Presidential Visit

More than two decades have passed since Cedric Dempsey applied to become the Director of Athletics at Princeton. But even now, he hasn't forgotten.

"I applied for the AD job here way back in the 70s — didn't get an interview," Dempsey says. "I applied to Harvard and I didn't get an interview there. So I finally had to give up on becoming a member of the Ivies.

"I had to come back in a different way."

That different way came to fruition yesterday, when Dempsey spoke as a guest in Gene Budig's seminar, WWS 472: The Business of Sports and the Public Trust. And while revisiting his pursuit of a position in Princeton's athletic department was meant entirely in jest, it is safe to say that Dempsey has had the last laugh.

Dempsey is now in his seventh year as President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and his visit to Princeton included not only an appearance before Budig's class, but also morning meetings with both the Princeton athletic staff and a group of Tiger student-athletes.

"I was asked last spring by Budig if I would come in and talk to the class," Dempsey says. "I thought I would try to take advantage of that and let the institution take advantage of me being here, in whatever way I can."

Dempsey took a few minutes out of his busy morning to participate in an exclusive interview with The Daily Princetonian and in doing so, made one thing clear — his respect for Ivy League athletics, which attracted him to the conference during the 1970s, still exists.

"I have always admired the Ivy philosophy," Dempsey says.

The reasons for this admiration, however, involve more than just the conference's ban on athletic scholarships. While Ivy schools are often lauded for their refusal to offer such grants, Dempsey looks beyond this unique characteristic, citing the conference's overall commitment to athletics as worthy of respect, nationwide.

"The irony of the Ivy League historically has been [that] Ivies aren't highly commercialized in generating funds," Dempsey says. "But, historically and philosophically, they have believed in the value of sport as part of the educational process. Most of the Ivies support athletic programs at a very high percentage [of their expense budgets.]"

The lack of full scholarships enables Ivy schools to save money that other schools might spend on tuition for athletes. Dempsey, however, says that schools like Princeton have been more than willing to allocate these saved resources to strengthen other aspects of their athletic programs.

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"As an outsider looking in, obviously Princeton has been a very successful program in the Ivies," Dempsey says. "There are a lot of I-A programs that would love to have the facilities that you have at Princeton.

"[Director of Athletics] Gary [Walters '67] was telling me that somewhere between 25 and 30 percent of the students here participate in some intercollegiate sport. Plus, there are a high percentage involved in club sports and intramurals. That's a commitment by the institution saying, 'We think that experience is important.' "

As far as enforcement of regulations is concerned, Dempsey rarely finds himself needing to get involved with the Ivy League.

"We are not as critical to the Ivies as we might be to some other conference," Dempsey says. "Many of your rules and regulations are stronger than what the national association rules are. Probably our best advantage for the Ivies is what we do to control other institutions that you might compete with — and providing you with some competitive base."

If there's one single aspect of Ivy athletics that permeates Dempsey's praise, it is that, even as the 21st century arrives, the conference, in his mind, has not lost its perspective on its place in the collegiate sports world.

The Ivy League's status as a Division I-AA football league has been a source of controversy through the years. And though Dempsey centers many of his college visits around Saturday afternoon football games, he nonetheless views the Ivy decision as one of prudence.

"I have concerns about people trying to chase the brass ring," Dempsey says. "Having been at a school that tried to [move to Division I-A] — they couldn't afford to do it, so they dropped football all together. I watched a number of schools try to become something that they couldn't become.

"You don't have to be I-A to be recognized as a top institution. That's the one thing I have always admired about the Ivies. They have developed what they think philosophically makes sense and they have stayed on it."