the BigAmateurism monologues

To understand the dysfunction in intercollegiate athletics, it is important to understand the way in-system stakeholders/ beneficiaries think about the relationship between revenue-producing sports and higher education. This is particularly true for university presidents who have primary responsibility for the conduct and control of intercollegiate athletics. This episode discusses the irreconcilable tension between the value systems of many university presidents—including Carol Cartwright— and the realities of the big-time college sports marketplace. Cartwright’s February 14, 2020, referral letter in the NC State infractions and enforcement case exemplifies the hypocrisy in university presidents’ quixotic quest for “academic integrity” in the relationship between the academy and big-time college sports. In 1991, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics recommended presidential control of, and responsibility for, college sports as the magic bullet to preserve the “integrity” of higher education. As a prelude to analyzing Cartwright’s referral letter, this episode explores how university presidents have enabled the very corrupting influences they claim to stand against.