Behind the Stats: New UO Study Proves Athletic Success Leads to Increased Donations–But What About Academics?

Oregon daily enerald

Data that I first read about a week ago on the

UO Matters blog was disseminated further in an  Oregon Daily Emerald article that ran today. The article explained findings from a New York City-based nonprofit that examined academic vs. athletic donations to the UO between 2000 and 2010 (The numbers do not include gifts in kind, like MKA or Jacqua). Based on the trends seen in the graphs, there is definitely a correlation between athletic success and increased donations to the UO. The troubling factor, clearly, is the stagnate nature of the academic donations over the last ten years versus the skyrocketing nature of athletic donations.

As it stands right now, UO athletics’ donations have increased threefold over the past ten years, while academic donations are declining to nearly a 10-year low–and the school seems like its more packed than ever. The ODE article also cites a UO study that found athletic success leads to more donations overall; however donors are more likely to donate generously or completely in favor of athletics after a successful year, leaving academics out to dry.

This problem is compounded essentially because of bribery, according to the study. That is, many people who “donate” to UO athletics aren’t actually donating out of the goodness of their hearts, they’re donating to get better seats at Autzen, or a parking pass, or their name on a placard in PK park, or… you get the idea. And as you can imagine, the demand for these perks only goes up after a good year of sports, further driving the surge in donations experienced by the AD.

What’s important to realize is that it’s an illusion to believe that the whole school benefits when the Ducks go to the BCS. Plenty of schools have systems (that work) that allow AD’s to share a fixed percentage of accumulated wealth with the academic side of the institution, but apparently tax laws in Oregon are allowing this to go on. Clearly, Oregon’s relatively quick rise to national prominence left this flaw in our system exposed. The State, University, and Athletic Department must explore new ideas for a better system. And with the way this school is growing, and as good as our teams are getting, they owe it to us to get it done soon.