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University of Nike: How Corporate Cash Bought American Higher Education

Joshua Hunt

3.84 · Rating details · 194 ratings · 39 reviews

The dramatic expose of how the University of Oregon sold its soul to Nike, and what that means for the future of our public institutions and our society.

**A New York Post Best Book of the Year**

In the mid-1990s, facing severe cuts to its public funding, the University of Oregon—like so many colleges across the country—was desperate for cash. Luckily, the Oregon Ducks’ 19 ...more

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Kindle Edition, 301 pages

Published October 23rd 2018 by Melville House (first published August 14th 2018)

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Nov 14, 2018 Jeff rated it really liked it

“University of Nike” by Joshua Hunt

4/5: I have long had a love-hate relationship with my alma mater, the University of Oregon.
I valued the education I received, and some of the professors I encountered, when pursuing my master’s degree there in the 1980s. To this day, I enjoy following several of the UO’s athletic teams, and I’m well aware that their success is attributable in large part to Phil Knight’s generous largesse.
But from the perspective of The Register-Guard newsroom where I worked fo “University of Nike” by Joshua Hunt

4/5: I have long had a love-hate relationship with my alma mater, the University of Oregon.
I valued the education I received, and some of the professors I encountered, when pursuing my master’s degree there in the 1980s. To this day, I enjoy following several of the UO’s athletic teams, and I’m well aware that their success is attributable in large part to Phil Knight’s generous largesse.
But from the perspective of The Register-Guard newsroom where I worked for 30 years, I have long been troubled, and infuriated, and flummoxed, by what I came to regard as the university’s penchant for secrecy, disdain for transparency (and public records law) and general all-around hubris.
I was only mildly shocked a few years back when the university aggressively sought to hide rape charges against 3 basketball players (until they could compete in the NCAA tournament). But even I was stunned when officials confiscated the confidential therapy records of the players’ accuser, in hopes of finding leverage against an expected lawsuit.
Joshua Hunt’s “University of Nike” helped me to better understand how those outrages were tied to the Nike-backed privatization of this ostensibly public university. Also, how corporate cash has infected universities across the country, and how corporate conflicts could compromise future research at the UO’s Knight Campus for Accelerating Science Impact.
I’m aware that Hunt’s book has generated a good deal of backlash, especially around his reporting surrounding Knight’s financial support of the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, established by UO President Dave Frohnmayer and wife Lynn on behalf of their 3 daughters, who all had the rare genetic disorder.
I’m not sure how to assess those criticisms. I know that Hunt spent 4 years researching this book, that the endnotes documenting his research exceed 40 pages, and that his historical contextualization and connect-the-dots assertions generally ring true to me. Several sloppy typos did concern me, casting some doubt about his larger conclusions.
Mostly, I found this book affirming … of my own dismay about the university’s institutional arrogance. I’m glad that some of its shenanigans are getting wider circulation.
I invite those who see the UO in a better light to give this book a chance … commit to the first 50 pages, at least … before rendering judgment.

...more

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Sep 17, 2018 Mark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: business, sports-business, ncaa, college-sports, higher-education, college-and-university, marketing, branding

What happens when a public university is faced with cuts in public funding? The first source to make up those dollars is tuition but that is a limited pool. The next source is alumni and friend but the trouble that too is a limited pool. Finally, the university may turn to foundations and research grants but again it)# difficult to make up continued cuts in public funding from these sources and that leads inevitably to cuts in services to students and faculty and staff layoffs.

When this happened What happens when a public university is faced with cuts in public funding? The first source to make up those dollars is tuition but that is a limited pool. The next source is alumni and friend but the trouble that too is a limited pool. Finally, the university may turn to foundations and research grants but again it)# difficult to make up continued cuts in public funding from these sources and that leads inevitably to cuts in services to students and faculty and staff layoffs.

When this happened to the University of Oregon in the mid-90s, a unique solution was found. The football team’s success piqued the interest of alum and Nike founder Phil Knight. Seeing the potential for marketing and branding opportunities he offered his beloved university an open checkbook, if it cooperated with the company. It was a marriage made in marketing heaven. It was a devil’s bargain to the tune of upwards of $500 million in donations and the “University of Nike” was born. The cost to the University of Oregon through the years was the coverup of sexual assets, the concealment of corporate records, the over each of the corporation into the academics of the university, interference in the governance of the university, the athletic department essentially being run out of the corporate marketing department of Nike and a general conversion of the university into a model of being run like a business rather than a university.

What is perhaps more disturbing is that Oregon was not merely symptomatic of a problem. It became a model of the solution as the influence of corporations over public universities, and increasingly over private research ones as well, is becoming a national phenomenon. More and more university research is being funded by and the terms of which are therefore dictated by corporations, leaving the research rife with conflicts of interest despite the best efforts of some institutions to avoid them.

Major college athletics now receive significant amounts of funding from apparel companies, as each of Nike (Oregon), Adidas (Louisville) and Under Armour (Maryland) have their flagship schools to which they not only pay hundreds of millions of dollars but test all types of products and marketing campaigns and branding campaigns. There is now a major investigation underway by the FBI and the US Attorney in New York into Adidas influence in college basketball and the paying of recruits to attend certain schools. Expect the scope to widen to include other companies.

This is a valuable book shedding light on what happens when legislatures back away from supporting public higher education. The American public higher education system is one of our nation’s Crown Jewels. It is too important and too valuable to be allowed to be to turned over to corporations to run.

I was given a copy of this book by Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Apr 07, 2019 K rated it it was ok

This book is a hot mess. It rambles back and forth across decades and subjects, and yet manages to also be dull and repetitive at the same time. It's salacious sometimes and analytical at other times, but with no rhyme or reason to when it's one or the other. And it ranges so far from Nike and its relationship to Oregon Univ. that, at times, it's hard to remember that is the title and the alleged point of the book.

Basically, this reads like a bunch of excerpts of a reporter's articles, but arti ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 zoereadz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Review from an avid Ducks fan and UO graduate:

I was hesitant to read this one but I’m glad I did! I knew our dear old Uncle Phil was a celebrity around Eugene. I didn’t realize just how much power he wields for the university and beyond. This book dives deep into the start of Nike, scandals, corruption, politics, and corporate dollars that are all tied to Oregon athletics and education. At a broader level, it exposes flaws with corporate funding of the higher education system in America.
...
The ...more

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Mar 14, 2019 Darnell rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

The first couple chapters are mostly unnecessary biography, but then it moves on to some very strong chapters containing both some solid summaries and some new journalism. Unfortunately, I feel that the structure overall lacked cohesion: it does a good job covering a few scandals but has less to say about higher education overall and doesn't feel like a complete story. I considered a lower rating, but the good parts are quite good.

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Aug 05, 2020 Tristan Miller rated it it was ok

The author went on several tangents that mostly had nothing to do with the premise of the book. 40% of this book is actually based off of nike and the university of Oregon while the rest of the book is mostly unnecessary tangents. I learned more about what really goes on behind the curtain at nike and for that thank you

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Nov 29, 2018 Katie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Spent a little too long on historical events for my taste but an educational read. Lots of food for thought here.

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Mar 17, 2019 Jaylynny rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019

How to review this book? By the way it was written or by the way it makes me feel? 1) well. 2) fucking pissed.

Sigh. I like my adopted city and it's fun to root for the Ducks. But Jesus H Christ this shit is shameful.

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Nov 04, 2018 Miller rated it really liked it

Having absorbed a lot of this living and consuming media here in Eugene for a couple of decades, it is hardly a bombshell, but it is an excellent telling of what happened to the U of O over that time. A cautionary tale of what has become of state-funded higher education in general and how - slowly but surely - a large, well-respected public institution gets corporatized....and corrupted. Excellent work and a good read. (And it helps if you enjoy college foorball.)

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Sep 05, 2020 Olivia added it

Shelves: nonfiction

should be required reading for anyone considering going to college

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Jan 03, 2019 Joseph Jupille rated it really liked it

Shelves: higher-ed, nonfiction, sports, athletics

Hunt narrates the intrusion of private interests into nominally public institutions by placing the relationship between Nike and the University of Oregon at the center of a multitiered mosaic. From the University of Nike, he drills down to the micro level personalities and confluences that made that particular relationship take the form that it did. He also works outward, beyond UO/UN, and even athletics, to the broader incursion of private money and interest into the public university.

Short-sig Hunt narrates the intrusion of private interests into nominally public institutions by placing the relationship between Nike and the University of Oregon at the center of a multitiered mosaic. From the University of Nike, he drills down to the micro level personalities and confluences that made that particular relationship take the form that it did. He also works outward, beyond UO/UN, and even athletics, to the broader incursion of private money and interest into the public university.

Short-sighted taxpayers ultimately move this history. In Oregon, they passed Ballot Measure 5 in 1990, which pitted K-12 and university funding against each other, with predictable consequences for higher ed. Public funding for U of O plummeted, and relatively well-meaning, though also personally-conflicted university presidents had to get creative. Vampirish Nike founder Phil Knight gladly offers to fill the void, with plenty of strings attached. He is definitely looking out for #1 (himself/Nike) first, and while he has a fan's love for his alma mater, it never expresses itself beyond what's instrumental for Nike's bottom line. And boy, does Nike's bottom line improve over the decades. It all comes off as quite sick. The U of O prostitutes itself for the same reason that sex workers feel they must - in badly straitened circumstances, it needs the money. Uncle Phil is the perfect john.

Hunt elaborates a number of nicely done mini-narratives around the key personalities (Phil Knight and U of O President Dave Frohnmayer holding pride of place), and key issues (higher ed funding, big-time college athletics [including facilities, coaches' compensation, apparel companies, sexual assault and criminal impunity], the missions the public university, and others). Rather than trying to weave the mini-narratives continuously, Hunt sets them off from each others in a tiling approach, with a discrete history of, say, the military-university complex during the Cold War followed by a discrete Joey Heisman narrative, followed by the tragic story of Dave Frohnmayer's heart-breaking loss and heroic, though understandably sometimes-blinkered fight against Franconi Anemia. This approach allows Hunt to bring all of the necessary elements to his story forward, and I didn't have any particular trouble tying the elements together, but it felt only about 92% successful as writing, to me. Hunt gets a strong A-, but a more truly gifted writer could have spun these great materials together more successfully, IMO.

Where does this story leave us? Well, unless we rediscover and re-energize our notion of the public (with respect to universities, but also beyond), we are well and truly fucked. Doing stuff like teaching and conducting research costs money, and those providing the money will drive the train. All other things being equal, the broader the base of financial support, the more general the purposes that will be served. And the converse is also true - the narrower the base from which the money is drawn, the narrower the set of interests served. For the life of me, I cannot understand why people cannot see that taxes enacted through democratic means are not tyranny, but provide the only reliable source of funding for the public goods which, by definition, benefit everyone. But I have little hope that, in today's informational environment, the people who need to return to this view will ever do so. And they and their children, more than those of us who are already there cognitively, who are struggling to stem the tide, but are also privileged to be be able to navigate this new world, are ultimately the ones who will pay most of the price. ...more

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Nov 27, 2018 Mary rated it it was amazing

Shelves: economics

Shocking details of the insidious details of the relationship between the University of Oregon & Phil Knight (Nike). Is it so important that college athletics remain supreme to the detriment of a woman’s right to security, privacy and freedom from sexual assault? Great research and reporting so that we learn the truth about the role of a university that has totally compromised its integrity as an academic institution. Residents of Oregon have less access to a higher education, professor’s salari Shocking details of the insidious details of the relationship between the University of Oregon & Phil Knight (Nike). Is it so important that college athletics remain supreme to the detriment of a woman’s right to security, privacy and freedom from sexual assault? Great research and reporting so that we learn the truth about the role of a university that has totally compromised its integrity as an academic institution. Residents of Oregon have less access to a higher education, professor’s salaries have been reduced, student tuitions increase and yet athletes gain privileged status to all possible perks for their tainted performance. This is a must read for everyone who truly values the institutions that educate & provide research opportunities that succeed only by their adherence to standards of excellence as independent entities not as slaves to corporate America. Joshua Hunt deserves the highest praise for his exposure of the Nike behemoth & its cowardly partner in this crime against decency and truth, the University of Oregon. May this book reveal and shame. Deservedly so.
“A searing indictment”—INSIDE HIGHER ED

“Providing fascinating and alarming insight into how other public universities have emulated similar practices in obtaining endorsement deals and partnerships at the expense of their values, this is for readers of sports journalism and true stories of corporate America.” —BOOKLIST REVIEWS

“In this fascinating, candid tale, Hunt exposes Nike’s astonishing transformation of the University of Oregon into a modern American university — in other words, a power center of education, wealth, and college football unlike other institutions of learning across the globe.” —Vanessa Grigoriadis, author of Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent

“In this illuminating case study Joshua Hunt connects the dots between endorsement deals and campus sexual assault. University of Nike is a must read for anyone worried about the higher-education industrial complex, which should be all of us.” —Malcolm Harris, author of Kids These Days

“A page-turning work of investigative reporting. Much of it details the perfidy of Nike and its founder Phil Knight. But, as the title suggests, this book is also about the damage that America’s tax-cutting mania and contempt for government has done to its public, land-grant universities . . . As Hunt shows, by starving institutions like the University of Oregon of resources, an unholy alliance of right-wingers and market-worshipping neoliberals has pushed colleges into the hands of corporate puppeteers like Nike. You need to read this compelling and disturbing book.” —Samuel G. Freedman, author of Breaking The Line

“Through diligent and deep-dive reporting, Hunt reveals how the University of Oregon sold its soul to a corporation. University of Nike is a damning indictment—it should be read by anyone who still believes in the privatization of public institutions. This book is proof that it’s a bad idea when universities become shills for billionaires.” —Dale Maharidge, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning And Their Children After Them

“Joshua Hunt has weaved an amazing tale of power, greed and deceit. This should be a textbook for anyone who wants to learn the truth about what’s happening to public universities throughout the country.” —Andy Boyle, author of Adulthood for Beginners

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Jun 18, 2020 Nikki rated it really liked it

The book read like a research thesis, complete with over 40+ pages of work cited. Each chapter focused on a different aspect and history to Nike's takeover of the University of Oregon. This book went in depth, back to the start of public universities and University of Oregon. It chronicled the lack of public funding combined with the arms race in athletics to have the best facilities which lead to corporate investment, and therefore influence, in public universities in general, with a focus on t ...more

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Apr 15, 2019 Ida rated it really liked it

This book is great and helps make sense of our current hyper competitive college admissions process now. I have two kids in the school district in oregon and Nike is located ten minutes from portland. All of my daughters friends want to go to out of state schools, and liberal elite parents are constantly trying to jockey children into "better schools" and seeing what happens to the kids who wear the gear but don't have funded schools because nike won't pay taxes in oregon is heart breaking. This ...more

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Apr 26, 2019 Rajiv Bais rated it really liked it

Joshua Hunt does a good job of summarizing and historically analyzing how the public defunding and corporal influencing and financing of universities have led to agendas that benefit the corporations end, tragically, ruin the financial and personal lives of students.

To benefit Nike and other corporations, universities such as Oregon have appeased them at the expense of financially deprived students and sexual assault victims.

Worst of all, Oregon and similar universities have practically elimina ...more

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Aug 24, 2018 Avid rated it it was amazing

What happens when a state votes to de-fund or underfund its public universities? That is what happened at the University of Oregon, beginning in the mid-‘90s. This is a book about the consequences of such short-sightedness and irresponsibility. And it isn’t pretty. Unless you’re an elite athlete who can take advantage of the exclusive state-of-the-art facilities provided by phil knight, and of an administration who will shield you from the consequences of committing rape, DUI, and other felonies ...more

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Jan 23, 2020 Ryanspaperadventures rated it it was amazing

A damning indictment indeed. Joshua Hunt’s University of Nike has put on display the extent at which Corporate America has bought out public universities. Growing up in Track Town, USA, I learned about the larger than life reality of Phil Knight and his direct impact on Eugene. This book explains how everything I thought Phil Knight has done to our town has come with a steep price, one that we have no control over. The University of Oregon is at a crossroads, one where they have clearly begun to ...more

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Dec 08, 2018 David rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As the young people would say, he who pays the piper calls the tune. very deep dive into the relationship between Phil Knight, Nike, and U. of Oregon as an illustration of this point. Selling your soul and covering up sexual assaults by athletes in order to have $ for nice new athletic facilities and a winning football team to attract more out-of-state full-tuition-paying students seems a dubious bargain.

some side trips to address other instances of higher ed selling out [e.g., influence of big ...more

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Jan 01, 2019 Vicki rated it really liked it

Amazingly solid book that I highly, highly recommend as a follow-up if you liked Shoe Dog (minus one star for overly lengthy football play descriptions that don't have to do with the core narrative.)

What happens when public funding goes away from public education? Companies step in to fill the gap, and the result is corporatized universities that bend their knees to Nike's public relations department. In a thorough investigation, the author covers the relationship between Nike and the University ...more

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Jan 19, 2020 Brinda Gurumoorthy rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this book. It was a bit all over the place at times because it was attempting to tie several issues together in one narrative (from labor rights violations to sexual assault investigations and everything in between), but nonetheless presented a powerful illustration of how public universities, in their desperation for funds, are vulnerable to corruption. I already held this opinion, but wow I hate these corporate "partnerships" where the corporation has the ultimate power. I wasn't awa ...more

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Feb 07, 2020 Ryan Westman rated it it was amazing

A little far reaching at times with assertions but an incredibly solid read for those interested in learning about how college athletics grew wildly out of control in recent era. This focuses more on the external influences of Nike on the University of Oregon, but gives great context of how universities gave way to private contributions in the face of diminishing state appropriations ... and the byproducts of those contributions! A must read for anyone working at a college and especially for tho ...more

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Feb 19, 2019 Allison rated it it was amazing

A damning profile of an elite and prosperous athletic program. I appreciated the links the author made from the corporate overhaul of university athletics to the corporate influence on K-12 education and insidious government corruption of academic research. Hunt sees and explains clearly the links between the flood of unchecked corporate dollars and rape culture. Chilling and disturbing, it makes me see my hometown, Eugene, Oregon, in a new light.

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May 31, 2020 Charlie Cain rated it really liked it

When I enrolled at the UO, I knew it had strong ties with Nike. I was astounded at the true extent of those ties.

I still attend this university. I learned from this book that my tuition dollars pay for the staff and maintenece of student athlete facilities (the JAQUA) that I am not even permitted to enter as a non athlete.

I like the UO as an academic institution, but not as a brand.

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Dec 20, 2018 Lisa rated it it was amazing

A compelling story, well-told and well-researched. It raises many questions, not only about the particular institution it describes, but about the role of private companies in public education -- and it is hopefully a cautionary tale and not the shape of things to come!

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Jan 08, 2019 Mike Stolfi rated it liked it

Would a private entity of long standing questionable labor practices be able to own a university in all but name if our tax dollars went to supporting the country at large?
Well no, but here we are. . .

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Apr 21, 2019 Jenny rated it really liked it

I wish more Oregonians would read this book. It makes me sad that, while people know Phil Knight has bought the university, many don’t really care, because he’s bought us winning teams and publicity. Hunt has done a great job of detailing the tremendous cost to the public.

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May 14, 2019 Perry rated it really liked it

Shelves: sports

Examines the disturbing trend of private interests into public education with an emphasis on how Nike basically owns the University of Oregon. Do people really not want their tax dollars to support education?

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Jun 02, 2019 Ietrio rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: junk

A dishonest story in which the company giving charity to an overspending governmental institution is bad, and the bureaucrats that do the overspending are quietly painted over, they have never existed.

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Oct 25, 2018 Jeff Samuelson rated it it was amazing

Well written. Disturbing

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Jan 27, 2019 Sean Spang rated it it was ok

When Lynn Frohnmayer says many of the claims many of the claims in the book about her and her family are objectively false it's hard to have confidence in everything else being true as well.

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