Of all the parties slighted in Texas and Oklahoma’s move to the SEC, Oklahoma State may have the most legitimate grievance, as one of only two public universities in the state of national significance, at least in the athletic realm (Tulsa is a private school). In Texas, there are enough massive public universities that it’s hard to imagine Texas Tech placing too much blame at the feet of UT-Austin should the finances in Lubbock take a dive, but in Oklahoma, it’s really just the Sooners and the Pokes, and it’s possible Oklahoma’s move to the SEC could seriously alter academics up in Stillwater, and therefore throughout the state.
There are arguments to be made about the significance of the impact of college athletics upon universities as a whole, and specifically upon the academic experience of their students. On the one hand, much of the massive revenue generated by programs like that of the University of Texas goes back into the athletic department, as opposed to into, say, the humanities. On the other, success in “big money” sports like football and basketball is fodder for development offices in their constant solicitation endeavor.
I probably have a warped view of the importance of athletics upon a university, being vastly more familiar with Notre Dame than with any other college. At Notre Dame, the story goes, academics only became reputable because the Big Ten’s blackballing of the Catholics forced the football team to travel all across the country in the Knute Rockne era, accidentally creating a national brand that men like Ted Hesburgh could later leverage into resources for the school as a school. At Notre Dame, the story goes, they’d been trying to build new facilities for the psychology department for decades, and when they attached it to season tickets in the luxurious “premium boxes” added in the last stadium renovation, the facilities were funded in an afternoon. At Notre Dame, the story goes, I check what my annual donation will do for my place in the football ticket lottery before I determine its magnitude. There are revenue benefits, direct and indirect, that rise from successful collegiate athletics, most prominently football. I just have no insight into how sizable those are at schools beyond my alma mater.
If Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the SEC does hurt Oklahoma State as an institution, it would seem to run contrary to Oklahoma’s presumed purpose of serving the citizens of its state. But by the same token, if it helps Oklahoma more than it hurts Oklahoma State, is it an altruistic move? If it helps the University of Arkansas, does it help American education as a whole? There isn’t a great way to know. But in the strange system of American higher education, athletics, like university policies on underage alcohol consumption, are a large figure in the room, even if their impact is one of semi-unknowable heft. And that’s a little bit fascinating.
education shmeducation