Panel at UCA to study move to Division II

Faculty’s exploration aimed at saving money

CONWAY — A faculty senate panel at the University of Central Arkansas will study whether the school would save money to move down a division in the NCAA.

Faculty-senate President Kevin Browne told reporters that faculty members were “steaming” about reports that some athletic employees, mostly coaches, had been awarded bonuses and raises during the past year.

Browne told the faculty senate during a meeting Thursday that a faculty affairs subcommittee would study the athletics issue. There was no discussion during the meeting, but Browne talked briefly afterward.

The Arkansas DemocratGazette reported last week that UCA had awarded 18 athletic-department employees, mostly coaches, performance bonuses during the previous academic year.

Public funds financed the vast majority of the bonuses, which totaled roughly $183,000, including fringe benefits. UCA officials have said the public portion, roughly $103,000, came from salary savings in the athletic department. UCA President Tom Courtway said the plan is to fund such athletic bonuses privately in the future.

Still, the news was the second blow in less than a month to faculty members who have had just one across-the-board raise in the past five years. During a Sept. 11 faculty-senate meeting, Courtway said the athletic-department raises were privately funded.

Browne said he wants the subcommittee’s review to be thorough and expects it will take a few months.

The subcommittee, headed by Brian Bolter, is charged with studying and reporting on funding and expenditures of the athletic program, which began the five-year process of moving from Division II to Division I of the NCAA in 2005.

The subcommittee also is to investigate and make recommendations on the feasibility and desirability of returning to Division II.

During the Sept. 11 meeting, Athletic Director Brad Teague invited faculty senators to come by his office to discuss his department’s finances.

“He made us an offer,” and the faculty is taking him up on it, Browne said.

Browne said he had talked with Courtway about the bonuses and raises and told him they were “unfortunate.”

“I believe he understood why we were concerned,” Browne said.

Courtway said in an interview Thursday that any decision on whether to move back to Division II ultimately would be up to the board of trustees.

But he said, “I would certainly not be in favor of it. ... I don’t believe it’s the right

thing to do. I think we made a good decision. ... We made the transition.

“Certainly, it’s more expensive, but we’re doing well,” he added. “Certainly, any school that moves up has additional expenditures, but on balance it was worth it.”

Teague said in an interview that the athletic budget has gradually risen from about $5 million to about $9 million annually since moving to Division 1. The biggest cost associated with the move is scholarships, followed by salaries and then travel, he said.

The annual funding difference is not exactly $500,000, but that number is “not far off,” Teague said.

While he’s “disappointed” this issue is being reviewed, Teague said, “It gives me an opportunity to explain the advantages of being Division 1.”

Those advantages, he said, include boosting the university’s regional and national exposure, fostering pride within the institution, and recruiting and retention advantages.

He said ticket sales and donations have risen. “It doesn’t quite balance out [to the cost], but again it’s about the investment,” he said.

Courtway said Division I benefits also include an increased emphasis on academics. Further, the move, he said, “elevates the stature of a university.”

“We can make a strong case to the faculty senate and others that we are where we need to be,” Courtway said.

“Academics comes first. That’s why we exist. But athletics is an important part of a university experience.

“It does cost more to be in Division I, but I think we also gain benefits from it — from the exposure and the increased involvement of the community, the alumni and other people around the state,” he said. “It raises our visibility.”

Early in the meeting, interim Provost Steve Runge addressed a faculty question about whether savings in academic salaries could go toward faculty raises. Runge said any savings was already being used on faculty pay.

“There’s not a pot of money out there that came out of existing salary dollars,” he said.

Browne, asked if it was realistic to think that UCA would consider returning to Division II, said, “I can’t speak on that. We need arithmetic. So, we’re going to get some arithmetic.”