The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Cohen reported on Thursday that Auburn received pressure from the athletic department to save a small major that was popular among athletes (including most of the best players on the 2013 Auburn football team).
It paints an ugly picture of the athletic department’s disproportionate sway on academics at Auburn:
In 2013, Auburn University’s curriculum review committee took up the case of a small, unpopular undergraduate major called public administration. After concluding that the major added very little to the school’s academic mission, the committee voted to eliminate it.
But according to internal documents and emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the committee’s decision was ultimately overruled by top administrators after it met significant opposition from another powerful force on campus: Auburn’s athletic department.