Rutgers: Sports or Academics?

Rutgers University President, Robert Barchi at a
press conference takes questions concerning the
recent basketball scandal at Rutgers.
(FIOS ONE Screen shot/Dick Bergeron)

At first glance, it might not appear that the fallout from the Rutgers sports scandal should lead to the question of equity between sports and academics, but it should.

The negative consequences associated with a recent video showing what happened during practice sessions on the basketball court at Rutgers are just beginning to unfold. 

An evaluation of this fiasco should lead to a review of the tens of millions being spent on basketball and football at the expense of all the other less popular programs on the sports agenda at Rutgers.
 
In an expansive article on this matter, Courier News staff writers Jerry Carino and Keith Sargeant anonymously quoted a Rutgers coach who said that “Probably the best way for college sports to maintain any sort of integrity is through the Olympic sports.

If we just have football and basketball driving all the decisions, then we’re pro.  It just becomes a minor-league extension of professional sports.”

Isn’t that the truth!!

The evidence overwhelmingly points to the fact that the basketball and football programs at Rutgers have sucked the oxygen out of most other equally deserving programs at Rutgers.

It can arguably be established that those two programs have also become basic training for the pros. 

But that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, given the move to the Big Ten and the additional millions which will flow into Rutgers sports as a result. 

That is a significant issue, given the fact that tuition at Rutgers for an on-campus, in-state student is high and rising – already beyond the reach of many New Jersey kids.