UM President Schlissel: "Athletics Isn't Part of Our Mission Statement"
He's never been to a game at the Big House???
Unfreakingacceptable.
Don't worry, they'll have him making drunk speeches during halftime shows in no time.
We're going to get him at a tailgate, and he's going to do an ass ton of shots with me.
Please help me make this dream come true.
How many shots consist in an ass ton?
Damn metric system.
When all of those professors get their priorities out of order.
Fucking racists.
but since there's ten ass tons to a crap ton, there are twenty shit tons to a crap ton.
This is a different unit of measure from an Alberta Craphammer, which pours down from Canada in early January.
...may just have ruined drinking shots. My liver thanks you.
Do you count the front-butt?
Something tells me he's more of a claret or port guy.
directly out of a brown-bagged bottle?
but like it or not, athletics have been pretty closely tied to the University's identity for most of its existence.
Athletics are part of the very DNA of Michigan. If that surprises and puzzles you as a University President, you may be better off somewhere else.
Just like the culture of religion is part of Notre Dame, and the military culture is part of Texas A&M. If those things are alien to you, you may be better off not going to those places. Because its not going to change just because you showed up. (And you probably should have resaerched that a little before you took the job.)
I'm cool with it not being a part of our mission statement, but it sure as hell better be a priority. Part of what keeps the largest living alumni base in the world engaged is our athletics. I want them to be competitive, and I want them to compete on the largest scale (Power 5 if it comes to that).
This was proposed today and will be rubber-stamped.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/jon-solomon/24626578/po…
Where does the "largest living alumni base" stat come from? I've heard this before, but I'm not sure how we get that distinction when other universities enroll (and presumably graduate) more students year in and year out. Is it an alumni club membership thing? Do Michigan Men substantially outlive the rest of the population?
Anybody know what this is about?
I can't answer your question with hard evidence (and am too lazy to look it up), but I'm pretty sure it is a fact. Tons of undergrads + medical school, dental school, other grad schools. And I know it's a goal of UofM to enroll grad students from other institutions (thus producing a "new" alumnus and not just a milion multiple degree Wolverines). Like I said, I didn't look up the stats but I do think the sheer volume of UofM undergrads and our ability to attract grad studenst from elsewhere makes it very realistic.
Mostly I just wanted to remind everyone of the Kris Frost quote (former LB recruit) - "They have the largest living alumni base in the world. Well except for the University of Phoenix, but that doesn't really count."
Michigan claims more than 540,000 living alumni while PSU claims more than 631,000. PSU graduates 18,000+ a year these days compared to many less for Michigan (I can't find a number, but know it's about 6,000 undergrads and presumably around 5,000 graduate students), so based on that PSU would have actually passed Michigan around 15 years ago.
has far more students but i wonder how many actually graduate ?
used to speak of it frequently during his broadcasts and speeches, so it must have been true back then, probably still is now.
I like how he spoke and his general attitude. I may be reading way too much into it, and I'm sure that his thoughts will evolve, but I could see him being an advocate for going back to a less-commercialized, more traditional game-day experience. I also think that he will continue the tradition of emphasizing education, rather than treating athletes as adjuncts to the University.
Bottom Line:
If he puts a leash on Dave "Wow" Brandon, color me happy.
If he tries to go all University of Chicago circa 1939 on us, it's torch and pichfork time.
I'd venture to say that for the former he will and the latter he won't. As Brian tweeted, the fireworks business was a calculated effort by the regents. They seem to do everything behind closed doors, yet took the opportunity to come after Brandon publicly -- at Schllisel's first meeting as Pres. nonetheless.
Maybe my dream will come true: joining the Ivy League! Or at least it's midwest equivalent.
There's really no point in competing with the likes of the SEC anymore trying to buy top-tier talent. It sounds promising that Schlissel is already setting the stage for the future.
sec and pay for play osu. there still cheating. people in ohio are one sad bunch
Good luck getting into the Midwest Ivy League if you don't know it's vs. its.
was it written in the days fo James Angell when the only sport that existed was baseball and you were only out by getting hit by the ball?
Thanks to the OP for posting this. I think Schlissel has a more balanced view than the thread title implies, though. Here's the entire "mission statement" quote:
"What I want to be sure of is that athletics exist in an appropriate balance with everything else the university does. Athletics isn't part of the mission statement of the university. We're an academic institution, so I want to work on the appropriate balance between athletics and academics," he said.
This statement shows a sense of proportion that I want our university's leader to have. So far, so good. (I like MSC too, and most of the Presidents of recent memory apart from Lee Bollinger.)
I also found his approach to the situation rather reassuring, and I especially liked how he seemed to want the input and to gauge the feelings of many people on the issue before really deciding anything. One thing that I thought was very notable is that he asserted his authority among the other statements, which I found rather significant even if it seemed to be done in passing. My hope is that this means there will be some good discussion on establishing the balance that he seeks.