Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics

Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics

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MEMBERS

Co-Chairs

William English Kirwan
chancellor, University System of Maryland

R. Gerald Turner
president, Southern Methodist University

Chairman Emeritus

Thomas K. Hearn Jr.
president emeritus, Wake Forest University

Members

Val Ackerman
president, USA Basketball

Michael F. Adams
president, University of Georgia

William W. Asbury
Vice President Emeritus for Student Affairs, Pennsylvania State University

Henry S. Bienen
president, Northwestern University

Nick Buoniconti
spokesman, Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis

Hodding Carter III
University Professor of Leadership and Public Policy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Carol A. Cartwright
president emeritus, Kent State University

Anita L. DeFrantz
president, Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles

John J. DeGioia
president, Georgetown University

Leonard J. Elmore
ESPN analyst and senior counsel, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, LLP

Elson S. Floyd
president, University of Missouri System

Janet Hill
vice president, Alexander & Associates Inc.

Sarah Lowe
Corporate Legal Support Assistant at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Andrea Fischer Newman
senior vice president-government affairs, Northwest Airlines

Jerry I. Porras
professor emeritus, Stanford University

Sonja Steptoe
Client Development Manager at O’Melveny & Myers LLP

Clifton R. Wharton Jr.
former chairman and CEO, TIAA-CREF

Judy Woodruff
broadcast journalist

Charles E. Young
President Emeritus, University of Florida and Chancellor Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles

Chris Zorich
Chairman of The Christopher Zorich Foundation

Member, Ex-Officio

Alberto Ibargüen
president and CEO, Knight Foundation

Founding Co-Chairs

Rev. Theodore A. Hesburgh, C.S.C.
president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, founding co-chair, 1989-2003

William C. Friday
president emeritus, University of North Carolina, founding co-chair, 1989-2005

Staff

Amy P. Perko
executive director

Knight Commission reports

Reports and other documents from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics


Commission reports

Keeping Faith with the Student Athlete: A New Model for Intercollegiate Athletics (1991)

(links: HTML, PDF) The commission’s original report, which called for presidential control of intercollegiate athletics to ensure academic and fiscal integrity through a transparent certification process.

A Call to Action: Reconnecting College Sports and Higher Education (2001)

(links: HTML, PDF archive) A ten-year review of progress made since the original Commission report, calling for a stronger commitment to academic standards in college sports.

Commission meetings

Next public meeting:  Tuesday, June 17, 2007.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Washington, DC, 1150 22nd St., NW, 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., RSVP to brian.wachur@widmeyer.com

Summit on the Collegiate Athlete Experience. January, 2006.

(links: HTML, DVD request) The commission’s groundbreaking conversation about issues affecting athletes’ daily lives on campus.

Prior meeting press releases.

Published Op-eds

Miami Herald. Feb. 4, 2007.

(link to PDF)

Indianapolis Star. Apr. 2, 2006.

(link to PDF)

Commissioned Research and Polls

Public Opinion Poll, Dec. 2005.

(links: PDF, MS Word)

Public Opinion Poll, Jan. 2006.

(links: PDF, MS Word)

Executive Summary of Faculty Perceptions of Intercollegiate Athletics Survey. October, 2007.

(links: PDF) In a national survey of more than 2,000 faculty members at universities with the country’s most visible athletic programs, a striking number of professors say they don’t know about and are disconnected from issues facing college sports.

Faculty Perceptions on Intercollegiate Athletics (Full Report). October, 2007.

(links: MS Word).

White Papers

Challenging the Myth (2004)

(links: HTML, PDF) An integrative review of the economic literature on intercollegiate athletics by Cornell University economist Robert Frank.

Division I-A Postseason History and Status (2004)

(links: HTML, PDF) A study of the history of bowl games and championship organizations in Division I-A football by John Sandbrook of the University of California at Los Angeles.

Athletics Recruiting and Academic Values:  Enhancing Transparency, Spreading Risk and Improving Practice (2006)

(link to PDF) University of Georgia Institute for Higher Education.