UO Law to offer summer sports-law program

Last updated on 02/24/2014

Law School Dean Michael Moffitt’s previous efforts to find money to offset declining law enrollments have not gone as smoothly as say, a business school case study. The latest effort is a 5 week sports-law summer program. Tuition is $10,000 for 6 credits, and an extra $1,000 will get you a room in Pat Kilkenny’s famous Courtside Apartments. Under VP Brad Shelton’s budget model the law school will be able to keep most of the revenue, since summer programs don’t pay the Johnson Hall administrative tax.

Director Rob Illig has lined up an impressive list of lecturers from UO and other schools, including LCB Professor Dennis Howard, whose 2004 paper on how Duck athletic fundraising sucks money from the academic side is still the definitive piece on the subject. And I’m not just saying that because he cites me.

Maybe Illig can also get UO Law Professor Dave Frohnmayer to lecture on how UO’s random pot testing policy is obviously unconstitutional?

Perhaps UO Law Professor Emeritus and Faculty Athletics Representative Jim O’Fallon on how UO AAD Jeff Hawkins persuaded the Oregon legislature to pay to enforce the NCAA cartel’s rule against letting players get help bargaining with coaches? O’Fallon must also have some amusing anecdotes about Nate Miles.

And Howard Slusher and Pat Kilkenny, on how to rent a university president for less than Phillip Morris and BP paid?

Randy Geller’s former boss and General Counsel Emerita Melinda Grier could co-teach with Dave Frohnmayer on inflating coach’s pensions, and why you should never put anything in writing. And Geller himself would be good for a few minutes on how to divert the academic side’s money to NCAA athletic infractions lawyers.

But the big draw would be a Phil Knight keynote on how to get state legislators to put your alma mater $235M in debt for a basketball arena, then come back a few years later asking for $200M in bonds to fund cancer research – at OHSU.

All in all UO has some great sports law resources, although past efforts to use the Go Ducks! meme to recruit top law students do not seem to have panned out.