These presidents in their elitist towers need to take a chill pill. Unless a school has no academic backbone (KState JC, Boise, WVU), who cares if a university isn’t Tier 1 or AAU? My wife does some pretty sophisticated post-grad research for CU, and when she collaborates outside of CU, not once has she been advised to collaborate with Pac-12 universities. They could care less. If another prof from the SEC wants to work on a study or paper, they will just do it. Her relationships are formed at industry conferences, not at athletic tailgates. Why an athletic conference should have to select folks based on their post-graduate ranking is beyond me. Again, so long as they aren’t a dumpster fire. Does Northwestern’s brand take a hit because Nebraska lost its AAU standing? Does anyone think less of Stanford grads because the Oregon schools are also in the Pac? Did CU have to quit claiming one of its astronauts because we used to slum it with K-State?
This is just a craptastic pissing contest by presidents of universities. Great, the Pac will only add UT and OU due to their “academic standing”. Total farce. They would add them because they are football powerhouses.
And needless to say, most Buff athletes aren’t graduating from CU’s engineering school, or graduating pre-med. They graduate from weak majors, just like every other athletic program in the country.
If you want to be surrounded by academic snobs, go join Mensa.
