It is often said that the first step toward resolving a problem is admitting that the problem exists.
By that standard, the conference which Columbia held Oct. 14 on the future of its athletic program was a step the size of a Manhattan block.
Yes, the folks at 116th and Broadway have decided that it's time to make the Lions program a bit more worthy of the city it calls home.
The words that came out of the mouths of Columbia President Lee Bollinger, Athletic Director Dianne Murphy and men's basketball coach Joe Jones are worth remembering because they aren't the kind of words Columbia sports personnel have been known for recently.
"It's just not acceptable to have a program at Columbia where not doing well or failing is regarded as the norm, or certainly is not worthy of respect," Bollinger said. "Winning is damn important."
Those are some strong words, no doubt, and they were uttered by someone who knows about the importance of a good college athletics program. Bollinger came to Manhattan by way of Ann Arbor, Mich., where he oversaw one of the most celebrated athletics programs in the nation at Michigan.
But the task is quite different when your football team's homecoming game struggles to draw 10,000 fans, rather than drawing 100,000 with an eye closed and a hand tied behind its back.
It's hard enough when your basketball team plays its biggest home game of the year in front of a crowd rooting for the visiting team.
Bollinger is certainly aware of this. Even though he showed up late to the panel -- Ivy League presidents have incredibly busy schedules, or so I hear -- he was quick to acknowledge that now would be a good time to do something about all those students who hang out in the Low Library but not in Levien Gym.
"It takes time to change a culture that has that sense of itself," he said. "It's a challenge, but if you get the right people in place it can be done."
Bollinger, Murphy and Jones are certainly the right people, and a dais set up in front of a couple hundred former Columbia athletes who can probably solve one of Murphy's biggest problems is the right place.
"We have been historically the least funded [Ivy League athletic department,] she said, adding that there is "a significant difference" between the budget of her athletic department and those of other Ivies.
Money. The supposed scourge of the only Division I conference without athletic scholarships. But there it is, doing such things as paying coaches and allowing them to travel long distances to recruit players.
"Once we can be competitive in terms of money and perks," Murphy said, "I don't think we're going to have any trouble bringing coaches to New York."
There's no question about that, and it goes for players as well. The Big Apple is a sports paradise, and one of the nation's true basketball Meccas. It surely won't be that hard for Jones to find four smart basketball players each year who want to play a few miles away from Madison Square Garden.
And the process has started already, in particular with Jones. Speaking about the recruiting battles he has waged at Penn, Jones said that "in the last two years, I don't think we've lost a young man because of the finances."
He has lost players for other reasons though, such as the glamour of the Palestra compared to the underground bunker that is Levien Gym.
Murphy said that "Columbia is a sleeping giant" when it comes to sports.
She and Bollinger have the chance to make those words something other than a one-time roar into the Manhattan air.
Jonathan Tannenwald is a senior Urban Studies major from Washington His e-mail address is jtannenw@sas.upenn.edu.
