Commentary —

Toward A Huskier UConn

Upgrade UConn,

In esteem;

Classes, not the

Football team.

Being the nation’s richest state, Connecticut could, if it chose, provide the nation’s richest higher education.  So far it hasn’t chosen.  We prefer to muddle in the middle.

Of course the middle is better than where we once were.  UConn, especially, used to be the pits.  But now the legislature has put $1 billion into physical improvements, and a passel more into scholarship.  The result has been a spiffier campus and brainier students.

This emphasis on structures and scholarships is probably not surprising.  You can borrow for the buildings, and let someone else pay for them later on.  And scholarships are very popular with parents (voters).  Money for staff and programs can more easily be put on hold, which, of course, is exactly what has happened.

But other states have not put staff and programs on hold, and the results have been predictable.  U.S. News & World Report ranked UConn pretty deep into the bottom half of major public universities.  And now the school threatens to plunge even lower if more money is not poured into the sinking Health Center.

You’d assume that the Health Center would be a rather high priority.  As a state we have targeted medical research at the top of our economic development scheme.  And that scheme has been working well.  Medical companies are expanding rapidly here, broadening the market for well-educated and well-trained employees.  In fact there’s hardly a growth industry in Connecticut, casinos aside, which doesn’t demand serious education.

In light of this academic need, what do you think the General Assembly is proposing for UConn’s next upgrade?  That’s right, a football stadium.  Lawmakers may have their little disagreements about academic salaries, support staff, work load, research subsidies, class size and the like, but there is one thing they can all agree on.  Sports.  If we can win a national championship in basketball, why not football?  With a good team we’ll attract top professors, top students and top contributors.

Well, maybe.  That was the plan at New Jersey’s state university, Rutgers, too. It moved up to Division 1-A in football, just as UConn  plans to do, but moved down academically.  The team has done poorly in its new fast company and the resulting financial drain has eroded maintenance and quality in other departments.

For Connecticut it is conceded that football will be an annual drain of $4-8 million, running perhaps until the stadium is paid off in 30 years.  During that time, new legislators and trustees will be the bad guys for having to starve academic programs to pay for it.  Meanwhile, today’s leaders will be safely enshrined in the field house for taking the bold leap.

It seems more like a bad leap.  This is not Big Ten country.  Boston College is the only 1-A team in New England.  The next closest are Syracuse, Rutgers, Penn State, and Maryland.  There is no groundswell here to upgrade.  Other fine state universities hereabouts do just fine playing 1-AA opponents like Yale, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth and the like.

The bolder leap would be to commit to upgrading academic quality.  We’ve made a good start with buildings and students. Now comes staffing and the Medical Center.  To some of us, that’s as exciting as football.

(Bill Collins, a former mayor of Norwalk, is a syndicated columnist.)