epark88
Throat's all better now, thanks for asking...
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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I would also think (hope?) that if all of these changes are for real, our governor and other key CT pols will be doing some stuff, too. This is the state school (as are most of the other schools in all of this shuffling) with a significant state investment in the Rent and other athletic endeavors, all of which also impact lots of other situations at the school, including acadamics and research funding, like it or not. BTW, UConn has a publication out now that states that 1/3 of the student body is from out of state. That was both surprising to me and I think not a great situation for state students or taxpayers. Maybe the university is doing what schools like Michigan do, and use out of staters to subsidize state kids by limiting aid to the out of staters. Then maybe the ration can be justified.
Personally, I loath this conference realignment situation. It's more than ever only about the money. Natural rivalries - the lifeblood of sport and real fan interest - are not part of any consideration in this scramble. It is becoming harder than ever to capture the feeling we (us elderly) felt about UConn's rivalries with schools like UMass and URI. Yes, the talent is all generally lots better and winning in "big time" sports is fun, but more and more I believe the bullet needs to be bitten and just legally professionalize the major sports franchises at the schools. If the athletes qualify for the school academically and want to go, great, but not necessary. If the schools can get fans in the seats and TV to show their incorporated teams, more power to them. No more NCAA, no more pretense about eligibility.
The out-of-state student population in Storrs shouldn't be frowned upon; that's par for the course for great State U's.
Besides, the University of Michigan fills it's state's flagship role while MSU/EMU/WMU/CMU services the in-state kids. Connecticut has the same structure in place: UConn as the flagship, with CCSU/ECSU/SCSU/WesConn serving the in-state kids (though CCSU should really be marketed as the 'mini-flagship' of the CSU system, imho)...