Post date: November 21, 2002 — 10:30 a.m.
On Friday, Nov. 22, Harvard Law School Professor Hal S. Scott will participate in a panel discussion on the role intercollegiate athletics play on college campuses. The conversation will focus on issues raised in Dr. James Shulman’s book “The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values.” The book was co-authored with William Bowen, the President of the Mellon Foundation and former President of Princeton. The authors contend that the current emphasis on athletics has a negative impact on elite educational institutions. In a recent issue of the University of Notre Dame Journal of College and University Law, in an article entitled “What Game are They Playing?”, Scott criticized Shulman’s research and conclusions. The event, which will begin at 3:30 p.m. at the Spangler Center on the Harvard Business School campus, is free and open to the public.
In addition to the two principal speakers, Bates College Athletic Director Suzanne Coffey and former Harvard Athletic Director Bill Cleary will comment on the issues raised in the book as well as their experiences in running an intercollegiate athletic department. The two-hour event will be moderated by Stephen A. Greyser of the Harvard Business School.
This event is the second in a four-part discussion series celebrating the sesquicentennial anniversary of the first intercollegiate athletic competition a boat race between Harvard and Yale held in August of 1852, at Center Harbor on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee.
For those unable to attend the discussion, the audio and video will be placed on the Harvard Athletics’ web site early next week. It will be accessible by visiting the sesquicentennial web site.