On Sept. 9, Chancellor Gordon Gee of Vanderbilt University made an announcement that surprised many in both the academic and sports worlds -- the elimination of the school's athletic department as an independent entity.
This decision follows a July announcement by Columbia that the school's athletic director would report directly to University President Lee Bollinger.
These two highly publicized announcements have caused many schools to re-evaluate the role of their athletic departments.
Penn, however, has no such plans to restructure its department, in which Athletic Director Steve Bilsky reports directly to the Provost's Office.
"We have the athletic director reporting to the provost because we want it integrated with all of the student life and academic activities, which in fact report to the provost," Penn President Judith Rodin said.
"It's trying to create a division under the provost that integrates student life and athletics."
Vanderbilt's new organizational structure is similar to Penn's. The Commodores' athletic department will now combine with the recreation department to form the new Office of Student Athletics, Recreation and Wellness.
This new department is similar to Penn's current Department of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics.
"They want to treat all sports under one umbrella," Bilsky said. "That's what we do here at Penn.
"All of our recreation programs, our fitness, our intercollegiate teams -- anything that has to do with activities -- all fit... under the Department of the RIA."
Vanderbilt will not cut athletic scholarships or varsity teams, but rather will place its athletic department under greater scrutiny.
"For too long, college athletics has been segregated from the core mission of the University," Gee said in a Sept. 9 press release. "As a result, we have created a culture, both on this campus and nationally, that is disconnected from our students, faculty and other constituents, where responsibility is diffuse, the potential for abuse considerable and the costs -- both financial and academic --unsustainable."
Bilsky feels that this move is merely symbolic and will have no real effect on the quality of athletics at Vanderbilt.
"It doesn't appear that they've done anything but come up with a new name for something that's going to continue to exist," Bilsky said. "I think they want to make a statement that athletics shouldn't be out there on their own -- there should be some organizational control of things."
Columbia's decision, on the other hand, reflects an effort by Bollinger to hold the athletic department accountable for its successes and, more frequently, failures on the field.
Last year, the Lions went 0-21 combined in Ivy League football and basketball play.
"I think President Bollinger feels both an understanding of and a desire for athletics to have more hearing at the president's level," Rodin said. "He would like to focus on physical and structural improvements to Columbia athletics and we're delighted to see that."
Bollinger -- who came to Morningside Heights last year from the University of Michigan, a school well-versed in athletic success -- felt that to make the appropriate changes to athletics, Columbia Athletic Director John Reeves should report to him, rather than the provost, which he did before.
"I think [Bollinger] wants to learn more about it," Bilsky said. "By having [Reeves] report to the president's office, [Bollinger is] going to get a quicker read on [athletics].
"It's just a statement on his behalf that athletics is important."
Bilsky indicated that, while he does not report directly to the president's office, Rodin still is involved in athletic decision-making.
For example, due to Ivy League rules, the president of each school meets to make changes in Ivy League athletic bylaws.
Nevertheless, Bilsky referred to Provost Robert Barchi as "my boss," to whom he reports on matters of personnel, admissions and, most importantly, the budget.
The Penn athletic director indicated that in the Ivy League, all athletic departments report directly to a high-ranking school official, normally the provost or vice president.
"Most of the schools in the Ivy League are comfortable that we're doing it the right way and that all the other schools in the country are learning that you've got to have a balance between academics and athletics," he said.
"More and more schools are going to be doing that in the future, and maybe Vanderbilt is the first example of that," Bilsky added.
While the Ancient Eight may agree on the importance of this balance, the schools disagree on just how closely balanced athletics and academics should be.
"There's a little bit of a schism developing between those who feel that we should strive for excellence in everything we do and -- as long as we keep it under control -- that's OK, and those that think it's too much emphasis to do that," Bilsky said.
Bilsky believes that this debate within the Ivy League will continue for quite some time and may have some enormous ramifications.
"I think it will be a topic for the next decade," he said. "Maybe 10 years from now the Ivy League will look different. Maybe there will be more members, maybe there will be more changes -- I just don't know."
