Duke athletics panel altered

The reorganization could give faculty more influence over the university's athletics program

DURHAM -- Faculty could have more say over athletics at Duke University under a reorganization of a panel that oversees athletics policy.

Duke President Richard Brodhead reviewed the changes Thursday with the Academic Council, the major faculty governing body at Duke. He also announced the creation of a new position -- a dean to oversee undergraduate life inside and outside the classroom.

The changes were the latest fallout from the lacrosse scandal that has dogged Duke for the past year.

Faculty representatives will increase from five to eight on the Athletic Council, a longstanding body of more than 30 professors, administrators, alumni, trustees, athletics officials and students. Within that group, an academic subcommittee of professors will focus on issues of sports and academics. And the head of the Athletic Council will now be a different professor from the one who serves as the university's official faculty athletics representative to the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA.

Each semester, the panel's professors will report to Duke's faculty leaders to foster more substantive discussion about athletics. The changes were approved by Duke's trustees last month.

"It's a very important subject," Brodhead said, "and getting it right is very important."

When an escort service dancer said she was sexually assaulted at a lacrosse team party last March, faculty critics said athletics had become too big at basketball-crazy Duke. The accused former lacrosse players maintain their innocence, and the case is now in the hands of the state Attorney General's Office.

But the debate over athletics continues. Last fall, the president appointed a special committee to review the Athletic Council. The results were not encouraging, Brodhead said.

"The group had too many people on it who had too little sense as to why they were there," Brodhead said. "It wasn't clear what their formal business was or what they were authorized or charged with doing. Indeed it was not clear who they reported to; indeed it was not that clear whether they reported to anyone."

He further called it "a black hole of communication."

The review panel suggested a separate faculty committee to oversee athletics, but Brodhead said that would be cumbersome and ineffective.

Roy Weintraub, economics professor and chairman of the review panel, said he was happy with the outcome even though Brodhead didn't exactly follow the group's recommendations. An Athletic Council beefed up with more faculty will push for more serious deliberation, he said.

"The agenda for the council will be much less show and tell," Weintraub said.

Other changes are coming. The new dean, an internal hire, will be named by June 1. The goal is to better integrate academics and campus life.

The discussions come after a report last month recommended 28 changes covering everything from dorm space to dining halls, social life, athletics and admissions policies.

The redevelopment of the Central Campus creates an opportunity to build more social spaces that provide entertainment without excessive drinking, Brodhead said.

"We need more things for students to do on this campus," he told professors Thursday.

He is convinced that students want alternatives. Last month, a party in the library included light drinking and attracted 2,500 students, Brodhead said.

"I thought it showed that students crave social life that isn't built on the John Belushi model," he said.