Podcast appearances and mentions of charles clotfelter

With college basketball season in full swing and March Madness close approaching, the attention of the sports world is centered around student athletes. Yet despite the press brought to universities by these sports, they are rarely mentioned in the mission statement or acknowledged to be as influential as they are. On this episode of Policy 360, Charles Clotfelter discusses the tremendous impact college athletics has on students, alumni, and beyond, for better or for worse, as well as what can be done to reform how schools treat the business of sports as a core part of their identity. Charles Clotfelter is a professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and author of the book Big-Time Sports in American Universities. (Cambridge University Press).

For decades, higher education leaders have supported expanding college education to include disadvantaged groups. Many colleges have embraced policies that fight discrimination. And yet, as the economist Charles Clotfelter shows, America’s system of undergraduate education was unequal in 1970 and is even more so today. He contends despite a revolution in civil rights, billions spent on financial aid, and the commitment of colleges to greater equality, stratification has grown starker in part because colleges cater largely to children of elites. Charles Clotfelter's new book is Unequal Colleges in the Age of Disparity (Harvard University Press).

Charles Clotfelter, a professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, takes viewer questions about the role of athletics at American universities, during a live "Office Hours" webcast interview, November 10, 2011. Learn more at http://www.dukeofficehours.com.

Corruption in big-time college sports recently claimed another victim: Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel. Once regarded as a paragon of integrity, Tressel is now seen as one more example of a coach who recruited star players and built a successful program with the benefit of illegal gifts from boosters....

Corruption in big-time college sports recently claimed another victim: Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel. Once regarded as a paragon of integrity, Tressel is now seen as one more example of a coach who recruited star players and built a successful program with the benefit of illegal gifts from boosters. Whether the result of Tressel’s deliberate disregard of rules or his neglect as coach, the scandal at Ohio State reminds us again that big-time college sports is deeply flawed. Big-time college sports, meaning major-conference football and men’s basketball, has its defenders and opponents. Some insist that it benefits both student athletes and the universities for which they play. Others mock the idea of the amateur “student-athletes” and view the programs themselves as for-profit enterprises that rake in tens of millions of dollars in television, ticket, and merchandise revenue. Both sides in the debate, and anyone who has a serious interest in college sports, will find much that is revealing and startling in Charles Clotfelter‘s book Big-Time Sports in American Universities (Cambridge University Press, 2011). The Z. Smith Reynolds Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics and Law at Duke University, Charlie easily combines the rigorous approach of a respected scholar with a knack for easy-to-understand explanation. Both experts and sports fans (and expert sports fans) will learn a lot about the economics of big-time college athletics from this book. Charlie investigates some of the basic justifications for multi-million-dollar programs–for example, that they pay for non-revenue-generating college sports, or that they increase student enrollments–to see if they bring the benefits their supporters claim. He also exposes the troubled finances at the foundation of most major programs, and the networks of influence that university leaders cultivate through access to luxury boxes and prime seats. And he offers an economic rationale for why coaches like Jim Tressel are led to break the rules. As he says in the interview, Charlie remains a fan of college sports. But he also calls for an honest acknowledgement of what big-time college sports really is: a lucrative entertainment business that is connected with higher education in a distant, but mutually dependent, relationship. That, he says, is the first step toward any reform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The economics and ethics of college sports was the topic of a Duke Magazine-Office Hours conversation April 8, 2011, in Duke's Card Gym. Addressing the issue were Charles Clotfelter ('69), Z. Smith Reynolds Professor of Public Policy Studies, and author of the new book "Big-Time Sports in American Universities"; Alan Fishel (J.D. '86), lead counsel on Bowl Championship Series issues; Chris Kennedy (Ph.D. '79), Duke's deputy director of athletics; and Nancy Hogshead-Makar ('86), Olympic gold-medal winner and professor at Florida Coastal School of Law. James E. Coleman Jr., the John S. Bradway Professor of Law at Duke Law School, moderated the panel.