From the inbox:
Today the Washington Post had an article on the tension at Virgina Tech between those who want to tailgate for Thursday night games and, um, academics. My favorite quote: ' having a prominent football team "does great things for the university, much more so than somebody discovering something in their PhD dissertation, which five people read. That's true, and we're going to have to live with it." '
HAHAHAHAHA. I will bet you money that no more than five people have read my dissertation, and that's generously assuming that my committee did.
You'd lose that bet. In preparing to begin our sentence as bloggers, Tim and I have read every environmental economics dissertation ever written (that makes 7 people who read yours). I had hoped to keep that fact secret until I write my memoirs, but, now you know how we became so totally informed about the field of environmental economics (and why we felt obligated to name our blog thusly).
But, I digress. Back to the Hokies:
Some faculty members interviewed for this story said that while there has been no official mandate handed down by the school, it has been implicitly suggested that they cancel afternoon classes before Thursday night games in order to clear campus parking lots. While students may welcome an early start to the weekend, such a notion does not sit well with those who say it sends a message that athletics are more important than academics.
Isn't this confusing marginal and total? There would be no college football without the college. A school can shut down its football program but not vice versa. Therefore, the total value of academics exceeds the total value of athletics. But, a Thursday night football game is a special event with a large marginal value. The marginal benefit of that game is likely greater than the marginal cost of an afternoon of canceled classes.
Note: I canceled my class today to be in Charleston today (where I blog like a maniac while passively listening to various topics in fisheries biology). The marginal class, in most courses, can be effectively replaced with creative assignments. However, the more canceled classes the greater the marginal (and total) cost.
And:
"I'm highly annoyed by the misplaced emphasis on athletics at the university," Jan Helge Bohn, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, said in a telephone interview. "It infuriates me. The fact I have to move my car and go home and terminate work is outrageous in an academic community."
I hear this when we have Friday night (and Saturday) games. But I like it when my boss tells me to go home. If I need to work I have my computer. Don't scientists have labs at home?
An e-mail sent by the school to students, faculty and personnel on Monday said Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger had approved the closing of all university offices at 4 p.m. on Thursday, with the exception of those directly supporting classroom instruction. The message said classes would not be canceled.
Wink, wink.
And note: that first quote is from Gordon Kirk, a professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, instead of a student which is what I assumed.
