Sun needs to shine on Big 10 leaders football discussions
Last summer and early fall, the leaders of the 14 universities in the Big 10 conference were involved in ongoing discussions about restarting instruction and if a college football season should, would or even could take place in 2020.
The end result of those discussions was a flip-flop on postponing the season to spring and the ultimate decision to run a compressed season beginning in October.
Regardless of any other factors, given how much of university budgets are dependent on the revenue football programs bring in, it is not surprising that the university presidents made the call they did. What is disappointing is that 13 publicly funded universities in the conference intentionally left the public out of the decision process, choosing to conduct their businesses on electronic third-party platforms — the digital equivalent of smokefi lled back rooms.
As reported last week by The Washington Post, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank proposed going to the online Big 10 portal to discuss the issues in an effort to “assure confidentiality.”
Wisconsin law is crystal clear in having a presumption of access to government documents, records and communications regardless of their means. Good government at any level must be transparent in its decision making processes. The 10 other states that fund the public universities in the Big 10 conference have similar laws regarding the public’s absolute right to access government documents. Northwestern University is the only private school in the Big 10 Conference, the others are supported in varying degree by the taxpayers in their states.
Last summer and early fall when the decisions were being made, there were still many unknowns in regard to COVID-19. Opening the campuses and holding a football season were a calculated gamble, one tied to outside political pressure and very real economic realities.
State legislators, parents, taxpayers, coaches and the college athletes have the right to know what went into the decision process and what factors were considered. Was it purely a dollars and cents decision where college athletes and students were viewed as commodities and how much did outside pressure influence that decision process. The public needs answers if for no other reason than to maintain faith that these universities looked to the welfare of students and athletes in addition to looking out for their bottom line.
Good government is open government. This is true at all levels and is especially true when decisions of public health and welfare are on the line. The decision by the Big 10 leaders to seek technological loopholes in order to make important and far reaching public policy decisions out of the public view was wrong.
The Wisconsin Board of Regents and legislature must take action to ensure that the people are the ones to decide what is or is not important and ensure the process and not just the outcome sees the full light of day.
