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From:

Short, Paula M

Sent:
To:

Monday, May 16, 2016 3:30 PM

Mejia, Cindy R

Subject:

FW: Just FYI-Michael

From: Khator, Renu

Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2014 3:54 PM
To: Olivas, Michael A
Cc: Short, Paula M
Subject: Re: Just FYIMichael

Thank you for sharing. I worry about It too and unless we make It In the big 5, we will have to face the same dilemma.
Because we are a competitive team, we have no choice currently but to keep becoming better so we could get Into the
big 5. If that does not happen, It will be difficult for us to sustain It too.
Renu Khator(IPhone)
www.renukhator.com

On Dec 4, 2014, at 3:07 PM,Olivas, Michael A <MOIIvas@Central.UH.EDU> wrote:

December 4,2014 by George R. La Noue

http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2014/12/04/the-muddled-future-of-midmaior-athletics/?cid=pm&utm source=pm&utm medium=en

The Muddled Future of Mid-Major Athletics

While media attention is overwhelmingly focused on big-time intercollegiate

athletics, a crisis is developing for most ofthe 351 Division I institutions that
cannot afford to play at that level.

From the perspective ofthe cable networks, Division I is a world of gigantic

stadiums and basketball arenas, with coaches' salaries and egos to match. For most
Division I members, however, the realities in that world look very different, and
the National Collegiate Athletic Association has just taken steps to accentuate the
differences. This year the NCAA changed its governing structure to give more
influence and autonomy to 67 universities in the Power Five football conferences
(Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern, and Pacific-12, plus Notre Dame).

The leftovers or "mid-majors," as they are euphemistically called, are in the

America East, American Athletic, Atlantic Sun, Atlantic 10, Big Sky, Big South,
Big West, Colonial, Conference USA,Horizon, Ivy, Metro-Atlantic, MidAmerican, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley,
Patriot, Pioneer, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, Western
Athletic, and West Coast conferences.

Those colleges are now faced with substantially increasing their athletic
expenditures to try to preserve the pretense ofDivision I status. The Power Five
institutions have budgets ofthree, four, or even five times as much as that of most
mid-majors. They also now have NCAA authority to offer enhanced "full cost"
multiyear financial-aid packages to their recruits.

The current playing field is decidedly not level. Division I is an unhappy family.
Institutional choices for the leftovers will not be easy. The University of Alabama
at Birmingham has just announced that its football Blazers will be no more. After
an intensive study by outside consultants, the university's president, Ray Watts,
concluded:"The fiscal realities we face^both from an operating and capital
investment standpointare starker than ever and demand that we take decisive
action for the greater good ofthe athletic department and UAB. As we look at the
evolving landscape of NCAA football, we see expenses only continuing to
increase." The football Rainbow Warriors ofthe University of Hawaii may soon
follow suit.

Some institutions in non-Power Five conferences,such as the American

Athletic Conference members Connecticut, Cincinnati, or Houston have

substantial competitive success, athletic facilities, and fan support. Others,

such as Georgetown, DePaul, and Marquette, have Division I reputations, but are
really just basketball colleges whose other teams are often not very competitive.
None ofthe Division I athletic programs at historically black institutions will be
able to afford the new costs.

For most Division I colleges, their only realistic hope at media recognition and
campus support is to win a conference championship once in a while. Ifthey
achieve that goal, they will be given a place in an NCAA tournament, where, as a
high seed,they will usually be sent to a distant competition and be given a
thrashing by their athletic betters. So what is their future in the new, more
expensive world of Division I?

Division I is built on four often-incompatible goals. Sports for these powers are a
business, a status benchmark, a vehicle for entertainment, and a student-

development activity. While some ofthose incongruities affect the spectrum of

Division I programs, they are worse at the mid-major colleges. They have a much
smaller margin for error.

As a business, Division I sports may be a good investment for the hotels and
restaurants that profit from the tides offans coming for 20 or so home football and

basketball games, but for the universities that sponsor those athletic programs, not
so much. Only about 20 Division I institutions are estimated to make money
directly from their athletic programs.

Nevertheless, many universitieseschewing local competitionhave joined

geographically extended athletics conferences to make status statements. Those

decisions often lead to bloated budgets, missed classes, increased travel, and

diminished local rivalries and,thus, fan interest. For example, there are 10
Division I universities in the Baltimore-Washington region, but they belong to
eight different conferences.

As teams are dropped by some colleges, ad hoc conferences have been created that

have no student-welfare purpose. In field hockey a new arrangement has been

forged to bring together five colleges from the America East Conference with four
West Coast universities. The purpose is to insure an NCAA bid for the new
conference winner in that otherwise-declining sport.

In swimming a conference has been cobbled together,"joining" colleges from New

Jersey to Florida to Texas and holding its championships in Georgia. Then there is
the multisport Western Athletic Conference(aka the frequent-flier league),
stretching from Chicago to the Texas border region to New Mexico to central
California and then to Seattle.

Even in revenue sports, the football-dominated AAC spans North Carolina to

Texas, and the old basketball-focused Big East now reaches into Nebraska. Such
arrangements may provide satisfaction to coaches and a few athletes, if they are
not too travel-weary, but are meaningless for the average student. Very few
students at those colleges will ever attend an away conference game, and old
rivalries are now meaningless.

Americans are more passionate about intercollegiate competition than people

anywhere else in the world, but this market may be eroding. Broadcasts of
professional sports here and abroad are available 24/7. In the WashingtonBaltimore marketplace, its mid-major Division I colleges fight a losing battle for
media attention with nine professional franchises, whose overlapping seasons last
all year long.

Most worrisome, their key student market is proving more unreliable as spectators.
Many students now are commuters, part-timers, online, or graduate students who

are juggling jobs and family responsibilities and are not closely identified with
their current academic institutions. Even for 18-to-22-year-olds, going to a
competition site and watching and rooting for a team that wears your school colors
is often not an entertainment priority. Games can be viewed better on television.
On the opening weekend ofthe 2014 football season, there were 31 intercollegiate
games on the tube and many more on the Internet.

Athletic directors are concerned about the tendency of students to arrive at games
late, leave early, and be busy texting when they actually show up. It is most
embarrassing when TV cameras cannot avoid showing empty seats in the student
section.

Ofcourse, avid spectators in Tallahassee, Tuscaloosa, South Bend, or Norman

could give a different impression, and there are still many islands of successful

Division I programs in what are called the revenue sports (football and basketball).
For almost all colleges, however, the much more numerous nonrevenue sports
competitions are a different matter. Attendance is sparse, and media attention is
often only in the agate type ofthe sports section. Consequently, many universities
have given up on such teams despite the passions and commitment ofthe athletes
involved.

What to do? The first priority in this changing landscape for mid-majors is to
rethink the role that athletics should play in institutions of higher education and the
financial investments that should be made to fulfill that role. The answers will

vary. There will be few future vacancies in the Bowl Championship Series
conferences, which already have unwieldy sizes. If mid-major intercollegiate
athletics are likely to lose money, create a very erratic or irrelevant form of status,
and are of decreasing entertainment value to current students, what's the point?
Team membership can achieve some important developmental benefits for
students^physical fitness, self-discipline, and group bonding^but there also can
be personal costsdiversion from academic and cultural campus activities, limited
social contacts, and procrastination in career preparation. Rhetorical claims
abound, but serious evaluation ofthose costs and benefits for individual athletes

and teams has rarely occurred. What level ofcompetition is necessary to maximize
benefits and minimize student costs? How long should practices, season schedules,
and travel obligations be? What kind of competitions should be provided for
students with high athletic interest but modest skills? Developmental benefits may
accrue to them too. How many athletic scholarships should be devoted to
nonrevenue sports?

As mid-majors face their new, uncertain future, those evaluations should take place
outside athletic departments and conference offices with vested interests. Perhaps

even presidents should take notice, but new directions should be determined by

wider campus constituencies. The future of intercollegiate athletics is unlikely to

reflect their past role.

George R. La Noue is a professor of political science and public policy and a

former chair ofthe Athletic Policy Committee at the University of MarylandBaltimore County.
- See more at: http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2014/12/04/the-muddledfuture-of-mid-maior-

athletics/?cid=pm&utm source=pm&utm medium=en#sthash.thdvWemh.dpuf

<image001.jpg>
Email; molivas@.uh.edu

httD://www.law.uh.edu/ihelg/homepage.html
Suins Alma Mater

No Undocumented Child Left Behind

The Law and Higher Education and 2013 Supplement

JVjejiaj^Cind^^
From:

Short, Paula M

Sent:
To:
Subject:

Monday, May 16, 2016 3:31 PM

Mejia, Cindy R
FW: When you return

Original Message
From: Khator, Renu
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2015 1:20 PM
To: Short, Paula M

Subject: Re: When you return

Thank you for update. Let me know If I can help in anyway. It Is important that you take rest.
Renu Khator(IPhone)
www.renukhator.com

> On Mar 29, 2015, at 11:47 AM,Short, Paula M <pmshort@Central.UH.EDU> wrote:

>

> Renu:
>

> I hope to return some time this week.

Please know that I am working from home as best that I can. My staff
have been incredible and in touch most of every day. I also am planning for the initiation again of Houston GPS initiative
which should impact the quality of our transfer students and also help in our efforts to improve our graduation rates.
Plus, it should solve some of the concerns being expressed about the quality of instruction if our Sugar Land students
begin their freshman year taking courses at Wharton Jr. College. What we propose to do with the four area CC systems
has not been done anywhere else in the US in an urban area. I also took on Cub Camp,our new FTIC experience to turn
them in to Cougars by the end of camp this summer! This is a collaboration with SGA. Much more happening.
>

> I also want to meet with you on our Provost Office Progress card and update you on all of our new initiatives
developed this year to ensure student success and national prominence. I am especially pleased with what we will be
able to do with data analytics with the Educational Advisory Board Student Success Collaborative which we have just
joined. I am sending a team to Georgia State to learn more about how they had such impressive success with closing

the gap in graduation rates among underrepresented students groups. We were aware of their use W EAB SSC so after
much investigation into its elements, we decided to join.
>
>

> I look forward to meeting with you on university priorities for the budget planning process. I will have Cindy set up a
time with Carmen.
>
>

> On one more note and not in my area of responsibility but have you considered UN joining the Atlantic Coast
Conference. Schools are highly ranked academically as is UN,they have a strong fan base, and no one school seems to
overshadow others. I would guess that the conference would love to have a Texas school as Texas is a good recruiting
area. I find the ACC much more impressive a conference than Big 12. Would elevate UN athletics in an instant. Just a
thought.

>

> I appreciate your understanding and support.

>

> Paula
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> From: Khator, Renu

> Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2015 9:54 PM

> To: Short, Paula M
> Subject: When you return
>

> Paula,

> Carl would have met with all divisions. I want to sit down with you, not Just for your budget but for the budget of the
university as a whole, to decide priority areas. Whenever you feel recovered and whenever you return, let Carmen find a
time for us to meet. Hope you are feeling better. Take care,
>

> Renu Khator(IPhone)

> www.renukhator.com