Tuesday, April 21, 2009
I knew that reports last week of Athletics Director Lew Perkins getting an additional $750,000 tacked onto his “retention bonus” would fire up colorful reactions from local media and residents. I was pleasantly surprised at times and disappointed at others.
It is easy to forget where the money for athletics comes from. It’s far easier to hop on a bandwagon, disenfranchised that the University has “given” Athletics millions of dollars again, instead of spending it elsewhere.
A Lawrence Journal-World editorial calling Perkins’ bonus “unseemly” materialized last Thursday after $weet Lew’s perks were made public. To use some sports lingo, it showed flashes of potential but could use a little more practice.
The Journal-World’s editorial had plenty of spice, calling Perkins “controversial” and saying that he could walk away from Kansas with “who knows what other goodies,” but made no allusion as to why he is “controversial” and what those “goodies” may be.
It also misses when stating that the bonus hits “particularly hard” amidst University budget cuts. The bonus, like the money that funds the construction and renovation of athletic facilities, is privately accumulated through revenues and donations. But in the same breath, when the editorial cites a recent temporary suspension by Athletics of faculty and staff ticket discounts, we have legitimate reason for displeasure.
Furthermore, the editorial scores when it critiques the bonus itself — which is what should be this conversation’s focus. The $750,000 is being added to a preexisting $1.3 million retention bonus that will be payable Aug. 1 if Perkins stays through June 30. If left unchanged, the bonus could allow Perkins to walk away this fall with a $2.05 million bonus for “staying.” If the University’s new chancellor isn’t as big a sports fan as the outgoing Robert Hemenway, this wouldn’t be an unthinkable scenario.
No small man, Perkins is worth his weight in cash. Since arriving in June 2003, Perkins has presided over an $8 million increase in donations to the Williams Education Fund, $63 million (non-state dollars) in renovations to and construction of athletics facilities, the second time in Division I history that a school had a BCS bowl winner and a national championship basketball team and was named Time Magazine’s sports executive of the year. He was the only college official on Time’s list.
Also last Thursday, The Kansan published an editorial that made a few hits and misses when discussing a gap between athletics and academics and, like many arguments, referred to the latest planned construction activities and lack of similar plans around the rest of campus.
There will likely never be a consensus regarding the role of collegiate athletics. There will be those biased toward athletics and apathetic toward talking politics as well as those jealous of athletics’ financial clout, unaware of its contributions to a college when successful.
A balanced perspective will find that Perkins deserves a bonus if he stays but also that we deserve to read that his bonus requires him to indeed stay. As it stands, the bonus is little more than a parting gift from Hemenway.
— — Edited by Casey Miles
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