Faculty Senators and Their Knowledge and Perceptions of the Governance of Intercollegiate Athletics: the Case of theSoutheastern Conference
type: CreativeWork
description: The purpose of this study was to determine perceptions of faculty senators regarding intercollegiate athletics as well as to evaluate their knowledge of athletics' academic and financial governance within Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities. The SEC has a long history of athletic excellence as well as well-established athletic cultures on their respective campuses. Furthermore, all of the SEC institutions are research universities and two institutions are members of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The interplay between the high-achieving athletics teams and faculty members from these institutions provides an enhanced understanding for how faculty and athletics communicate at the institution level and athletics conference. Current faculty senate members from the 12 Southeastern Conference (SEC) institutions (n=397 of 941) completed a 41-item survey online. The survey included questions related to faculty senator perceptions of college athletics, faculty senator knowledge of financial and academic governance of college athletics, current level of interaction between faculty senate and athletics department, and demographic questions related to the participant including academic discipline and familiarity with college sports. In addition, one question utilized a framework which creates a typology of faculty senates (Minor, 2004) to analyze how senates interact with athletics departments. Lastly, an open-ended question asked for comments regarding the relationship between faculty governance and intercollegiate athletics at the respective SEC schools. Participant responses revealed that faculty senators have mixed sentiment regarding the relationship between athletics and academics at their institutions. Faculty senators recognized the importance of college athletics in relation to campus visibility; however, they also recognized the overall lack of participation by faculty senates and decisions concerning student-athletes. One of the 12 SEC i…
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine perceptions of faculty senators regarding intercollegiate athletics as well as to evaluate their knowledge of athletics' academic and financial governance within Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities. The SEC has a long history of athletic excellence as well as well-established athletic cultures on their respective campuses. Furthermore, all of the SEC institutions are research universities and two institutions are members of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The interplay between the high-achieving athletics teams and faculty members from these institutions provides an enhanced understanding for how faculty and athletics communicate at the institution level and athletics conference. Current faculty senate members from the 12 Southeastern Conference (SEC) institutions (n=397 of 941) completed a 41-item survey online. The survey included questions related to faculty senator perceptions of college athletics, faculty senator knowledge of financial and academic governance of college athletics, current level of interaction between faculty senate and athletics department, and demographic questions related to the participant including academic discipline and familiarity with college sports. In addition, one question utilized a framework which creates a typology of faculty senates (Minor, 2004) to analyze how senates interact with athletics departments. Lastly, an open-ended question asked for comments regarding the relationship between faculty governance and intercollegiate athletics at the respective SEC schools. Participant responses revealed that faculty senators have mixed sentiment regarding the relationship between athletics and academics at their institutions. Faculty senators recognized the importance of college athletics in relation to campus visibility; however, they also recognized the overall lack of participation by faculty senates and decisions concerning student-athletes. One of the 12 SEC i…
author: Fallucca, Amber Christine
keywords: Education, Educational Administration and Supervision, Athletics, Faculty Senates, Southeastern Conference
date published: 2010-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:37:14Z
provider: University of South Carolina
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of South Carolina