The Difference between USC and UCLA...
by ucla7477 on Dec 20, 2009 10:45 AM PST
Email
PrintUCLA had a coach who won a national championship in a major sport, then broke a financially-modest NCAA rule and tried to cover it up. What did UCLA do? It fired him, because the reputation of the university was more important than wins, losses, and titles. "UCLA is deeply concerned about these actions," Young said. "We have concluded that coach Harrick conducted himself in a manner that was inconsistent with his position as a role model to students, where ethical behavior is so important."
USC has a coach who has won a national championship or two (depends on how you do the counting) in a major sport, who has broken scads of NCAA rules (Reggie Bush receiving the largest-dollar support in collegiate history, Dwayne Jarrett obtaining free housing, "student"-athletes owning the police while obtaining A's from Senora Ross, personally having an unauthorized extra coach at practice, etc, etc -- see Menelaus for much, much more), and never addresses a single incident. What has USC done? Made him the highest-paid employee of any private university in America.
When you think of athletes, you think of Jackie Robinson at UCLA and OJ Simpson at USC. When you think of coaches you think of John Wooden at UCLA and John McKay or Pete Carroll at USC. When you think of contributors to a better world, you think of Ralph Bunche of UCLA and a so-called Humanitarian at USC.
I remain stunned that the students and alumni don't seem the least bit chagrined at what they represent to the world. As Joseph Welch famously put it to Senator McCarthy, "Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
Maybe our football and basketball teams aren't the best this year, but our hands are clean and our conscience is clear. That is why I am proud to be a Bruin and eternally relieved to not be a Trojan.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
6 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
When your whole academic identity
is wrapped up in how the football team performs, I can see why SUC’sters would be loathe to admit to any wrongdoing. I mean, without football, what do they have? Does anyone in the world outside of LA consider a SUC degree as anything to be proud of? Hell, even IN Los Angeles? No. That’s why the neurotic focus by the Suckies that they’re ‘catching up’ with UCLA in the USNWR rankings. Rankings that I have no doubt they are adept at manipulating, but which any mildly inquisitive soul would recognize for not inconsequential flaws.
Allow me to recount a true story. I work with a colleague that is also a professor at a graduate-level program at SUC. They asked me to go over their midterm to check for errors and consistency. I discovered not just one, but TWO errors. One, granted, was a little obscure in nature….which is why I pointed it out. They disagreed with me, so we called two principals to come in and the end result? They concurred with me. The second error was a pretty blatant calculational error. But the thing that struck me, with my UCLA undergrad degree, was that they’d been giving this test for about two years and, apparently, never once were they challenged on these issues by any of their grad ‘students.’
I will say, however, that I have known some pretty intelligent SUC’sters. But the majority of them were given rides, which undoubtedly played into their decision to attend.
Regardless, I too am a proud UCLA alumnus who can’t wait to sandblast his recently acquired (good deal!) bike to remove the ugly ‘anal bleeding’ red and repaint it with True Blue!
I said it before...what the heck, ill say it again...
Nobel laureates: UCLA 10, USC one.
Fields Medal winners: UCLA one, USC zero
National Medal of Science winners: UCLA 10, USC two.
Rhodes Scholars: UCLA 12, USC 9
Academic Ranking of World Universities ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Universities ), UCLA is rated 13th and USC is at 50th.
Times Higher Education of London ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_Higher_Education_Supplement ), UCLA is ranked 30th and USC is ranked 119th.
U.S. News and World Report rankings of programs:
Medical school (UCLA 11th, USC 39th)
Law school (UCLA 15th, USC 18th)
MBA program (UCLA 14th, USC 20th)
Education (UCLA 5th, USC 22nd)
Mathematics (UCLA 12th, USC 59th)
Computer Science (UCLA 13th, USC 20th)
Psychology (UCLA 3rd, USC 40th)
Biological Sciences (UCLA 22nd, USC 89th)
Political Science (UCLA 11th, USC not ranked)
Economics (UCLA 14th, USC 50th)
Engineering (USC 7th, UCLA 14th)
Wait a second. USC gave false information regarding this ranking (http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/08/usc )?
Sorry, we’ll have to cross engineering off USC’s list for cheating.
I rest my case!
You left one off
Heisman Trophy winners in jail (just$c* 1, UCLA 0)
Not fair. You left out the film schools.
Not having followed this for many years, I seem to recall that in film SUC had a pretty highly rated school, particularly in the technical areas. A friend’s father, who happened to have won a couple technical Oscars before he died, and was also the founder and president of the largest film developing company in the world, taught at SUC and would not have if it were not well respected. All said and done, let’s also remember that we’re talking about the difference between a private and a public institution. We’re fortunate I guess that public institutions still have to maintain a semblance of transparency and honor.
One should keep in mind that USC is far older than UCLA.
Therefore it should be substantially ahead academically, which Chicago persuasively notes is not quite the case.
But of course that’s just academics, which is of less importance than football. Ditto for morality.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
