Letters to the Editor

Letter: Cut university sports

Contrary to what university president Jim Johnsen says, there is a lot that can be legitimately cut from the University of Alaska. Funding athletics while butchering academics and student services is outright fiscal mismanagement and just plain wrong. Academics should never be sacrificed, never take a back seat, to athletics.

Intercollegiate sports are blatant greed and hypocrisy, responsible for scandal after scandal. The current college admissions flap is due largely to the emphasis of sports over academics, driven by money and status. Universities need to eliminate the myth, the cult of the student athlete.

There are no student athletes, only students. With hockey players suffering the same traumatic brain injuries as football players, it is unconscionable for the U of A to continue its hockey programs. College is for mature adults working towards a better life through education. Intercollegiate sports have no place at this or any other university. Every dollar spent on sports is a dollar stolen from students' college education. Please drop athletics from the University of Alaska.

- Thomas Harrison Morse

UAA faculty

Anchorage

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