Today's History Lesson

"He [Robert Maynard Hutchins] pulled Chicago out of the Big Ten Conference and eliminated the school’s football program, which he saw as a campus distraction. Hutchins heaped scorn upon schools which received more press coverage for their sports teams than for their educational programs, and the trustees provided the support he needed to drop football in 1939. The decision was hailed by many, and Hutchins today serves as a model for those who argue that commercialized college sports are incompatible with the academic aims of institutions of higher learning.”