Editorial : Academic coaches need financial sustainability too

The Orange’s move from the Big East conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference sparked massive excitement about its financial effect on Syracuse University Athletics. But such hype should remind the campus of its similar financial responsibility to academics.

In an article published Sunday in The Post-Standard, Daryl Gross, SU’s athletic director, said, ‘Now we have the resources to be competitive and make sure our coaches are at market and we don’t ever have to be considered a stepping stone.’ Gross said the increased revenue will allow SU to hire more assistants and bolster programs outside of basketball and football.

Such an investment in the teams’ futures has garnered widespread excitement, from students on campus to the most distant fans. But does a rallying cheer resound so fervently for our efforts to increase professor competitiveness, expand our graduate assists or revitalize our less competitive programs? The apparent answer is no.

In fact, efforts to financially strengthen our academics have fallen behind of almost all other capital goals. The Campaign for Syracuse has been raising money for ‘Faculty Excellence’ since 2005. ‘A large number of faculty retirements in the next decade means that the demand for candidates will exceed the supply, making competition for the most promising faculty members more intense and costlier than ever … they require specialized equipment, sophisticated computer systems, travel support and additional graduate assistants to be part of their research or performance teams,’ according to the campaign’s website.

The university set a faculty excellence campaign goal of $200 million. The total raised capital since 2005 stands at $55.7 million, according to the 2010-11 Campaign Impact Report. SU has about 70 percent of its remaining goal to reach in 15 months.

The chancellor and her administration have felt the heat from declining college rankings and decried them as outdated and inappropriate measures of institutional strength. But the strength of SU’s faculty provides an unwavering measure of its education. And though most of us enjoy the thrill of attending a game in a packed Carrier Dome full of screaming fans, students’ investment and future depend far more directly on competitive faculty than a competitive football team.

A decision to change conferences was a much easier process than arduous fundraising. But such wonderful strides in the financial sustainability of SU athletics must underscore the importance of the financial sustainability in SU academics. After all, SU’s mission is to create scholars, not fans.