Abstract and Bibliography

Abstract
My paper talks about college athletics and how they are such a big part of American and college culture. I did research looking to find evidence to support sports originally, but wound up finding much more evidence on why sports are bad for universities. This led me to change my opinion on college sports and led me to believe that they are bad for universities. I tried to balance the benefits of sports though with the negative side of them to create an equal argument.

College sports are a part of the American culture and are a part of the college culture as well. As long as there are cheering fans in the stands at sporting events, college athletics will continue to be a prevalent part of the American university. “Colleges and universities are, at the end of the day, academic institutions. They are charted to serve educational purposes” (Bowen and Levin, 11). The question as President McCormick of Rutgers University phrased it, is not of whether can athletics and academics coexist, but how we manage their coexistence that is crucial to the success and survival of a university.

Bibliography

Bowen, Jenna. "College Athletics Benefit All." Western Oregon Journal. (2007): Print.
Bowen, William, and Sarah Levin. Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. Print.
Cady, Edwin. The Big Game. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1978. Print.
DeVenzio, Dick. Rip-Off U.: The Annual Theft and Exploitation of Major College Revenue Producing Student-Athletes. Charlotte, North Carolina: The Fool Court Press, 1986. Print.
Dowling, William C. Confessions of a Spoilsport. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007. Print.
"High Cost of College Sports." Star Ledger October 31, 2009, Print.
Losco, Joseph and Fife, Brian. Higher Education in Transition. Westport, Connecticut: Bergin & Garvey, 2000. Print.
McCormick, Richard. Personal Interview. 31 March 2010.
Wolverton, Brad. "For Athletics, a Billion-Dollar Goal Line." Chronicle of Higher Education. 55.20 (2009): Print.

Your Story

My project has evolved into a less of a debate between sports and universities and more of a discussion and analysis of the impact that sports have on universities. At first I was going to write a paper on how sports are good for universities, but after doing research and reading Dowling's book, I changed my mind. I debated bakck adn forth between the two sides, but I realized in the end that both sides are right and that sports are going to be around at universities no matter what. In the end, college athletics and academics must coexist at schools. My interview with President McCormick was pretty influential, but most influential was William Dowling's book which talks about all the problems with college sports. Now at first, I believed Dowling completely, but after sitting back and thinking about some of the arguments he makes, I realized that he over criticizes sports and just points out all the things wrong with them. I have learned that there isn't much evidence to support college athletics because it is so ingrained in our society's culture and that it will always be around so people may not feel the need to publish work on supporting college sports. College sports when managed properly, can bring a lot to a university and compliment academics nicely.

Visual Aid

I think it would be a good idea if I showed the top 25 rankings for colleges in both football and academics and show how there are very few, if any overlapss from year to year.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/polls/ap/

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-universities-rankings