[Vision2020] Response to Spear

[Nicholas Gier]

Greetings:

I sent the original version of this to the Argonaut, but this is revised for the Vision and for the Daily News.  Note especially the new facts I've learned about closing the UI Press.

The revised AFT Position Paper on UI Athletics can be read at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/ift/bigsky.htm.

To the Editor:

In order not talk past each other, I called UI athletic director Robert Spear on Nov. 14, before I finalized the American Federation of Teachers' (AFT) position paper on UI athletics (Opinion,Nov. 15).  Spear was not interested in dialogue and ended our conversation by hanging up the phone.  I then sent him a draft of this letter and got no reply.

In his response (Opinion, Nov. 19), Spear claimed that we did not have our facts straight. UI research economist Steven Peterson has studied this issue thoroughly and supports move to I-A sports.  In an e-mail to me he said that there were no factual errors in the piece.

In 2002 President Hoover decided to eliminate geological and mining engineering and six
professors (three tenured) were told that they were fired.  Thanks to the American Association of University Professors and the AFT, we saved the three tenured positions.  Even though the overhead from one untenured professor's $5 million grant would have paid the his and his colleagues' salaries, they were forced to leave in May of 2003.

In 2004 President Michael decided that the UI Press would be discontinued.  According to accrual accounting, the Press, with no subsidy from the state, was turning a profit, and "Bold Spirit," its best selling title, was featured on CNN.  The UI turned around and sold the rights of "Bold Spirit" to Random House and still makes money as Caxton Press sells the remaining inventory.  The Press met the administration's mandate that it be self-supporting, and we think that the same standard should be applied to athletics.

We assume that the $615,000 profit for football was used to pay for other sports.  That means that the $1.9 million subsidy from the state and President Michael's generous gift of $500,000 adds up to a $2.5 million deficit for the FY04 budget.

President White claims that the UI has made an "investment" in I-A athletics and he believes that this huge state subsidized gamble will somehow pay off, even though some of the most prestigious I-A programs do not return money to their institutions.

White has now announced that there might be major changes in our health benefits.  In 2002 and 2003, 158 faculty and staff accepted early retirement assuming that their premiums would be fully covered. Any change would constitute a breach of faith to those who have invested their lives for the UI.  If it happens, there may be good grounds for a class action suit.

We trust that your readers will agree with us that favoring athletics over employee benefits, a successful academic press, and academic programs that contribute to the state's economy is not wise management of the UI's appropriated funds, especially in a time of severe financial crisis.

Nick Gier, President, Idaho Federation of Teachers