Stop the madness
The University of Hartford’s job is educating a diverse student body, not making a once-in-a-lifetime run to a basketball tournament
Somewhere in all the hand-wringing about the University of Hartford weighing the possibility of dropping its moneylosing Division I sports program an important truth is being lost: Universities are about educating students and broadening the array of opportunities they offer so they are in a position to welcome a diverse student body to their campuses. They’re not about sending a team to the NCAA Tournament once every so often, as captivating a story line as that may be.
The issue exploded a few days ago when WTNH-Channel 8 obtained a copy of a consultant’s report analyzing several options for the university. They included staying in Division I and moving to Division III, where — by the way — there is a robust cadre of skilled and competitive student-athletes.
The report, which has since been released publicly, came to the conclusion that it would be in the university’s financial interest to move from Division I to Division III, as staying put in the America East Conference was costing the university $13 million a year. Nodecision has been made.
The ensuing story lines were predictable. Just weeks after its Cinderella turn at the NCAATournament (where UHart lost to eventual champion Baylor 79-55 in the first round) sports-hating bean counters were pulling the rug out from under their athletic program. The idea of voluntarily abandoning your place in the top tier of college sports was painted as an unforgivable sin.
That may be true in the hierarchy of sports, where you play in the minors to get to “The Show,” where athletes who fall short in the NBAgooffto Europe to play or where, in the world of college sports, Division I is a big deal and Division III is largely ignored. But the University of Hartford’s mission is not to climb to the top of the sports world. It is to provide a quality education to the most diverse student body it can assemble and send them out educated and ready to make the world a better place. If being in Division I is hurting rather than helping that mission, the university’s job is to take a hard and dispassionate look at the numbers. Which appears to be what they did when they hired CarrReports to analyze the situation. The report is 80 pages long, with a detailed analysis of the different options. “Given the financial reality of this study, coupled with parameters outlined in the assumptions on the previous page, Athletics’ current Division I-funding model is not viable and cannot achieve the goal of becoming more self-sustaining,” the report concluded. Amongits recommendations: “UHart should explore viable membership options in NCAADivision III that will align with the University’s Mission.” It is true that there are advantages to being in Division I that don’t show up on a bottom line. Scholarships offer students whomight otherwise not be able to go to college a shot at higher education. And, as the University of Connecticut has proven, success in big-time college sports can raise your profile. And donors certainly love winning teams.
It’s also true the university bungled the PRgameonce the story broke. The university’s first response appeared to be to hunker down. That never works. A snippet of an email chain inadvertently made public became in the eyes of some a divining rod to university President Gregory Woodward’s true motives and intent. After several days, the university finally released the report but their low-profile approach on so high-profile a story opened the door to both speculation and criticism.
It’s time nowfor a more reasoned and dispassionate debate.
If Woodward thinks this is a good idea, he should come out and say so and explain why. If he is going to cut back on scholarships for student-athletes, he needs to articulate his plans for howhe is going to use the money to help students whomight not be able to afford a University of Hartford education. Is there a plan to offset the potential loss in alumni donations? What academic programs will be strengthened?
Many colleges and universities are trying to find their footing in a post-coronavirus world. The University of Hartford’s leaders were doing their job in exploring options. What’s needed nowis a full, transparent, and reasoned exploration of the issues. Too much is at stake to allow emotion to drive this decision.