Questions and Comments We've Received

May 12, 2003

Rick Dickson;

Everyone knows that a small increase in tuition (2.5%) at all levels of the university will easily cover any athletic costs on an ongoing basis. A tuition increase along with the present or an increased ticket sales and increased gifts to the TAF will easily cover any costs overruns, and, in fact, with the endowment for athletics, could amount to a surplus of funds for athletics.

Nonetheless, Tulane needs to push the big boys with the big bucks for athletic endowment funds. Tulane needs to go after the Liz Claiborne's, the Bean clothing developer, Yahoo developer, Jerry Springer, Charles Murphy Oil, McWilliams, Mackey Shilstone, Newt Gendrige (sic), and the hundreds of other successful millionaires that have graduated from Tulane and get them to pledge some serious funds towards the athletic endowment fund. I would start with the law firms and medical facilities in the City of New Orleans, and in Louisiana. There are over 6,000 Tulane law alumni that work in New Orleans alone, many of which are very wealthy, and can afford to give serious monies. There are numerous contractors in New Orleans that attended Tulane that are also millionaires and can afford to pledge and donate large sums of money. And do not forget about the doctors. But you just can't call these people on the phone. You need Tulane people to go and see these persons face to face, and tell them what you want and sell them in supporting Tulane athletics. Heck, we may need to recruit some of these big money guys with the same aggressive approach as we do recruiting athletes. The money is there, we just need to get it into a Tulane endowment account.

With peers like lawyers, if you can get one or more to pledge and/or contribute a substantial sum, then you may be able to play this against other legal alumni and get them to pledge and/or contribute matching amounts so that they feel like they are part of the entire process and that their gift means something substantial to the overall effort. (and its tax deductible to the company).

*****

We know that the deal with the Dome has no incentives for Tulane to attract fans. Tulane receives no revenue from parking, concessions, etc. In that light, we should put it to the people running the Dome as follows: You can either support Tulane by giving a percentage of the concession revenue OR you won't have a tenant and there will be no revenue at all.

*****

Dear President Cowen,

Sometimes when good people face a crisis, they can view a problem from only one perspective and tend to focus on solutions that strongly resemble the reasons that they are in the crisis in the first place. It is my opinion that the current option of jettisoning athletics at Tulane would end up being an example of this. I implore you and the members of the board to seek solutions from all people and appoint a liaison person in your office to coordinate these efforts.

Please allow me to provide my perspective, which I am sure is not wholly different from many who have already expressed their views. I am a graduate of Tulane and Emory University. I can tell you from my experiences that they are distinctly different universities and Tulane has a long way to go to approach the power of Emory's endowment. As you know, it was a condition of the Coca Cola donation that Emory never have a D1 athletics program. That probably had something to do with Ga Tech (also in Atlanta), but I digress. Emory has the financial wherewithal to match any offer to a prized professor. As a friend of numerous professors at Emory, I have seen this awesome buying power in action. Emory has also never quit football, something sure to be viewed as a sign of significant weakness by your competitors.

As a native New Orleanian now living in Atlanta, I can attest that reading about Tulane Athletics as a child is what caused me to seriously consider Tulane along with Duke and UNC Chapel Hill. Although not a serious sports buff, every university I applied to was member of D1A athletics. Everyone knows who you are. You may be awful, but everyone knows. Everything else is a smaller stage. Emory has that problem. Except for the business community and Atlanta proper, most people don't know where Emory is, or what it is. It is my belief that Tulane suffers from a similar disconnect with the community that will only be exacerbated by a drop down from D1A. I can tell you that I became a huge fan of Tulane Athletics while working with student/athletes as an economics tutor. Those athletes are the best ambassadors to the community that you have. None of your professors can connect with the community as well as these students can. It allows the community to see Tulane as an attainable goal, rather than the ivory tower refuge from reality that some professors see it as. I believe that the view of Tulane as not being part of the community will only grow with this move (and I fully believe that this view is very costly to Tulane in the long run). I don't think your attempts to open satellite campuses will alleviate this disconnect. Scott Dickson was correct when he said that Athletics was the marketing arm of the university.

I understand that Tulane is a private entity, and as such is not required to disclose its finances publicly, but this move, and the timing of it, smacks of pre-determination. By not disclosing the finances of Tulane, we, the alumni and donors, are forced to accept the premise that Athletics is operating at a cash deficit of $5 million. This is quite disconcerting as you were quoted in the TP as saying the deficit was only $1.6 million, but expected to rise (wow, talk about understatement!). Not only must we accept this premise to work from, but we also must accept that there aren't any alternatives. It doesn't seem like any have been explored. Maybe we need to explore how we manage the endowment and see if we can get less expensive fee agreements with our money managers. I will accept that the current level of support for Tulane Athletics is abysmal and needs to be improved significantly. Mr. Dickson has given a plan to do just that. I hope the University Board and you specifically will give Tulane the opportunity to rise to this challenge.

I said Tulane rising to the challenge in my previous sentence for a reason: we are all Tulane. Those presently on campus (students, administrators, professors) are merely a part of the whole. I didn't cease to be part of Tulane when I graduated, nor did the other alumni. I know you and the board feel like the weight of the world is upon you, but you are merely stewards of a common heritage we all share, Tulane. Such a drastic move tears at the fabric of our heritage and should be fully viewed from all sides rather than quickly decided by a small insular cabal of individuals, no matter how well intentioned.

Dr. Cowen, both you and Mr. Koerner have stated that Tulane fans need to step up to the plate. Please allow us to do this. Tell us what is needed if Mr. Dickson's plan is insufficient and give us time to achieve it. We are not Emory, Washington University, Hopkins, Stetson, UNO, Case-Western, University of the South, or Millsap's. Please allow us to be Tulane, that is what we are!

*****

Dear President Cowen: Xavier University is D 1 with no football team? Did you ever think of this possibility? There is simply no reason to move all of our sports into a different division when so many teams are very competitive on the national level.

If we move to D3, this university has definitely lost any support I would have provided in the future. Our sports program is something to be proud of and frankly, I would not even be here if it weren't for our athletics program. I received scholarships at a number of different school and it was the atmosphere at Tulane that led me here. This atmosphere would be completely different without athletics. You talk about lack of school spirit. Increasing our school spirit by becoming D3? Yeah, that sounds like a great plan.

*****

Dear Doc. Cowen,

I am very upset about what is happening to Tulane Athletics. I wanted to let you know how I feel about this situation. I've been going out to Tulane football, baseball, and basketball games since I was about 5 years old. Now I'm about to turn 12 at the END OF MAY and it is all coming to an end. My friends and I think you should keep Tulane Athletics at division 1A. Even some of the LSU fans think so. A lot of people I know were going to go to Tulane for college, but not any more. That also goes for me too. If you haven't figured it out yet by getting rid of Tulane Athletics to save money your actually losing it because people don't want to go to a school that's half rate. Year by year you'll get less and less people coming to Tulane. Do you want that to happen? If Tulane Athletics does come to an end I don't know what I'll do on the weekends when there is supposed to be games. Going to those games is the most fun thing I can think of to do on the weekends. Going to my friends house, shopping, or going to parties and school dances don't even come close to the fun that I have at those games. Even if we lose the fun is just being there, meeting the players and coaches, seeing friends and family. I don't want that big part of my life to leave just like that. Everyone has been trying hard to Save the Wave, and we hope that you make the right decision.

*****

Anyone who actively follows college athletics knows that change is on the horizon. BCS conference television contracts are up and some of the major conferences are considering expansion and realignment. Tulane should be taking pro-active measures to make sure that ãweä as an entity make the decision as where we want to go and not sit on the sidelines and have the decision made for us. Without membership in a BCS conference, our football program might end up in Division I-AA or worse the entire athletic program might drop down to D-III. If Tulaneâs goals as a University are academic excellence then I believe we should pursue athletic excellence as well. To me, that means membership in one of the BCS conferences (whether that be Conference USA or one of the existing six BCS conferences).

With the current success of our football program in C-USA, baseball in the NCAA College World Series and womenâs basketballâs numerous NCAA tournament appearances, Green Wave athletics have proven that we belong in Division I. While achieving success on the playing fields, Tulane student-athletes have continued their record of success in the classroom as well.

I believe that Tulane and its alumni would rather associate itself with the likes of Duke, Wake Forest, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Stanford and Notre Dame than MIT, NYU, University of Chicago, Emory, Johns Hopkins and Washington University in St. Louis. The bottom line is that Stanford University is the model of academic and athletic excellence that Tulane University and its athletic department should strive for.

Watching the Green Wave play football, basketball and baseball was an integral part of my five years enrolled in the School of Architecture. During my freshman year I was lucky enough to follow the exploits of the 1991-92 menâs basketball team. Watching the ãPosseä start out the season 13-0, camping out on Freret Street to obtain tickets for ESPNâs first telecast from Fogelman Arena to watching Tulaneâs first appearance in the NCAA Tournament was definitely an exciting time to be on campus. Although the fervor never reached the levels experienced that spring, I was fortunate enough to attend the 1992-93 NCAA Tournament in Orlando and the 1994-95 NCAA Tournament in Memphis. Since graduation, I witnessed something that Iâd never thought that I see÷Tulane in a bowl game÷and WIN twice! During the fall of 1998, I was fortunate enough to go to the opening game at Cincinnati and the close call in the Superdome against Louisville. And, then I was part of a group of 50 people (mostly alumni) that basked in the sunshine while the Green Wave capped off a perfect season with the victory over BYU in the Liberty Bowl.

Since graduating from Tulane in 1996, I have continually donated money to the Tulane Annual Fund designating that it goes to the School of Architecture. Why? Because I remember as a student seeing a brand new Business school and a new Law School building under construction while Architecture students were working at all hours in a building without central air conditioning! Therefore, I decided that I would give back to my school because it needed my support. A couple of years ago, the School of Architecture sought financial support to renovate Richardson Memorial. I was more than happy to oblige. I even honored my pledge while unemployed for much of 2002.

I support Tulane Athletics but I feel that there needs to be a change in attitude at the Wilson Center. I have always had the impression that the athletic department relied on good-ole-boy boosters that remembered the glory days of Tulane Stadium and the Green Waveâs membership in the Southeastern Conference. While researching my undergraduate thesis (which by the way was an on-campus facility for Tulane basketball) there was genuine disinterest from the athletic department regarding my ãtheoreticalä program. This was disappointing considering the open-access that Duke University gave me to Cameron Indoor Stadium. The University of North Carolina provided me access to their facilities as well. I never received one request for financial support of the Green Wave Club/Tulane Athletics Fund after the Liberty Bowl victory or the College World Series appearance. And while living in Atlanta I planned on attending Tulaneâs road football games at Clemson and Georgia only to have them cancelled at the last minute. I seriously doubt that either of those schools would ever be willing to schedule us ever again. I am of the opinion that the athletic department must be held accountable if it is requesting the alumniâs support.

The major problem with this debate is that it appears to me that Tulane University attempted to do this behind closed doors. Once going public, they have only provided information on the Internet. In the month since this issue broke, I have yet to receive a letter, phone call or e-mail regarding the subject. This appears to be an attempt to leave much of the alumni out of the decision making process. That is a shame because the results of this debate effects everyone from the administration, the facility, the students AND the alumni. Despite my personal misgivings of the athletic department and the way that the University has handled this particular situation I cannot imagine the collegiate experience at Tulane without the presence of Division I intercollegiate athletics. Therefore, I am willing to give what I can (without neglecting my beloved School of Architecture). All that the Tulane Athletics Fund has to do is ask!

*****

To the Board of Directors:

I wished to express my support of Tulane athletics.

I must confess to sheer surprise that this proposal to move football down has received anything more than cursory consideration. Football acts as a brilliant neon sign for a University. It creates spirit and gives alumni and students a focal point. I can‚t believe that a CEO of Tulane, much less its Board, would give this any consideration at all.

With all due respect, one of the most troubling aspects of this has been the conduct of Dr Cowen and the Board toward Tulane alumni and friends. Dr Cowen has been less than open with the Tulane Community; when the rumors initially surfaced, attempts to engage Dr Cowen in conversation (at, say a baseball game) were met with him ignoring the question or walking away. When Dr Cowen was forced to reveal his proposals, he has scheduled „public meetings‰ with minimal lead time allowed so that concerned people can plan to attend and at times of day in which no working person could attend without taking vacation time. He has refused to answer numerous e mails from concerned Tulanians. And, even more disappointing, several people have mentioned to me that serious and direct questions to Board Members have been met with indifference, if not scorn, ridicule, and insult.

Well, Board, you are our voice.

Listen to us and speak for us, please. Tulane‚s sports win. In the 4 major sports, Tulane achieved NCAA post-season in 3; in each of the last 9 seasons, it has been at least 2 NCAA post seasons for the 4 major sports. Not many schools can say that ˆ Tulane can.

You can count on one finger of one hand the universities in the southern United States in Tulane‚s class that do not play Division IA football (that would be Emery). What school do you remember ˆ Tampa, who dropped football, or South Florda, who began playing 1A football? Further, to suggest that we will just drop football and keep the other sports 1A is folly ˆ out of what conference would you suggest Tulane do that? From the Southland with Nichols State and Louisiana Monroe? Certainly not out of C-USA, as it will be all-sports within the next few years. It is completely unworkable to think that non-football sports can be kept at current quality levels out of a 1AA league.

I know that Tulane is experiencing financial problems. I know that athletics runs a deficit from $2million-$5million (depending on what numbers are used). I also know that the publicity, donations attracted and donations lost should you erase athletics dwarfs the $5 million. The economic downturn is not permanent ˆ it is temporary. Tulane‚s endowment will recover. And to take draconian steps for a temporary situation is not in order. And at the risk of some of you taking great offense, if you are judging athletics solely by direct financial peformance, give me one logical reason why the investment and fundraising peformance of the university under the current managment team shouldn't be evalluated similarly? (I mention this specifically because I understand from friends that this is one question that Board members believe is illegitimate and unfair to pose - if it is, tell us why).

One last thing ˆ Tulane athletics is dear to thousands of Tulanians. None of us hired Dr. Cowen; frankly, none of us voted this board in either. To have a Board and a Tulane employee just tear something away from us like this, doesn‚t seem right.

And it isn‚t right.

*****

Dear President Cowen: Tulane University needs to stay Div. I. you just received a grant to help make Tulane more diverse. You sent out a University wide survey about diversity and students' thoughts about diversity. Can't you see that taking away the athletics program is taking away from any steps Tulane has made to becoming more diverse?

The athletics programs at Tulane attract a wide range of people. International athletes and athletes that could not otherwise afford Tulane are able to attend. These athletes bring a different type of student to our student body. Who wants to go to a school with a bunch of rich, snotty kids whose parents can afford the tuition? I certainly do not. Athletics programs are essential in providing an excellent education to those who might not have been able to afford it. As you know, there are many different types of diversity, and many different types of intelligence. You are taking away from a well-rounded university. I was accepted to Wash U. It sucks there, and I'll go ahead and blame it on the fact that it's D-3. Only people who can afford to go there can go, unless they have an academic scholarship. Intelligence in the classroom is not the only thing that a university should look at. Athletes are important contributors to the university and you'd be surprised at the number of athletes that are also great contributors in the classroom, athletes that you'd lose to another university if we became D-3.

I'd like to think that our Div. 1 status has helped keep Tulane's student body well-rounded and stronger than if Tulane were D-3. I went to a diverse, public high school. Tulane needs the diversity that the athletics program brings. Going D-3 might save money in the short term, but in the long run the prestige and reputation of our university will diminish. No one will ever hear of Tulane unless they read a bunch of books about colleges. Our sports program is free advertisement and our university is not strong enough to remain as prestigious with our athletics program.

*****

I have a question for anyone who thinks dropping to Division III is the answer.

Do you honestly think dropping will make Tulane like Harvard, Yale or any other school the advocates throw around?

Guess what? the answer is NO!!. We are Tulane, and we are Tulane because of our academics, athletics, and everything else wrapped into one school we are proud of. I know I don't just speak for myself when I say that if we drop in athletics I will not be proud to say Tulane is my alma mater. Furthermore what about the thousands of people who did not attend Tulane but support the school because of the athletic program?

*****

I just wanted to take this opportunity to share my thoughts on Tulane athletics. I feel like I have more intimate knowledge than most on the University by serving in student government this past year. In addition, I am very close to college athletics, as the sibling of a former college basketball coach, son of major donors to UCLA athletics, and one of the few Tulane students who can say that they've not only been to about 90% of the home baseball, basketball and football games, but has also traveled to see those teams play. Having not grown up in New Orleans, I can safely say that in the past 4 years I have learned to bleed green. I know the history of our lone NCAA championship in tennis, and the old Sugar Bowl. And 20 years from now, when I think back to my college days I'll remember playing DaJuan Wagner and Memphis in a packed Fogelman Arena, traveling to Oxford, Mississippi, Lafayette and Baton Rouge and putting my life on the line to cheer on the Wave in enemy territory, and of course watching the baseball team in the glorious New Orleans summers beating up on our rivals to the West. Division 3 matches, and club teams cannot replace these experiences. I will not be one of the few alumni who remain in the New Orleans area, but I can assure you that once I have an income, a part of it will be going to this University which I love and to its sports program. We have an identity through athletics that you simply cannot get anywhere else. A prime example would be a comparison of Washington University and Duke University. Although comparable academically by almost any objective measure, everybody knows how good a school Duke is, while almost nobody outside of academia has even heard of Wash U. The landscape of college athletics is constantly changing, with the Big East looking to soon be in trouble with defections to the ACC, yet this is no reason to quit. I came to Tulane because it was a big time school that offered the best of all worlds. We had top notch athletics, academics and social life. I realize that for a University of our size and funding, we seem a bit overstretched financially, but this is not the right place to cut off the edges. My major connection to the University as an alumnus will be through athletics, and I hope Tulane does not eliminate that avenue. Please make the right choice and find cuts elsewhere, where we are not exemplary (the Graduate School immediately comes to mind.) Let another generation of students travel to Alex Box and represent that small smart school from across the state against the big bullies from Baton Rouge. I will do my part financially to help.

*****

I would like to express my strong oppostion to the possibility that Tulane could fall from the ranks of Division 1 sports.Despite the financial drain on the university,Tulane athletics remain the most direct and visible way for the alumni to remin connected to the University. Some friends of mine in the college athletic business feel that it is inevitable that the BCS monopoly will have to change and with this in mind it would be a mistake to drop out now.Tulane athletics has a lot to be proud of over the last few years.Favorable articles appeared in the New York Times highlighting the footballl teams high graduation rate(among the highest in the country).Fifteen of fifteen seniors on course to graduate on a team that went 8-5! Lets reorganize,rethink but don't take us out of Division 1!! No one is interested in Division 2 sports!

*****

Greetings,

We need to support and keep Tulane athletics at the Division 1A level. I am a season ticket holder for baseball. I am adding football and also going to make a yearly contribution to the TAF. The Tulane student athletes are the best around and need our support.

*****

Dr. Cowen,

Ater reading the article in today's Times Picayune I understand the predicament Tulane is in and why there is so much concern about the future of Green Wave sports. I also believe this situation is not like the days of deemphasis, (1955-1965), beacuse unlike those days you are a true supporter of intercollegiate athletics.

I just wanted to say thanks for your support regardless of what happens.

Personally, I don't think I could go to a division III game at Tulane. It would be too hard knowing how successful we were in division I in the recent past. I would probably not watch or support sports at all. I hate pro sports and I can hardly watch BCS teams now knowing what they're doing to non-bcs schools. What sportsmanship?

Is there any way the 53 non-BCS schools could ban together and challenge the unlawful monopoly in court? Couldn't Conference USA and the WAC sue the BCS?

Hell, there are only 11 less non-BCS schools than there are BCS schools in the U.S.. Doesn't 53 give us a little power? Aren't our non-BCS lawyers smarter than theirs? I mean you're talking Tulane, Rice, and SMU vs Mississippi State, Texas Tech and Clemson. Why don't we fight them? I don't think the BCS could afford to loose these schools in spite of what they say. Maybe all 53 ought to threaten to leave the NCAA instead of all of us standing there and taking it on the collective chin.

In the meantime, I comitted to football tickets for the next five years and am planning to do the same for baseball. I'm trying to figure out a way to join TAF. I'm not sure my measley amount would help but I can't sit by and not do my part as a fan. (I really hope the fansd and the city strp up to the plate. Every business and citizen in the area as well as the state stan to loose so much.)

Dr. Cowen you are an honorable man and regardless of what happens I'm glad you are here at this juncture because I believe you want Tulane to be a successful Division ! school because you know how much the school would suffer from not being Division I.

You hired Rick Dickson a great athletic director, and between you two I believe we have a chance. I don't know of two others who could do a better job of trying.

*****

Dear President Cowen,

I am writing to you after learning about the announcement of the analysis being done regarding the type of athletic program that best fits Tulane, while weighing the resources required to achieve this vision, in order to best meet the needs of the school. Though as a parent of an incoming Freshman scholarship athlete, this concerns me, I must say I applaud this type of effort. In these days of tight budgets, government mandated programs and restrictions, it is critical that each department in any endeavor, be it business, athletic, or academic, must have a clear understanding of its "reason for being" as well as expectations and "deliverables."

As an Ivy League graduate, and varsity athlete, as well as a parent of an incoming student-athlete, perhaps I can offer perspective worth considering. Clearly the cost of an athletic program is enormous. Very few Division I schools have the luxury of a program like that at the University of Michigan. On the other hand, how does one place a value on the benefit of perennial Final Four basketball finishes by the Duke basketball team....for other sports, for other students, for the university? While I don't see Tulane becoming another Michigan, the history and tradition at Tulane do seem to me to suggest that managed well, the Athletics Department can deliver tremendous benefit to the University, in terms of reputation, in terms of the type and quality of students attracted to the school, and in terms of the quality of student athletes the school attracts.

In net, I think the school risks far more over the long run, if it chooses to give up Division I Athletics in favor of becoming Division III. While one can easily name 5-10 top notch academic institutions that compete successfully on the National level (Duke, Stanford, Rice, Northwestern come immediately to mind for example), I think it is much more difficult to name Division III schools who enjoy national reputations. Giving up Division I status will reduce the University's exposure nationally, and will limit the school's ability to attract top quality students, whether athlete or not. Students are at some level, attracted by reputation. Becoming Division III has the potential of becoming the first step toward Tulane's becoming a smaller, regional institution.

With clear direction from the AD, and with the proper focus and support by the university to allow coaches to find and recruit athletes with the academic credentials to compete academically at Tulane, the Athletic program can both compete successfully and build the University's prestige and reputation. Success breeds success. Net, I strongly encourage the team doing this study to focus on ways to leverage the University's reputation and tradition, and build the type of Athletic program that helps the University grow and prosper. Our country, and our youth, need more Divsion I schools with stong academic traditions such as those at Tulane, Cal, Vanderbilt, Virgina, etc. Please don't leave Division I to the Alabama's, Nebraska's, Ohio State's and U of Miami's (FL) out there.

Before I sign off, I would also like to put in a word about swimming. Though I never swam, I had many friends, including a roommate who were on the swim team in college. Both of my daughters began swimming competitively at a very early age. Swimming is unique in the quality of individuals who compete as well as the type of families who support swimmers, their teams and their institutions of higher learning. Clearly, it is the type of sport that attracts the type of dedicated, disciplined individuals and families, that Tulane desires. It is also the type of sport that the right coach and program, can yield immediate benefits to the university via exposure. While some sports need a whole team of stars to gain a bowl berth or an NCAA tournament bid, swimmers can qualify for the NCAA's, or for a National team individually, giving the University immediate exposure.

My daughter, and I doubt she is unique among your incoming Freshman swimmers, found Tulane first, based on the reputation of your programs, and saw there might be a fit based on her academic goals. However, it wasn't until we learned that there was a combination of both Academic and Athletic money available to her that Tulane became a viable option. Clearly, if Tulane was a Division III school, Tulane would not have made Betsy's final list of college choices.

I will be contacting the TAF in the next day or so to make a pledge, and fortunately, my employer makes matching contributions. I am also fortunate to live in Cincinnati, where as home city for another Conference USA member, I will be able to occasionally attend local competitions involving "our" new teams.

I hope my comments are helpful. Good luck as you work through this process.

*****

This is my second posting. I had the pleasure of watching the men's tennis team advance to the Sweet 16 this past weekend. It was a great weekend for Division I NCAA tournament athletics.

What was disturbing was the lack of fans present. I read over and over on this post about how we need to keep athletics Div-IA because "that's free advertising" and "there is so much support for athletics." It is sports that Tulane consistently wins, such as Men and Women's Tennis, that the students, alumni, and local citizens don't support. As for advertising...what kind of impression is left when the camera pans up into the seats and the viewing audience sees we can't even fill our own Goldring Tennis complex for the NCAA tournament!!!!!

At the tennis match, the chants for "USA [for the University of South Alabama]" rung louder than the Green-Wave cheer, and it was played in our own back yard. If athletics in general are so important to the people posting on this message board, then support athletics in general, not just the ones you see on TV, and put your butt in the seats of sports other than Men's Basketball or Football.

I am a graduating medical student this year, and as one of your earlier post suggested, I too am leaving with a bitter taste in my mouth with regards to Tulane Uptown Administration. While my reasons are different from the rant listed on May 9th, they are valid still the same. Fortunately, I can donate directly to my college in terms of scholarships. Another common theme I see is that people claim they will stop donating to Tulane if they drop athletics to a different division. Athletics has no bearing on what I'll give to the university. I will examine how I was treated when I was at the school by teachers and administrators.

To all of those that threaten to cut donations, "Don't punish the son for the sins of the father" comes to mind. Regardless of his decision, Cowen will not be at Tulane for an eternity, so keep that in mind.

My hope is that over the next few years the University energizes the local citizens of New Orleans to support Tulane athletics. Sell the rights to your sporting events to local TV, to advertise the product you want people to buy into. If the continued shortfall in finances continues, something will have to be changed. It might be jobs, it might be moving one sport to a different division, either way it will be an unfortunate but necessary thing to do.

*****

After reading the Sunday article in the Times-Picayune ("Green Wave, Red Ink"), I have some points to make:

Chairman of the Board John Koerner, in reference to projected expenses of the athletic department, was quoted as saying "You take that loss over 10 years, it's a $60 million (debt). You tell me you're going to want to write a check for $60 million to support the next 10 years of Tulane athletics? Nobody wants to do that. . ."

Athletic Director Rick Dickson has said that running an elite Division III program would cost Tulane five million dollars a year.

I have to think that revenue streams for Division III sports aren't that impressive. So over 10 years here are the cost projections that I came up with:

Cost to run a Division 1A program at Tulane WITHOUT any changes in fund raising or ticket sales: $60 million over 10 years

Cost to run a Division III program at Tulane without any significant revenue sources: $50 million over 10 years.

If nothing changes in terms of fund raising and ticket sales, the money Tulane saves by dropping down in division is $10 million dollars over ten years...an average of one million dollars per year. I understand that there are additional soft costs in terms of scholarships for Division 1A, but I am going strictly by what the chairman of the Board was quoted as saying. I also understand that changes will and can be made to reduce the current deficits of the athletic department, but only if ample time and ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT is given to Mr. Dickson.

Also, I did some research of my own to see what schools Tulane would be joining if the choice to drop down to D-III was made. You previously listed schools in Division III and named some prominent schools (MIT, NYU, University of Chicago, Emory, Johns Hopkins, WashU, UT-Dallas, etc). Here is a list of colleges that were in last year's Division III football playoffs: Brockport, N.Y. Springfield, Mass. Coe, Iowa Wisconsin-La Crosse John Carroll, Ohio Hobart, N.Y. King's, Pa. Salisbury, Md. Muhlenberg, Pa. Massachusetts-Dartmouth St. John's, Minn. Redlands, Calif. Wabash, Ind. MacMurray Wartburg, Iowa Lake Forest Washington & Jefferson, Pa. Christopher Newport, Va. Wheaton, Ill. Alma, Mich. Wittenberg, Ohio Hanover, Ind. Trinity, Texas Mary Hardin-Baylor Mount Union, Ohio Linfield, Ore. Bridgewater, Va.

Tulane can go from being mentioned in the same breath as Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Baylor to being mentioned with any number of the D-III institutions listed above, in addition to the 350+ schools that didn't even make it to the D-III playoffs. Tulane could be listed with the fine institutions mentioned on the feedback website (if they aren't already), or it could run the risk of falling between the cracks of the institutions I listed as well (which, for Tulane's sake, I hope not). No one knows for sure what will happen.

Thousands of Tulane fans anxiously await May 15th and May 29th. Many of us will not be as dispassionate about the decision or be able to look at this from 10,000 feet as Dr. Cowen and the Board have said they will approach it. Please give Mr. Dickson, Tulane fans and alumni and the New Orleans community a fighting chance to make D-1A work at Tulane.

*****

President Cowen,

By your actions and by the actions of the Board, you are asking us as dedicated followers of Green Wave athletics to endure the hard, cold, dispassionate fact of the significance of the athletic department's deficit situation.

I'd like to point out that the hard, cold reality is that local sports fans haven't been interested in supporting Tulane athletics because the average person perceives, fair or not, that Tulane is uninterested in and far from committed to having competitive and entertaining football and basketball teams and that that reality is in itself a major reason why there is the deficit situation today. Over the past 50 or so years Tulane's own administrations have done very much to engender such a perception, to ground such a perception in the fact of their own actions, and very little to overcome it. Whether the deficit situation today would be as severe as it is if Tulane had truly been solidly and consistently committed to doing everything possible to support athletics is an unknown but it would be disingenuous of Tulane to declare that the deficit is completely insurmountable without having tried wholeheartedly to deal with it through having quality, entertaining programs that take a back to no one in competitiveness and through making every effort to promote the programs in the community and to ensure that those who do attend Tulane sports events enjoy a consistently satisfying experience. Right now, a lot of us believe that the athletic department, under the leadership of Rick Dickson, is starting to enjoy the results of such efforts as described above, although very much remains to be done. We urge you and the Board to throw your full weight behind Rick Dickson and his efforts and not only to firmly and publicly commit yourselves to Tulane remaining in Division 1-A but also to firmly commit yourselves behind supporting athletics in general in such fashion as Tulane has not done before. Only through a Tulane administration doing so can anyone honestly be able assert anything as to whether or not the deficit problem is truly one that Tulane cannot solve without leaving Division 1-A.

More Comments We've Received