Sunday, December 22, 2002

THE NEW YORK TIMES PASSES ON A LIE: In the Editorial/Opinion section, there's no such thing as a bad opinion, and anyone can legitimately say whatever s/he wants. But there are bad, demonstrably untrue facts, which no writer should be allowed to repeat.

In response to a George Vecsey column on the evils of college sports, Susan Dixon of Austin, TX was allowed to repeat the following pernicious lie on today's Sports Mailbox page:
It is also a little-known fact, but it has been shown that donations to the rest of a university go way up when it has a successful athletic program.

It's little-known because it's patently false. According to the research in James L. Shulman and William G. Bowen's comprehensive The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values:
First, contrary to much of the mythology about winning and giving, the study finds no relationship of any kind between won-lost records in football and general giving rates at either the Division IA private universities that operate bigtime programs or the Ivies. . . .

A parallel analysis that focuses not on participation rates but on the amounts given reveals only one significant, and somewhat puzzling, result. Improvements in Division IA football performace on a par with moving from a 50-50 record to an unbeaten season are associated with an average decline of about $135 per person in general giving per year, with no offsetting increase in athletic contributions.

The Game of Life, pp. 220-221. Moreover, focusing on men's basketball did not change the results. Id., p. 407 n.20.

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