Funding for the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes shifted last month as the University suffered a $5.1 million midyear budget reduction.
The Academic Center, which averages around $1.4 million each year, switched funding sources from the University to the Athletic Department.
“As the chancellor has noted previously, the goal is to preserve the academic core, and these changes are to reduce the damage that will come to our students, faculty and staff with the impending cuts,” said Stacia Haynie, vice provost for Academic Affairs.
But the center has not always been under academic control.
Mark Ewing, senior associate athletic director, said funding for the center used to be paid by the Athletic Department before July 2002.
Ewing said funding originally switched because of “academic integrity” violations.
“The NCAA looked at some things that occurred in the Academic Center, and as a part of that whole investigation it was decided that, to prevent this happening in the future, we should put some institutional control in,” he said. “It put a line there to where a coach couldn’t tell an adviser what to do.”
The NCAA investigations began in 2002 as a result of allegations that athletes cheated on tests, plagiarized papers and that faculty were pressured to fix grades. The University penalized individual students for these actions, but the NCAA did not take further action, according to a 2004 USA Today article. Violations were ruled secondary, not major.
To compensate for the loss of the Academic Center, the Athletic Department began paying for the non-resident student fee.
“We are still going to pay the non-resident fee, and now we will make a donation to the University for the Academic Center,” Ewing said.
This “donation route” will be taken to ensure autonomy between the two entities is upheld. Ewing said Academic Affairs will maintain control over the program while the Athletic Department provides funding, and student athletes will not be affected by the transition.
“If we are paying for that service, how much say do we have? That’s the argument some institutions make,” he said. “At our institution, we want to keep that barrier.”
Donations from the Athletic Department to the University will also go unchanged, Ewing said.
The Academic Center aims to provide an “all-inclusive student-centered support structure for all student-athletes from matriculation through graduation and life beyond,” the center’s website says.
The center provides a study hall atmosphere, assistance with scheduling and tutoring, among other programs like CHAMPS/Life Skills.
The Athletic Department donates around $6.5 million to the University each year, which is used to pay for a number of campus activities, including renovations.
“The University instituted a 5-percent administrative fee for all auxiliaries,” he said. “Some of the $6.5 million is that fee, but the rest is over and above.”
But these contributions are not a one-way street, Ewing said.
“The academic contribution is this — if it wasn’t for the University, athletics wouldn’t be here,” Ewing said.
 
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]