To the editor:

What in the world does the Kansas University athletics department’s financial success have to do with the school’s academic financial problems? Sports and athletics evidently have enough avid interest of KU’s alumni and sports fans to be able to generate large sums of money. Why is this fact such a problem for the editor of this paper, the KU academic departments, or the many submitters of letters to this paper? Does the financial success of athletics cause financial failure of academics?

Just because athletics have such a broad appeal, and the ability to gather money, should not be a negative force to the same university’s academic departments. Academics and athletics each have many attributes of great value and there is no doubt as to which is the most important, and the university’s reason for being, and that is academics. But, the average alum and Lawrence citizen has more immediate interest in the success of Jayhawk basketball or football teams.

If that interest ever changes toward academics, then you fans of academics will be pleased and vindicated. Until then, please realize that your complaints toward sports do not help the academic department.