“there are no institutions of higher learning that have as part of their mission statements “entertain the local population by having athletic teams.”

By:The Norwegian Explorer

A recent local topic of discussion is the consideration of the North Dakota Legislature somehow requiring the football teams of NDSU and UND to play each other on an annual basis.  Even though I don’t care if the two institutions ever play each other again in anything, or for that matter even have football teams, or even athletic programs, I think that if the legislature considers such an act it would be right up there with when the Tennessee legislature decreed that the irrational number pi is, in fact 3.

First, according to ESPN, there are no institutions of higher learning that have as part of their mission statements “entertain the local population by having athletic teams.”  What would be the content of such legislation if one or both of the institutions decided to drop football a la Western Washington, or follow the lead of some of the finest research universities, e.g. University of Chicago, University of Rochester, Carnegie Mellon to name a few, and eliminate athletics altogether?

This, of course, is not likely to happen. But let’s suppose such legislation does become law.  In that case, we would have the situation where the legislature has interfered in the internal affairs of it’s flagship institutions, a clear violation of the academic freedom of both institutions and one or more of their academic departments(yes, the Athletic Department is an academic department).  This could besmirch the academic reputations of the schools to the level of affecting their ability to attract outside funding for their research.

OK, so you don’t care if the schools are any good or not.  Fine.  But when NDSU went to Division 1 athletics the case was made by President Chapman when speaking to the NDSU University Senate that the funding was coming entirely from outside donations, and was therefore none of the Senate’s business.  Well, if the football teams are funded primarily by private donations, what business is it of the legislature’s whom or if they play?  And some say the smoking ban violates their individual rights.

In summary, I have no dog in the fight of whether NDSU and UND play each other in anything.  But I think that if the legislature meddles in the situation, it would serve no-one and possibly harm all parties.

In our last installment, we discussed some positive signs in the race relations situation.

I have now graduated from college and am hanging around Raleigh, taking courses and working for the Raleigh Recreation Department in preparation for graduate school in the fall.  This was the summer of 1963, called by some the “long hot summer,” or by others, the summer the police turned around.

To set the time frame, this was the summer of the Greensboro lunch counter sit it, the Selma, Alabama march and other large acts of civil disobedience in which African Americans let it be known that they would no longer accept second class citizenship.  Many cities in the Southeastern United States  were  “integrated” thus, and Raleigh was no exception.  The only difference was that the leaders of both sides agreed to keep the press out of it, and the only coverage was short articles on the back page of the Raleigh News and Observer.
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The new president has made a pledge to spend money on infrastructure across the United States because he believes it is a way to strengthen the economy.

While the country is spending money to build/maintain roads and bridges, Caterpillar in North Dakota will reap the benefits of increased demand for their equipment.
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