A no-holds-barred examination of the troubled relationship between college sports and higher education from a leading authority on the subject Murray Sperber turns common perceptions about big-time college athletics inside out. He shows, for instance, that contrary to popular belief the money coming in to universities from sports programs never makes it to academic departments and rarely even covers the expense of maintaining athletic programs. The bigger and more prominent the sports program, the more money it siphons away from academics. Sperber chronicles the growth of the university system, the development of undergraduate subcultures, and the rising importance of sports. He reveals television's ever more blatant corporate sponsorship conflicts and describes a peculiar phenomenon he calls the "Flutie Factor"--the surge in enrollments that always follows a school's appearance on national television, a response that has little to do with academic concerns. Sperber's profound re-evaluation of college sports comes straight out of today's headlines and opens our eyes to a generation of students caught in a web of greed and corruption, deprived of the education they deserve. Sperber presents a devastating critique, not only of higher education but of national culture and values. Bear & Circus is a must-read for all students and parents, educators and policy makers. Sperber, an academic who has written extensively on college sports and their role in American culture (Onward to Victory: The Crises That Shaped College Sports), examines the impact of intercollegiate athletics on undergraduate education, particularly at large public research universities with high-profile football and men's basketball teams playing at the top National College Athletics Association level. Using questionnaires and interviews with students, faculty, and administrators in all parts of the country, he makes a strong case that many schools, because of their emphasis on research and graduate programs, no longer give a majority of their undergraduates a meaningful education. Instead, they substitute "beer and circus"Dthe party scene surrounding college sportsDto keep their students content and distracted while bringing in tuition. Sperber uses concrete examples to make his case and concludes by offering a plan to remedy the situation, considering both what should happen and what will more likely happen. Essential reading for current and future university students as well as parents, educators, and policy makers, this is recommended for both academic and public libraries.DLeroy Hommerding, Fort Myers Beach P.L. Dist., FL Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Sperber, an English professor at Indiana University and a longtime critic of major college-sports, offers a carefully researched examination of the substandard education received by undergraduates at many large universities. Although the book's subtitle suggests that the focus is on the deleterious effect of college athletics on educational quality, much of Sperber's attack is directed at more general failings: the pressure on tenured staff to do research; the lack of contact between professors and undergrads; the reliance on teaching assistants and part-time staff. In fact, the weakest part of the book is Sperber's attempt to establish a direct relationship between the presence of big-time athletics on campus and the poor education received by most undergraduates. The reader finishes the book convinced that athletics harms athletes, but that university education is in plenty of trouble with or without sports on campus. Sperber often shows up as a talking head on news shows, so expect his latest screed to generate controversy and demand. Wes Lukowsky Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Though not late-breaking news, here is an extremely dispiriting portrait of undergraduate life being reduced to a support unit for the athletic department, from long-time critic of the university sport scene Sperber ( Onward to Victory , 1998, etc.).Following the money trail, many large state and private universities have put their emphasis on postgraduate research and thumbed their noses at undergraduate education. But since they need those tuition dollars, Sperber convincingly argues, they now entice students into their hallowed halls by promising them a darn good time-more often than not hinging on a hot sports scene liberally soaked in booze (especially when all you have to offer freshmen academically are lecture courses with 1,500 students being taught by a teaching assistant). From interviews and questionnaires and a culling of the literature, Sperber delineates a grotesque "beer and circus" culture, where binge drinking is fueled by corporate encouragement and if you can't be a hero on the field or court, maybe you can achieve renown through alcohol poisoning. Here is a world where the coach has more prestige and power than the university president. Witne