Brickbat: Tiger By the Tail

A federal jury in Alabama has awarded Auburn University professor Michael Stern $645,837 in damages after finding Stern's former dean violated his First Amendment rights by punishing him for criticizing the high number of athletes in the school's public administration program in 2014. Stern was removed as chair of the economics department after raising his concerns about donor meddling in order to protect student-athletes. A 2015 article in The Wall Street Journal found about half of students majoring in public administration at Auburn played sports. The story quoted one school official writing in an email that "If the public administration program is eliminated, the (graduation) numbers for our student-athletes will likely decline."

Comments

[m40195971]

Reversal on appeal would be my guess. Auburn is a public college, but no professor is protected from discipline for insulting students.

[SQRLSY One]

"Stern was removed as chair of the economics department after raising his concerns about donor meddling in order to protect student-athletes."

"...for insulting students", you say? Is it the students who allowed the interests of meddling donors to prevail over the interests of actually teaching truly useful skills to the students?

I for one don't give a hoot in hell for sports. These days, shitloads of tax money is spent by schools. Naked titty dancing is FAR more appealing to me than sports is, and causes FAR less injuries and health insurance payments (including sports-induced brain injuries) than sports does. Yet my tax money is spent punishing the titty-dancing establishments and funding gladiators mangling each other. WTF?!?!?

[Rossami]

Since no insulting of students actually happened nor was any such behavior alleged by any of the parties in the litigation, my guess is that you are incorrect.

[m40195971]

I’ll try to remember this in ten years, so we can see which of us turned out to be right.

[Adans smith]

I thought 'communications' was the go to for athletes . That and phys ed. One thing this country doesn't need is more public administers .

[Fist of Etiquette]

WTF is public administration?

[SQRLSY One]

That's how we got Hershel Walker. Actually he double-majored in public administration AND pubic administration, pubically administrating to all of his lied-to babes, knocking them over and knocking them up, with his sweet little lies! Just what we need in politics! Tell me lies, sweet little lies! Elect MEEEEE, and I will get you some goodies, and punish your enemies!

[Longtobefree]

It is an extremely useful degree, combining the courses of Business Administration with additional studies in law and politics. I have that degree, and it served me well. I graduated before there were actual degrees in computer science, but while computers were becoming 'the thing'. Having the degree (actually any degree) allowed me to take the test for a state job in data processing, and launched a 45 year career of high paying jobs.
Other than that one event, the degree was useless, I never used a single thing it taught.

[flag58]

Not uncommon with many degrees.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

It's what people at the State Department have, which allows them to say things like "The Taliban are going to have to change if they want to be a member of the global community".

[Vernon Depner]

Yes, Public Administration is a useful degree. My guess is that the concentration of jocks in that major was due to the department head being susceptible to donor bribery.

[mad.casual]

I'm gonna need to know the skin color of everyone involved before I can decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

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[Dillinger]

I prefer to not be administered when in public thank you.

[SQRLSY One]

"They" (whoever "they" may be) can administer some decent-tasting alcoholic beverages to me, at an affordable price, and that will be OK by me... Jack Daniels, come on by!

[The Margrave of Azilia]

It’s probably too late to worry about that.

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