Editor,
Caleb Fort's article on Wednesday about Steve Alford's salary presented an argument that, at its heart, carried the premise that people have to justify the salary of a basketball coach beyond pointing out that it is a response to the free market and leaving it at that.
I am offended. Why not throw music, art, theology and any other pursuit that could be called worthless out of the business of education? These programs serve no greater purpose, either. Who is really going to make a living studying art, music or theater?
Fort does not question the wastefulness of Hollywood salaries, either. Jack Nicholson makes tens of millions of dollars a movie, plus residuals. Why is that morally defensible, when college athletics are not?
Economics classes teach students, as one of the first principles, the concept of a free market. I suggest that anyone who feels offended by Alford's salary exercise the right to avoid The Pit.
As a proud alumnus, I am glad that UNM is finally thinking and acting as if it is a billion-dollar enterprise with room for many different activities surrounding a solid academic environment.
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Rudy Chavez
UNM alumnus
