Reply #3: Here are the questions:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1) Are the donations to the athletic department or to the academic programs?

2) Are the new students of high calibre or are they the kind of unthinking trendoids who apply to a school just because they've heard of it, i.e. the kind who actually worsen the atmosphere of a campus?

3) If the donations are to the general fund, how are they used? To hire more administrators or to hire more full-time professors and upgrade the facilities?

I taught at a college that had won national championships in two sports in its NCAA division, and it was mediocre because the sports fan alumni kept pressuring the president who in turn pressured the admissions committee to admit marginal students. The PR department was good buddies with the athletic director, so the college's name was in the paper only when the teams played.

Then we got a new president who came in and said, "That new athletic center you're building is great, but it's so much better-looking and better-equipped than anything else on this campus that it's ridiculous. Your library is tiny, antiquated, and not wheelchair accessible. The theater department does miracles on a shoestring and deserves something better than the hole in the wall it currently has. I'm appalled at the grades and test scores of the average incoming freshman. And what's this? A 1600-student campus and the only students of color are from other countries? Most administrative and academic departments don't have Internet connections?"

Oh, the athletic alumni screamed and hollered, but this new president ordered that no more special admits were to be given for athletes. Furthermore, there was to be a fundraising campaign for a new library.

The athletic alumni tried to lobby the faculty for a vote of no-confidence in the president, but surprise, surprise, the faculty were happy with this turn of events. I'm still on the school's mailing list, and they're doing just fine.