Suggested Research Topics - On the Objectives of Athletics at the University: The Struggle for Control of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation at the University of Michigan in the 1920s

During the course of the twentieth century, university athletic departments have often come under fire from a variety of critics, both within and without the halls of academe. This holds true for the University of Michigan as its athletic program, especially intercollegiate athletics, has faced questions regarding its mission, its use of resources, and its autonomy. The most recent debate here has centered on the building of the Schembechler Building during a period of retrenchment. These critiques and cries for reform seem to have a periodicity, an ebb and flow, contingent on national reform impulses and the record of the local teams. A similar debate over the philosophy and objectives of university athletics came to a head during the 1920s over the issues of: Athletics for whom, the many or the few? Who should benefit from the cash cow, football? Who ran the university, the football coach or the president?

The decade of the 1920s saw an enormous increase in student enrollment and a surge in the popularity of college football as a spectator sport. These two forces may be seen as linked, each fueling the other, but they sometimes came into conflict when resources proved inadequate. The decade saw the building of America's premier intramural sports facility and the largest football stadium in captivity. It might appear that the University was meeting the needs of the many and the few. But heated debates and carefully worded justifications accompanied these developments on the athletic campus. Among the many players in this struggle were John Sundwall, Professor of Hygiene and Public Health, football legends Fielding Yost and Fritz Crisler, Charles Baird of the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics, and university presidents, C.C. Little and Alexander Ruthven.

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In an effort to encourage creative thinking about possible research topics for students unfamiliar with archives and their inevitable complexities, archivists and student employees of the Bentley Historical Library have authored "suggested research topics ." The purpose of these is not to define a topic but rather to stimulate thinking about a topic where the holdings of the Bentley Library are particularly strong.