Ken Starr: Athletic Teams Provide Universities With A Voice Into The World
Stephen Hawkins, an AP Basketball writer, recently wrote an on-line piece about the rise of Baylor athletics. Baylor President and former White House prosecutor Ken Starr told Hawkins:
Athletics provide a voice through which the university speaks to the entire world.
“I’m so proud of the way our athletes use their God-given gifts coupled with their very hard work to bring great joy and pride to all of Baylor nation,” Starr said. “The voice of Baylor athletics is quite eloquent right now.”
Hawkins was able to calculate what I was not able to calculate, in terms of the link between athletic success and enrollment figures:
[At Baylor University] There are more than 40,000 applications for the upcoming fall semester for only about 3,000 freshman spots. That’s up from 15,458 applicants for the Fall 2005 class, right after the Lady Bears won their first national title. Average SAT and ACT scores for incoming freshmen also have significantly increased during that time
As mentioned in the CaPC Hoops Feature, success in college sports reveal a particular university’s influence on American culture. This is also why the CaPC Hoops Tournament matters.
