Sunday, January 29, 2012

New Rutgers course probably shows why Schiano bolted for NFL

image Ladies and gentlemen, dear readers of IBCR, I present to you a fine example of what’s wrong with our institutions of “higher learning.” It’s not recruiting. It’s not oversigning. It’s not multimillion dollar coaching salaries or the BCS. Rutgers University is offering a course on Beyonce through its Department of Women's and Gender Studies.

While I am intrigued by the idea of studying Beyonce’s assets, I’m not sure the modern college student is well served by having an accredited and respected university offering coursework that leads to… whatever this leads to.

If I were Greg Schiano and I worked for an administration that thought this was a good idea, I'm re-evaluating the course of my career path. I’m sure many of his players would sign up for this course to pad their GPA and maintain the school’s Academic Progress Rate figures. But a degree in chair stacking from Tennessee or Sociology from Auburn would at least have the student-athlete learning something useful.

Her husband, rapper Jay-Z, has already been honoured with a Georgetown University sociology course named after him, but now it's Beyonce's turn to be dissected in a classroom.

Rutgers University's Department of Women's and Gender Studies will soon be exploring the social and cultural significance of the Destiny's Child singer's music and image.

The course, 'Politicizing Beyonce', will allow fans and pop-culture vultures to explore the 30-year-old Single Ladies singer's alter ego Sasha Fierce, and debate the extent of control she has over her own image.

They will also debate whether her red hot persona is an outlet of female sexual empowerment or merely complying with western gender stereotypes.

Last summer, Schiano came under intense fire from New Jersey legislators, education lobbyists and tenured professors for his $2.0 million salary and his status as the highest paid state employee.

And, President Barack Obama has criticized colleges and universities for increasing tuition and not looking at ways to streamline and improve the cost effectiveness of higher education. Maybe it’s just me, but one way of lowering the cost of a university education would be to eliminate pointless and utterly worthless courses like this.

Not to mention Departments of Women’s and Gender Studies. Exactly what do these programs cost? Exactly what benefit to they return for that cost? At least Greg Schiano got butts in seats on Saturdays and provided a sure revenue stream for a football program he built from scratch. But if I were Schiano, I’d be gone like yesterday too.

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