Now that Engstrom is gone, maybe a teacher should run the school

One of the few images of former UM president Royce Engstrom left undestroyed

Enrollment at the University of Montana here in beautiful Missoula, Montana has declined almost 25 percent in the last five years. This drop roughly coincides with the tenure of President Royce Engstrom, who stepped down last week in a mutual decision with the Board of Regents that they announced. Here’s regent chief Clayton Christian:

After careful discussion and consideration, University of Montana President Royce Engstrom and I have decided that he will step down as UM’s president effective December 31. I asked President Engstrom to consider this transition at this time based on my belief that a change in leadership direction is the right step for UM going forward.

Sounds like an amicable discussion to me. Engstrom is probably just one of the many Americans who quit their jobs right before Christmas to focus on family. But maybe he got fired. If that’s the case, the most interesting phrase in Christian’s statement might be “at this time.”

Why now? Engstrom got through the first few years of declining enrollment, big cuts to teaching budgets, and a Department of Justice investigation with his job intact. So what prompted the regents to cut him loose last week, in the middle of the school year?

You can read my speculation on that and other subjects in this week’s column for the Missoula Independent, which advances the piping-hot take that maybe a teacher should run the school. Never forget that when declining enrollment forced UM to lay people off last year, 98% of the planned cuts went to classroom instruction. Administrators don’t cut administration. But instruction is what UM is selling. Facing an enrollment crisis, the Engstrom administration decided to offer fewer services for the same price. Maybe there’s fat to be trimmed somewhere else. We’ll be back tomorrow with Friday links!

UM sports generate $173M a year, not including court fees

Washington-Grizzly Stadium at the University of Montana

Washington-Grizzly Stadium at the University of Montana

The University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research has produced a study estimating the economic value of Grizzly athletics at $120.8 million in sales and $52.8 million in compensation each year. Those are big numbers, especially in a town the size of Missoula. The study’s methodology, however, suggests it was conducted with an eye toward making those numbers as large as possible.

For example, it counts tuition and fees payed by all student athletes, plus whatever scholarships they get, plus tax funding for UM athletics. It counts travel and accommodation expenses during away games, as well as lodging, meals and even auto repairs purchased by visiting fans. It counts not just the salaries of all athletics-related employees, from trainers to food service vendors, but also the value of their benefits and the estimated economic activity their spending generates. The assumption is that if Grizzly sports didn’t exist, everyone involved with them would disappear.

If that’s its approach, I think BBER forgot some items. For example, the study does not take into account sales of Jon Krakauer’s book Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. It doesn’t include the salaries of police who investigated student athletes or the attorneys who represented them in court. It completely overlooks game-day alcohol sales. It’s possible these lines didn’t make it into the BBER calculations because they reflect an aspect of UM athletics that has been controversial in recent years.

I choose to look at this study as a tentative step toward acknowledging those problems. Yes, it introduces the strange scenario in which UM athletics vanishes completely, and it conducts an argument so exaggerated and purely economic as to be almost funny. But it is also a tacit acknowledgment that something has gone wrong. The first step to defending your net value is admitting you have a downside, even if you must introduce a false dichotomy in the process.

No one is talking about disbanding the Griz. A lot of people are talking about the massive sexual assault scandal that may or may not have reduced enrollment by 20% over the last five years. If we’re going to perform a broad accounting of costs and benefits, let’s make sure we count everything. You can read all about it in this week’s column for the Missoula Independent, which is sure to anger superfans. We’ll be back tomorrow with Friday links!