Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/390706
5 with the installation of the 84 Herky statues on a Sunday night last May as we made the final preparations for the staging of Herky on Parade, an activity that officially came to a close in mid-September with an auction that generated more than $110,000 for the United Way of Johnson County and Washington County; and members of the Iowa women's basketball team recently spent a day on a Habitat for Humanity construction site. ese are three of hundreds of examples that occur annually of our student- athletes "giving back." I have spent my entire professional career in higher education. During those 27 years I have learned to never underestimate the young people who participate in intercollegiate athletics. ey are smart and want to get smarter. ey are highly motivated. ey believe in what it means to be a part of a team and personal accountability. ey excel at time management. ey care about their teammates, their student peers, their institution, their community. If you were to visit with these student-athletes, the majority will tell you they aren't interested in unionization. ey have some questions and concerns, but none that warrant the need to create an organization that will speak for them. In fact, most prefer to speak for themselves and do so oen and thoughtfully and intelligently. ey place a high value on the educational opportunity that they have earned as a result of their superior skill in their sport. I am pleased with this because, at its core, this is what intercollegiate athletics is all about: Providing talented young men and women the opportunity to pursue the education that will be the foundation for all their future successes while continuing to participate in a sport they love and are good at. ey believe the scholarship awarded them should cover all the costs of attending the UI, and so does the leadership of the UI and the UI Athletics Department. e UI is actively engaged with its peers across the country to put in place the processes to make certain this occurs for every student-athlete nationwide. ey believe that all health care related to injuries they sustain while representing the University of Iowa in intercollegiate athletics competition should be the responsibility of the UI. We do, too, and have a history of providing that level of care, thanks to the good work of the staff at UI Sports Medicine and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. A scholarship to one of the nation's leading public institutions of higher education — in exchange for participation in intercollegiate athletics — is a valuable start to a successful career that in all likelihood won't begin as a professional athlete. Earlier I mentioned the term "student-athlete well- being." e UI has always been a leader in providing its student-athletes all that was required for a superior educational and athletics experience. Like our peers, we are ratcheting up that commitment. We invest heavily in scholarships, academic support, and medical support. We've increased the meals and nutrition for our student- athletes, improved their parking and we are in support of a new definition of "athletics scholarship" that recognizes the full cost of attendance. I suggest the current national conversation about the talented young men and women who participate in intercollegiate athletics is a positive one that will result in changes that strengthen the experience of being a student-athlete at an institution like the UI. e core of what college athletics is all about remains strong. I'm excited and convinced the changes ahead will make the enterprise even better. I also am comfortable suggesting that friends of the University of Iowa and fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes should take pride in the fact that this conversation will likely result in more institutions across the country following the policies and practices of the UI and many of our Big Ten Conference peer institutions. "e intercollegiate athletics program at the University of Iowa is 100 percent self- sustaining. is means that no tax dollars or support from the General Fund is used to fund the operation of the UI's 24 sports programs and Finkbine Golf Course. We are proud of the fact that the University of Iowa is one of a handful of institutions across the country which is successful at funding their intercollegiate athletics program totally independent of tax-payer support."