diversity.
COIA, along with its 57 members, works with the NCAA and administrators at Division I schools to advocate comprehensive athletics reform, including adjusting admission and recruiting policies, prioritizing academics - for funding and student time commitments - and giving tenured faculty an oversight role in governing athletic departments.
Faculty Senate Chairman Joe McLaughlin said the conference convinced him that OU should be talking about some of COIA's ideas.
We're really at a stage in terms of COIA where we need to sit down and we need help from people in athletics to figure out which of their recommendations might be things we already do and which things we might be close to
McLaughlin said. I am hopeful that the COIA framework can be a constructive place to begin a conversation that needs to happen.
Carole Browne, COIA's co-chairman, said the organization thinks it's critical to get university presidents to buy into reform efforts.
What we've done is try to provide faculty senates with guidelines for how they can examine the athletic programs at their institutions Browne said. We keep a public dialogue going about these issues. And what we want to do is lend support to reform efforts. We want to get the university presidents motivated to work toward reform.
OU's Faculty Senate has formed an ad hoc committee on intercollegiate athletics, mostly following conversations about budget cuts and the need to prioritize academics over athletics. Over winter break, the committee met with Julie Allison, director of business operations, for an explanation of the athletics budget. Faculty members have been upset in recent years, as the athletic department ran a $7.5 million deficit.
Per NCAA rules, the university also has a Standing Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, chaired by Ming Li, who went to the COIA conference with McLaughlin.
One of COIA's suggestions for universities is to place more control over athletics budgeting and organization in the hands of the faculty members on these standing committees.
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Emily Grannis
