WHO WINS THE GRADUATION BOWL?: During my recuperation from knee surgery, I read a lot and, when brain fatigue seeped in, switched on the TV and cycled through 500-plus channels. I was all set to watch the Florida-Wyoming football game on Sept. 3. I figured one of my many pay channels would carry the game (for a price). But I was wrong, so switched to football on radio. As I listened, I wondered how it came to pass that I have connections to both University of Florida and Wyoming. I graduated from UF in 1976 and have taught at UW and attended scores of campus events. As the score that day grew increasingly lopsided in favor of the huge SEC school where football is king, I began to wonder how UF and UW would compare in non-gridiron areas, such as athlete graduation rates, teacher-student ratio, creative writing programs, university presses, etc. I need to begin planning a four-year UW stint for my daughter, a WYO native. A few days later, roaming around on the web, I discovered to my horror that University of Nebraska graduated more football players than either Florida and Wyoming. How could this be? I knew NU had a respected creative writing program, the terrific University of Nebraska Press, and a top-notch litmag in Prairie Schooner. And the NU English Dept. office is marked by a plaque dedicated to Willa Cather. Were all the Husker linemen honing their learning skills through poetry workshops? Not bloody likely, but a majority of those linemen are going to class and getting diplomas. Both Nebraska and Colorado were recognized in August for reaching the 70 percent graduation rate, well above the NCAA’s average graduation rate for football players of 54 percent. Penn State has an 87 percent graduation rate, one of the best in the U.S. But Duke and Northwestern graduate 100 percent of their players. Here’s the bad news. Florida’s rate is a whopping 44 percent, according to figures compiled by the NCAA for athletes entering in the 97-98 academic year. Wyoming’s rate is 56 percent, a few ticks above the national average. So, on academic grounds, the Cowboys won their 2005 match-up with UF by 12 points. They should flash graduation rates on the scoreboard during games. This wouldn't be popular with most alums, who seem more interested in football prowess that academic achievement. On any given Saturday, you can include me in those ranks. On Mondays, I usually regain my perspective. The sordid state of college athletics was recently discussed by Denver Post columnist Ed Quillen. On 9/12/05 he wrote: “I'm one of those liberal-arts weenies who believe that big-time college football, even if it were run in perfect conformance to all known rules, is inherently corrupt and a perversion of a university's mission… I've heard too many interviews with college-grad athletes who cannot speak anything close to grammatical English. Football may be a fine sport. So put the training leagues somewhere else, and quit prostituting our universities with it.”
