A Fifty Million Dollar College Scandal

Academics remain sidelined as an elite athletic payroll dominates the field.

I heard a story on the radio that made my jaw drop this morning.  Some universities are now allocating upwards of $50 million to pay student-athletes. It is a striking snapshot of completely misaligned priorities in higher education and I am shocked at the absence of objection.

Meanwhile, in the lecture halls and laboratories, students are paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars just for the privilege of pursuing a degree. In many cases, these same people are funneled into decades of often predatory and crushing debt long before their professional lives begin.

How did we arrive at a place where this feels normal?

When did higher education completely abandon its purpose in favor of becoming an entertainment business that operates as a school on the side?

Having watched this rise to power over the last several decades, the shift is staggering. What was once a localized or even regional weekend tradition has ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar corporate juggernaut that completely dominates institutional priorities.

Imagine if that $50 million was directed where it actually belongs: lowering tuition costs, funding grants for the economically or situationally disadvantaged, supporting essential research, retaining and recruiting academic faculty, as well as modernizing labs and classrooms. 

At a time when national test scores and academic proficiency are in a well-documented slide, our institutions should be doubling down on real education. Instead, tens of millions of dollars are funneled into an athletic arms race while the core academic engine rusts on the sidelines.

When a university’s multi-million-dollar investments favor stadium lights over academic access, the fundamental mission of higher education is lost. 

Much like professional sports franchises that demand public bond initiatives and taxpayer-funded stadiums while pricing out local fans, universities are running the exact same playbook. Even when athletic departments claim to be self-sustaining, they leverage non-profit status, tax advantages, and campus infrastructure while general student fees often quietly subsidize non-revenue sports.

We are quite literally witnessing a system designed around sports entertainment while ordinary students often carry a heavy financial anchor long after graduation.

If a university can assemble $50 million for athletic talent, it surely has the resources to ensure an affordable education for remainder of the student body, without leaving them indebted for life. It is well past time that we start demanding academic institutions re-center their true mission: making education accessible, affordable, and valued above all else.

What can be done?

• Vote with Enrollment:  Parents and prospective students should choose institutions that align with these values. Prioritize universities that invest heavily in academic programs, faculty support, and student affordability over those that divert massive resources into hyper-commercialized athletic budgets.
• Pressure Campus Leadership: Write directly to university boards of trustees, university presidents, and alumni associations. Withhold institutional donations and explicitly cite the hyper-commercialization of athletics and skyrocketing academic tuition as the reason.
• Demand Legislative Accountability: Contact your federal and state representatives. Demand that any legislative frameworks governing college athletics include strict caps on athletic spending, mandate tuition freezes, and require transparency for how student fee money is allocated toward athletic programs.
• Hit them in the Ledger: Boycott the machine. Stop buying game tickets, turn off the television broadcasts, unfollow the team accounts, and refuse to purchase official university merchandise. Until we stop bankrolling their multi-million-dollar athletic arms race, nothing will change.
  

Until the public, alumni, and lawmakers begin to hold these non-profit institutions accountable, they will continue prioritizing stadium lights over classroom access.  The consumer public should demand that higher education return to its actual mandate: delivering accessible, affordable, quality education above all else.

The Real Problem is not always the Breach

An aspect of data breaches that doesn't receive enough attention is timing.

When a company discovers personal information may have been exposed, the clock should start immediately! Unfortunately, many organizations focus on investigating, validating, assessing scope, consulting with attorneys, insurers and forensic firms, all while preparing public statements, yet before informing the very people whose information is at risk.

Identity thieves don't wait for investigations to conclude.

If there is any possibility that highly sensitive data were exposed, affected individuals should be notified as soon as practical.  This should be done even if all of the facts are not yet known. Additional updates can always follow as more information becomes available.

Organizations justify delays by citing the complexity of investigations. While important, people deserve the chance to immediately take action and protect themselves through actions such as freezing credit files, examining their accounts, changing passwords, and generally increasing their awareness of fraud attempts.

These steps are far more effective early rather than months, or even years, later.

There is also a broader issue of accountability.

When organizations collect and store personal information, they assume responsibility for protecting it. That responsibility should not end when a breach occurs. In many cases, the consequences of identity theft lasts for years, while the protections offered to affected individuals last only months.

Transparency builds trust. Delayed notification erodes it.

Perhaps it is time for legislators to strengthen breach notification requirements.

A few ideas worth considering:

• Mandatory disclosure within a defined timeframe once potential exposure of sensitive personal information is identified, rather than allowing indefinite delays while investigations continue.
• Multi-year identity monitoring requirements when Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial information, or medical information are involved.
• Executive certification that affected individuals were notified promptly and completely.
• Personal liability for knowingly withholding information from affected individuals when there is evidence their information may have been compromised. 
• Meaningful financial penalties for unreasonable notification delays.

The standard should never be "What is the minimum we are legally required to do?"

The standard should be "What would we expect if it were our own information at risk?"

Until laws begin emphasizing transparency and accountability as much as data protection itself, organizations will continue to treat notification as a legal compliance exercise rather than an obligation to the people they serve and those they expect to serve them.

We are past due for equitable accountability measures, especially in this era of "AI."

Reach out to your representatives at all levels, if you agree with any part of this.

Give them your opinion.

Expect a response.

Tao Verse 19

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