Former Knight Commission member LeRoy Walker, a pioneer in sports and education, died Monday, April 23, 2012, at age 93. The Knight Commission was one of many organizations that benefited from his involvement. Dr. Walker served on the Commission when it produced its 1991 and 2001 reports. His obituary in the Raleigh News and Observer…
January 13, 2012 Knight Commission Executive Director Amy Perko visits KU The University Community Forum presents “A Dialogue on Intercollegiate Athletics in Higher Education” with Knight Commission Executive Director Amy Perko on Tuesday, Jan. 24. Perko, a former University of Kansas associate athletics director, was named Knight Commission executive director in 2005. The Knight Commission…
The Fayetteville Observer recently published an article featuring the career of Amy Perko, executive director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. Perko will be receiving a Silver Anniversary Award from the NCAA in January. As part of the article, the Observer included discussion about the past, current, and future role of the Knight Commission. …
R. Gerald Turner, Knight Commission Co-Chairman and President, Southern Methodist University – October 27, 2011 “We commend the NCAA for taking meaningful steps toward college sports reform today,” said Knight Commission co-chairman R. Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University. “We are pleased to see proposals the Commission has championed for many years be embraced…
WASHINGTON—The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics announced the results of a competitive grants program, “Shaping policy and practice in intercollegiate athletics for the benefit of students and institutions.” The Commission received 38 applications from researchers and organizations throughout the country and selected six for funding. Details on the selected projects are below. Researchers will present…
Amid a growing sense of crisis in college sports, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics heard evidence that the challenges colleges face are beyond the scope of current reform efforts. The Commission applauded the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s recent progress, and urged the speedy enactment of many of its proposed reforms. At the same time, the Commission said these steps alone would not ensure the integrity of sports in higher education, and emphasized the underlying drivers of conference realignment and other accelerating trends. Specifically, the Commission noted the influx in coming years of almost $14 billion in renegotiated television contracts, primarily for regular-season football, to the five richest conferences. The Commission will pursue transparency and accountability measures to ensure that these funds are used to further institutions’ educational missions and not simply to increase athletic expenditures. The Commission also will assess the complicated relationships among the NCAA, the Bowl Championship Series, Division I conferences, and their member institutions. In particular, the Commission will examine the impact of changing conferences primarily to increase revenue for football, and the impact such changes have on other sports. The Commission also announced six grants totaling $100,000 to independent scholars to study policy issues in intercollegiate athletics, with results of their studies to be released in October 2012.
Policy changes being considered by the NCAA and updated financial data will frame the reform-focused discussion among higher education leaders WHO: The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, chaired by William E. “Brit” Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland, and R. Gerald Turner, President, Southern Methodist University, will be joined by Mark Emmert, president, NCAA; Robert…
Tribute from William C. Friday, Founding Co-Chairman of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics: “Creed Black was one of those newspaper men who profoundly believed that a free and productive press was the essential and primary force to sustain our democracy. As a civic and foundation leader, he kept his experienced eye on the needy…
Below, please find editorials from the release of Restoring the Balance: Dollars, Values and the Future of College Sports on June 17, 2010 and other editorials surrounding the work of the Knight Commission through May 20, 2011. Download a PDF of the media editorials by clicking here. Editorials: Houston Chronicle- Court time v. class time…
The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics is requesting proposals for grants to support research on intercollegiate athletics policy. The program is intended to enhance the Commission’s long-standing legacy of recommending policy changes to improve the management and integrity of big-time college athletics by bringing new voices into the conversation about how to ensure that athletics…