President R. Gerald Turner was named co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics along with Michigan State University President Clifton R. Wharton on May 22.
The Knight Commission was formed in 1989 with the goal of creating a reform agenda that emphasized academic values as well as values of integrity in college sports. Concern over the visible scandals that plagued athletic departments of colleges across the nation led to the Commission’s founding, and the Commission has since been committed to firm institutional control of athletics.
Both of the newly named chairs are experienced members of the Commission. Wharton has been a member since the Commission’s founding in 1989 and Turner joined in 1991.
“Gerald Turner and Clifton Wharton are models of excellence and respected by their peers,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the foundation that appointed the new chairs and sponsors the commission. “It is essential for the Knight Commission that its leaders be principled and knowledgeable, as well as insightful and fair-minded. Gerald and Clif have all these qualities, and so it is great news for intercollegiate athletics that they have agreed to take on these co-chair positions.”
Turner and Wharton are both leaders in carrying out the Commission’s efforts to maintain unquestioned academic and financial integrity of university athletic programs and to hold the athletic programs accountable for maintaining the values and goals that characterize higher education.
“College presidents, as well as trustees and faculty members, have the responsibility to make sure that we manage athletics programs in a way that allows the athletes involved to get the same quality of educational experience as all other students,” said Turner.
Turner and Wharton are succeeding Thomas K. Hearn Jr., president emeritus of Wake Forest University, who stepped down from the role of chairman for health reasons.
Turner has held several positions that have prepared him for his new role as co-chair. He was chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 1984-1995, and has been president of SMU since 1995.
He has held several leadership positions with the NCAA, and he was the founding chairman of the NCAA Committee on Athletics Certification.
Turner is currently chairman of the subcommittee on presidential leadership of internal and external constituencies for the NCAA’s Presidential Task Force on the Future of Division I Athletics.
The subcommittee examines the communication on athletic issues between college presidents and their trustees.
The commission has influenced the conduct of college sports through its reports, and under its new leadership the commission will continue to ensure that college athletics programs are managed in accordance to the educational missions of American universities.
