Palaima, Graglia to Debate Influence of College Football in American Universities in Second Texas Chautauqua

A 2006 study found that a substantial proportion of the American public believes that a university's athletic success and its academic success are positively correlated. Since at least 1914, when a professor at Otterbein College complained that college athletes too often placed sport above study, many members of university faculties have disagreed. The influence of large football programs is particularly controversial.

On October 28 at 3 p.m. the University of Texas representative on the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, Classics professor Thomas Palaima, and Law professor Lino Graglia will debate the question: Is college football a positive influence in American universities? Professor Palaima will take the affirmative position, Professor Graglia the negative. The debate, which is free and open to the university community, will be located in Room 2.112 of the Recreational Sports Center and moderated by Rhetoric and Writing major Emma Tran.

The history of American football is inextricably linked with America's colleges. The first organized game occurred in 1869 between Rutgers College and the College of New Jersey, and twenty years later Casper Whitney coined the term "all-American" when he created the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. Along with its increasing popularity, the game was becoming more violent. In 1905, after 18 players were killed in games, President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to ban the sport. One year later, the forerunner of today's National Collegiate Athletic Association was created to increase the safety of the game and to make sure college athletic programs were consistent with "the dignity and high purpose of education."

Today, college football far outstrips other college sports in popularity. Last year, attendance at NCAA football games approached 35,000,000. Division I programs now generate more than $2 billion in annual revenue, and 50 coaches earn a salary above $1 million.

Palaima has been critical of money's influence on NCAA football while upholding the concept of "amateur sports within a true educational context." Graglia, an outspoken opponent of large college football programs, has called big-time college football a "fraudulent enterprise."

This is the second in a series of Chautauquas--named after the freewheeling educational camps popular a century ago--hosted by Texas IP Fellows. The IP allows Liberal Arts and Natural Science majors to design interdisciplinary minors around topics of personal interest.