Auburn University's curriculum review committee planned to eliminate an unpopular undergraduate major, public administration, in 2013, but the decision was overruled by top school leaders after the athletics department opposed it.
The curriculum review committee intended to give the major the axe out of the belief that it contributed little to the school's academic mission, but the athletics department used its pull to help nix the plans, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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The major has been selected by over half of the school's student athletes, including a third of Auburn's football team. With the major in jeopardy, the school's athletic department fought for it to remain an option for its students.
The department even went so far as to offer to pay the cost of professors and the support staff in order to keep it in place, according to documents and emails obtained and analyzed by the Wall Street Journal.
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Auburn's senior associate athletic director for academic services Gary Waters wrote in a 2013 email that the athletics department made "similar investments in academic programs during the last few years," although in those instances, he added, "it has not been publicized."
The political science faculty voted 13-0 to do away with the major and Auburn's academic program review committee then voted 10-1 to place public administration on inactive status. The decision, however, was met with much opposition from the athletics department.
"If the public administration program is eliminated, the [graduation success rate] numbers for our student-athletes will likely decline," a December 2012 internal athletics department memo said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Tigers football team went on to win the Southeast Division title in 2013 and played in the national championship game while a third of its students majored in public administration.
After the vote, Timothy Boosinger, an advocate for removing the major, conducted a meeting with athletic director Jay Jacobs and Waters, which is when they proposed taking money out of the athletic department's funds to keep the major afloat.
Two months after the meeting, Boosinger agreed to postpone the cancelation of the major and by the time the next football season rolled around, public administration was still a major.
The decision didn't sit well with some of the faculty members outside of the program, including former chairman of the political science department Gerry Gryski.
"I'm searching for a word here," Gryski said. "It's unbelievable. It's incomprehensible."
Heading into this season, Auburn is ranked No. 6 and public administration is still the most popular major on the team. The Tigers enter the 2015 season as the favorite to win the SEC title.
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