Big Brother is going to be more involved with college athletics at public universities
As college athletics become more lucrative, an unintended consequence of that financial explosion will be more governmental oversight at pubic universities.
As the sales of naming rights to college stadiums like USC’s Coliseum and potential alcohol sales at more venues continue to increase the revenue that public universities garner from college athletics, the result is more opportunities for criminal behavior like that which is currently being investigated at multiple universities. Every instance of graft will produce more of a need for the state to oversee the athletic programs at these institutions.
On Thursday it was reported that the FBI is investigating the University of Minnesota’s athletics ticket office in connection to the alleged embezzlement of an as yet undetermined amount of money by a former department supervisor. Nearly simultaneously, the New Mexico state auditor’s office announced that it is launching a comprehensive, special audit of the finances of the University of New Mexico’s athletic department in response to concerns about misuse.
These headlines come in the wake of scandals at other public universities like the Jerry Sandusky tragedy at Penn State, alleged academic fraud at North Carolina, and improper recruiting practices at Ole Miss. All these matters end up costing the state money, whether it’s paid to cover settlements, legal fees or simply distracting lawmakers from attending to other matters.
All these situations seem to indicate a common trait; the failure of the personnel at these athletic departments for public universities to police themselves and each other. As is the case in the lives of private individuals, when he/she fails to police herself/himself, the literal police usually arrive.
While the state board of regents, and through them state legislative bodies, do already have control over public universities, the involvement of state government agencies in the daily operations of athletic programs at public universities is minimal. As stories like the illegal payment of a golfing trip to Scotland for several New Mexico athletics boosters continue to surface, the days of that status quo may be numbered.
What exactly that expanded oversight may look like is all speculation right now. It’s possible that the regents may hire their own staff members responsible for assuring compliance with not only NCAA regulations, but all legal matters as well. Currently, most athletic departments employ their own compliance staff who are primarily concerned with assuring the department occurs no NCAA violations.
Unless tighter controls are put in place by athletic departments across the nation, Big Brother may soon have a much more pronounced presence on campuses. This could be seen as an obsolete system catching up to the evolution of college athletics at public universities. It would probably result in a lot more red tape in daily operations for athletic department personnel.
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If athletic department personnel continue to fail to prevent illegal activity, however, the only place that they should look when searching for the party guilty for the unwanted government oversight is into a mirror.