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jcoope16 said...

I, like many, have been surprised and frustrated about all the academic vs. athletic department issues that have seemed to really show their face over the last 6 months. There have been many references to past administrations and how these issues have evolved over time. However, I often found myself completely unfamiliar with some of the names and issues that people are discussing. I hear a lot about the changes that started happening when Joe Johnson (president) and Doug Dickey (AD) retired in 1999 and 2002, respectively. I turned 14 and 17 in 1999 and 2002 and I can assure you the last thing on my mind at the time was the civil war that was brewing within our institution. So, I decided to do a little research.

I found a transcript from an Outside the Lines production from May of 2000 that was strictly centered around our football program and the Linda Bensel-Meyers incident. For those who don't know, Bensel-Meyers is a former English professor at UT and is currently an Ex-Officio Member of the Drake Group, an organization whose mission is "to help faculty and staff defend academic integrity in the face of the burgeoning college sport industry." It's kind of a long read but I found it to be very informative and it seemed to shed some light on where this "power struggle" initiated.

I hope some of you find it helpful and informative. Please, draw your own conclusions.

Also, if anyone else has any informative literature on these matters that could help any or all of us to understand our current situation better, please post them ITT. Thanks.