Today's Letters: We value athletics over academics

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published August 26, 2007

A tale of two Gator nations Aug. 19, Perspective commentary

Gordon Marino points out that at the University of Florida a humanities professor's salary is about a quarter of the salary of a defensive coordinator for the football team. Is the defensive coordinator worth that much more than the professor? Are the priorities here all wrong?

Salaries at universities - as in the business world - are what the market will bear, and the market dictates that sports are paramount. We are an entertainment-driven society, not a knowledge-driven one. Contemporary society highly values those who labor to entertain us but not those who challenge us and educate us. Education is work, not entertainment.

When our priorities shift from amusement to a thirst for knowledge, then the market will shift also. But don't expect it any time soon. Even the ancient Greek athletes were idolized, well-paid and coddled.

Jim Martin, St. Petersburg 

A tale of two Gator nations Aug. 19, Perspective commentary

Pain is widespread

Gordon Marino's description of how University of Florida athletics is feasting amid an academic famine applies beyond our state's flagship institution. Case in point: Professor Marino mentions that "adjunct faculty might make a measly $4,000 per course" at UF. As a once and perhaps future adjunct instructor at the University of South Florida, that compensation sounds terrific to me. It's 60 percent higher than the $2,500 I earned last year for teaching a class to which I devoted about 250 hours of work. That's $10 an hour with no benefits for a Ph.D. with more than two decades of college teaching experience. And I'm far from alone.

Now come the budget cuts, which, as Marino says, "have sliced some department operating budgets to zero." Yes, indeed. As but one illustration among dozens of the harm these cuts will do, my colleagues and I have been requested to reduce the amount of copying for classes, and instead require students to pay for printing out their own copies.

These are wonderful, dedicated students (studying to be teachers, no less) who in many cases are working full-time jobs to pay for being full-time students. In addition to the expense and hassle of having to do the university's work, they will suffer from increased class sizes, fewer course offerings, less administrative assistance, and other deprivations and inconveniences drastically eroding the quality of their education.

Sorry to be a scold, but it wouldn't hurt to remember all this the next time the Gators win one on a last-minute drive down in the Swamp or the Bulls hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the Sun Dome.

Bill Rosenthal, Land O'Lakes

A tale of two Gator nations Aug. 19, Perspective commentary

A matter of priorities

Minnesotans don't understand. People come to Florida with money they earned elsewhere due to educations they acquired elsewhere. They only want to be entertained, not do anything. Football and basketball are entertainment, just like reality TV and Christians vs. lions in the old days.

If it weren't for archaic league and conference rules that require teams to be associated with educational institutions, we wouldn't need colleges and universities at all. You've got to have priorities. Take that, Minnesota.

George Goodenough, Largo

Presidential primaries

End the grandstanding

Florida started it, but now Michigan is joining the pack of states to hold presidential primaries earlier and earlier. Arizona and South Carolina are already trying to be first in line. Iowa is poised to up the ante by moving its primary to December and New Hampshire is hard-pressed to do the same because state law requires its primary be held at least seven days prior to any other presidential primary.

It all reeks of nothing more than political grandstanding.

Voters would be best served with a national primary date on the third Monday in February, Presidents' Day. Not only would this add conformity to avoid the candidates from hedge-hogging their positions on the issues, but it would also keep voters from jumping on an ill-conceived bandwagon.

Ron Rae, Spring Hill

Eminent domain may be a bit less imminent Aug. 19, Robyn Blumner column

Telling omission

I agree with Robyn Blumner that governments shouldn't easily take private property and give it to other private interests so they can generate more tax revenue.

Unfortunately, local governments were given a big boost two years ago by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in support of eminent domain. Blumner, who never misses a chance to criticize the conservative justices of the court, failed to mention that the liberal justices of the court were the ones who voted for the expansion of eminent domain. That omission demonstrates a great deal of hypocrisy.

Louis Ciardulli, Safety Harbor

Middle age men, here is sage advice for getting on Aug. 19, Perspective story

Geezers, really

Please tell me this story was a reprint from about 20 years ago. The 1960s generation should not be learning how to get on in their middle age; they should be passing that torch onto a new generation. It is the babies they conceived during the Summer of Love who are now learning to contend with nuisances of middle age. The '60s generation needs to start focusing on the problems of old age.

Middle age is actually a time in life that describes a mid-life plateau, not a slight of tongue to make old age not sound so bad. Life expectancy in the United States is around 78, which makes true middle-life 39. By 50 you have had your prime years, and it's time to really start planning for your swan song.

David Horning, St. Petersburg

How did Elvis get turned into a racist? Aug. 19, Perspective story

Just an imitation

Peter Guralnick's column goes to great lengths to show Elvis Presley as a friend of black entertainers. Most black people I know will never accept Presley as the "King" of rock 'n' roll or anything else.

Presley was not authentic. For those of us who grew up listening to blues singers like Little Willie John, Muddy Waters and Willie Mae Thornton (who recorded the original version of Hound Dog), Presley was a pale imitation, no pun intended. Why listen to an imitation when the real thing was available?

The tragedy was that black entertainers could not get their music played on the major radio stations, so white performers like Presley recorded their tunes and made millions while the originators of the music got little or nothing. Thornton made $500 for her recording of the hit song that sold 2-million copies.

To those of us who lived through those years, Presley was hyped and received adulation and financial rewards far beyond what he deserved. We continue to listen to and revere the authentic blues singers he emulated.

Robert Monroe, Tampa

Listen up, Hollywood Aug. 22

Resist the trend

While I certainly enjoyed Joel Stein's piece in Wednesday's edition of your fine publication, I was disappointed and a bit distressed to find it on the op-ed page instead of in the entertainment section.

For many years, the St. Petersburg Times has represented the best in op-ed quality, and I trust it will do so for many years to come. One way to continue in that exemplary tradition is to resist the unholy trend toward celebrity infotainment that has eroded standards across the board in journalism.

Thank you for your long-standing excellence.

M. Bartolo, Clearwater

The sports effect

Gordon Marino's Perspective article is an attempt to bring forth his grievances, actual and perceived, toward the University of Florida and its academic community. The recent sports championships won by the University of Florida have a profound effect on budgets and class sizes, as well as salaries and enrollment. It's the nature of the beast. He should have some idea, having been a football coach. One could argue whether sports championships fund every department of such an institution.

I have total admiration for what the Gators have accomplished athletically. I also respect their academics as well. They shaped my father. He is a great person whom I love, and a Gator alum! I doubt Gator academia has slipped into an abyss. Go figure, coming from a Coral Gables native and a die-hard Miami Hurricane fan!

Calvert Crowder, Safety Harbor

[Last modified August 25, 2007, 22:03:11]