I live in Big Ten-Notre Dame country, Evanston, Ill. - the home of Northwestern, to be exact - and after more than 50 years here, I have finally earned the respect deserving of any graduate of Rutgers. In 1958, when I moved to Chicagoland, Rutgers was virtually unknown, so much so that I made a few bucks betting on RU versus anyone, especially in football. Sadly, that edge was wiped out by the bowl invitations in the past two years. But I was overjoyed to have the Scarlet Knight gridders achieve recognition for the school, enough so that I could quit my pay-through-the-nose DIRECTV packages to watch RU football and basketball.
However, because the Chicago Tribune is truly prejudiced against anything from either coast (I received my M.A. from UCLA) I rely on The New York Times for any news worth while, including national and international and, of dire necessity, sports. So it was with great distress that I read an article in the March 21 issue of the Times about the struggle over the athletic budget and the proposals to cut so-called non-revenue sports after learning in the ChiTrib, of all places, that the women's lacrosse team is ranked 19th in the country. I would venture to say that even non-revenue sports, maybe especially non-revenue sports, contribute greatly to the academic reputation of the school and even to the recruiting success of football and basketball teams.
The budget cutters would not please one honored alumnus of Rutgers, namely, the renowned economist, Milton Friedman. Some of us may remember the Times opinion-editorial in which Friedman suggested, very strongly, that Rutgers should quit wasting money trying to build the football team into a national powerhouse and get back to its mission as an institution of higher learning, which, according to Friedman, does not have anything to do with sports. What Friedman ignored was that giving a new look to everything connected with Scarlet Knight football was designed to attract new business to the state of New Jersey ... and it worked.
What's more, the Rutgers faculty is being sought by national media for its expertise in a variety of areas. It is not too far fetched to believe the media has taken a closer look at Rutgers academe because of the nationwide reputation of the sports programs. Only in the past few years have people out here in Big Ten-Notre Dame country who see the Rutgers name on my caps come up to me to ask if I really went there and tell me what a great school it is - not what a great football team we have - what a great school it is.
If Hillary Clinton can raise millions for her campaign, surely the state of New Jersey can save the sports programs at Rutgers - the state college of New Jersey!
Gaeton Lauri is a Rutgers College Class of 1950 graduate.
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