Reader Responses to State of Play

Should our university be permitted to recruit student-athletes for a varsity sports team and then demote that team to club status weeks after the students enroll? Should student-athletes be excluded from athletics decisions? Should athletics be overseen primarily by administrators, not academics? Should a board of trustees and president be permitted to withhold or misrepresent the major reasons, data and/or circumstances for their consequential decisions? Should a university be allowed to defend itself in court against its own students with Title IX technicalities and decimal points? The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), I believe, will answer “No” to these questions because it requires compliance with its “Standards of Accreditation.” Consequently, one year after Brown’s May 2020 decision to demote 11 varsity teams to club status, I filed a formal complaint with NECHE charging Brown’s administration with eight violations of nine general accreditation standards and 58 violations of specific standards. The 83-page complaint includes 229 supporting exhibits. Students should have a voice in their extra-curricular activities. Faculty, not administrators, should have oversight of athletics. “Integrity,” “truthfulness,” and “public disclosure” are important values NECHE wants upheld. Moreover, NECHE requires adherence to “the spirit” of federal legislation, not just to technicalities. NECHE will rule later this year. No Brown alumnus, student, or parent should have to utilize NECHE to resolve disputes better settled internally.

Does Brown still have intercollegiate athletic teams?  When was the last varsity game actually played in football, basketball, or baseball? From my experience, the athletic fields were a huge part of the college and development experience. It is sad to see so many young men and women denied these experiences. How many team members from the “last time played” at Brown have transferred to other colleges and universities to actually be able to play? Surely the Athletic Dept. has these numbers. It will take quite some time for Brown and the other Ivies to recover from their overreactions.

We are writing in response to Will Bunch’s ’81 well written article, “State of Play,” in the November-December BAM. Collegiate athletics are a complex subject generally and at Brown, in particular. Nonetheless, we would like to offer an addendum. The article neglects to mention the Brown University Sports Foundation, which was founded by Art Joukowsky ’55 and Dick Carolan ’58 almost 40 years ago to bring supplemental financial resources to Brown athletics varsity, club, and intramural sports. It is the fundraising arm for athletic programs at Brown and is supported by numerous generous alumni, parents, friends, and students. Their contributions augment the funds provided by the University through both annual use funds and endowments.

The Sports Foundation coupled with individual sport Friends Associations have raised substantial amounts of capital for facilities and annual operating expenses over the decades. The mission is to ensure a quality athletic and educational experience for Brown student athletes and the entire Brown community. The campus athletic facilities are utilized by thousands of Brown students, staff and community members. Go Bears!

Now that the dust is settling on the aftermath of one of the most embarrassing and shameful chapters in Brown athletic history, the focus shifts to the Excellence in Brown Athletics Initiative. As described by the plan’s chief architect, financial guru Joe Dowling III, the plan’s playbook is intended to change the culture of the entire athletic department. This daunting undertaking is already navigating choppy waters with Dowling’s departure for the greener pastures of the private hedge fund world. Dowling is a dynamic big thinker whose enthusiasm and focused energies led hungry Bruno fans to believe that in five years Brown could be at the top of the Ivy League. Dowling’s leadership and proven ability to reel in the large sums of money necessary to carry out his playbook leaves a huge challenge for Brown’s understaffed and shrinking operation. In addition to the sudden departure of Athletic Director Jack Hayes, three Athletic staff members have also left, leaving positions unfilled because of the COVID-related hiring freeze. Whether this initiative can succeed, when several from the last two decades have been unsuccessful, remains to be seen. Ironically the COVID-driven pause in athletic activities has forced coaches and administrators to become more resourceful, providing an incubation trial period for positive change. The victory needle is stuck in neutral as Brown struggles to improve on the six Ivy titles earned in the last decade. As a long-suffering Bears fan, I am hopeful, but I find it difficult to shake the question of whether the 64 displaced athletes will be Ever True and whether the 145 survivors will overcome survivor guilt.

I was delighted to learn that Brown has the very worst record in all of the Ivies (“State of Play,” November/December). I think that this shows that Brown has, compared to the other Ivies, stayed true to its principles and that it has prioritized the other values of the college (and the other values of college sports) above the drive to win. All honor to Brown’s winning teams. But it is reassuring to see that Brown has not emphasized the goal of creating winning sports teams as much as the competition.

 My principal objections to the varsity demotion decision are not Brown’s foolish “go-it-alone” approach to restoring competitive imbalances in the Ivy League nor the meager funds to be saved. Rather, my objections, and those of the Ad Hoc Committee of Students, Parents, and Alumni (who number 37, not 7) are ethical. Among our 38 objections, we believe enrolled varsity student-athletes:

1. Should remain varsity athletes while enrolled.

2. Should never be berated for objecting to administrative decisions with phrases like: “the Amy Cohens of the world,” and “…student-athletes on affected teams can transfer…”

3. Should conduct their own team SWOT analyses (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and have a voice in responding to administrative assessments.

4. Should not have their teams pitted against other teams for survival.

Brown’s administration conducted a largely secretive, biased study designed to cut varsity teams. It resulted in no strategic plan for competitive balance, only four goals. Its defective process has produced a defective and hurtful product. All demoted athletes deserve reinstatement and apologies. All 11 demoted teams have change.org petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatories between them. Let’s remain “Ever true!”