It has been no secret that the University of Wyoming has been making major changes to the structure of academic programs across schools. This is largely under the guise of moving the university into the future.
However, many faculty members and students alike have expressed their worries about the intent and subsequent results of the changes being made to our university.
Along with restructuring, in recent years, the university has been plagued with budget cuts across the board worth tens of millions of dollars.
The shrinkage of funding will likely only continue to increase if state legislators and university officials continue to try and prop up a dying fossil fuel industry, rather than using federal and state dollars to transition our energy-dependent economy into the future.
The mineral industry, aside from its inevitable transition into history books, also provides the University of Wyoming’s athletic teams with ample donations, which have seen no program cuts amid the restructuring.
This can be seen in the names of our athletic facilities across campus; the football team plays their home games at Johan Field, and all student-athletes have exclusive access to the recently constructed Mick and Susie McMurray High Altitude Performance Center.
Along with generous donations from individuals or companies with connections to oil and gas industries, the state of Wyoming also forks over huge sums of money to our athletic programs.
Twenty million dollars was given to erect the High Altitude Performance Center, and legislators have often matched donations in the upkeep of War Memorial Stadium.
Construction of new athletic buildings or improvements on old ones along with the introduction of new equipment and other infrastructure, primarily and almost exclusively to be used by the ~500 student-athletes (roughly 5%) of the student body, has been a consistent sink of money at the university.
Currently, our “athletic property, plant and equipment consisted of a book value of $125,208,231” according to the latest independent accountants report on UW’s intercollegiate athletics program.
This amount has consistently depreciated at a rate of $2-5 million dollars annually when looking over the reports from 2018-2021.
One may think that UW’s sports teams make the school money, but that is a bit of a stretch.
In 2019 and 2020, when the pandemic had just begun, intercollegiate athletics had expenditures out-weigh revenue by a combined over $1.6 million.
2021 saw the athletic programs rebound and make a profit, however, when depreciation of athletic facilities and infrastructure is taken into consideration they are still operating in the red.
On top of this, our men’s basketball and football teams host staff full of numerous coaches. According to the list of staff salaries put out by the university, of the 12 assistant coaches of these teams, the least paid is still making a minimum salary of $150,000. This is more than almost all professors make at UW.
Making it abundantly clear what our university officials prioritize.
Yet people still continue to protect athletics. Saying they ‘generate excitement’, and help in ‘recruitment’ of not only athletes but all students.
When you look at our national notoriety, it is not pretty. According to USNews.com Wyoming ranks, #196 in national universities, and Forbes ranks us at #368.
We did not get Josh Allen because he had choices.
The burden of intercollegiate athletics at UW has and will continue to become increasingly apparent, especially with the continued decline in fossil fuel revenue they are dependent on.
If we hope to become nationally and academically relevant, I believe it is time we de-emphasize our athletics.
