Knight Commission leader will join discussion of athletics, academics at KU
Amy Perko
LAWRENCE — The University Community Forum presents “A Dialogue on Intercollegiate Athletics in Higher Education” with Knight Commission Executive Director Amy Perko on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
Perko, a former University of Kansas associate athletics director, was named Knight Commission executive director in 2005. The Knight Commission was established in 1989 by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to ensure intercollegiate athletics programs “operate within the educational mission of their colleges and universities.”
Perko will present “Entertainment or Education: What Values are Driving Collegiate Sports?” from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Later that day, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Dole Institute of Politics, she will present “Restoring the Balance: Dollars, Values and the Future of College Sports.” Both events are free and open to the public.
From noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, the University Community Forum will host a panel titled “Intercollegiate Athletics and Higher Education at KU – Are They Compatible?” at Ecumenical Campus Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. The panelists include Del Shankel, KU chancellor emeritus; David Katzman, KU professor emeritus of American studies; and Norm Yetman, KU professor emeritus of sociology and American studies. It will be moderated by Thad Holcombe, campus minister for ECM. This event is also free to the public.
“An important aspect of ECM's University Community Forum is to facilitate difficult dialogues that can build bridges between different perspectives within the university, especially pertaining to the important issues of the mission of higher education,” event organizer Holcombe said. “Amy Perko was suggested as a person to begin such an endeavor.”