Spring Break
Trustees OK athletics plan, $2B budget
Athletics pitches changes to finance, admissions
By: Chelsea Allison
Issue date: 5/15/08 Section: News
Last update: 5/15/08 at 7:44 AM EST
Last update: 5/15/08 at 7:44 AM EST
|
A strategic plan for the athletics department had been on deck for more than a year, and outgoing Director of Athletics Joe Alleva first gave an overview of such a vision to the Trustees last May. Alongside culture changes for football and improvements to facilities, the plan pitches changes to finances and admissions.
"We've been operating on what is an increasingly antiquated funding model," President Richard Brodhead said in an interview. "Our program has grown and evolved for years. But the initial funding model underwriting it has stayed frozen over time, so this is just an acknowledgment of the fact that athletics in fact requires a different level of investment."
That funding model has relied on support for athletics from Duke's two undergraduate schools, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering. The new plan proposes re-imagining financing to come from a variety of resources, including Duke's graduate and professional schools.
"To some extent going forward we want to recognize athletics for the common good that it is," Brodhead said. "As far as charging it to certain schools, it would still be understood as a primarily undergraduate activity, but students in every school participate in athletics."
While working out strategies to improve the department, the University is searching for a new leader for athletics, one who will likely carry the plan to fruition. Brodhead said Saturday that there was no specific timeline for installing a new director.
Alleva presented the first draft of the plan, "Unrivaled Ambition," to the Academic Council Feb. 20, at which time he fielded questions regarding proposed modifications to the athletics "reach and stretch" policy, which the report notes has been in place for more than 15 years.
The current policy permits coaches to sign athletes who fall slightly below University admissions standards pending approval from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, but penalizes the team by cutting some scholarship spots.
Some faculty members questioned whether making the policy more flexible would dilute admissions standards, but Alleva said the athletics department was committed to academic excellence.
Be the first to comment on this story