UConn: Public university, private jets  

The UConn Foundation has spent nearly $500,000 on chartering private jets in recent fiscal years according to reporting from The Daily Campus. Foundation officials stated that the expenditures were used for athletic recruiting trips and that the costs of the jets were covered by donations to the university’s athletics program. 

“Alumni and friends who make philanthropic gifts designated for recruitment travel for the men’s and women’s basketball teams have covered costs associated with travel for recruiting student-athletes, including charter flights, as the coaching staffs deem most impactful,” David Carney, senior vice president and chief financial officer of the UConn Foundation said in a statement. “These donors’ generosity supports the continued excellence of the 11-time NCAA champions women’s team and the five-time championship-winning men’s team.”  

The Daily Campus Editorial Board disagrees with these gross over-expenditures on private jets; further, we feel this wasteful spending on recruitment signals a broader issue in the Foundation’s fundraising priorities.  

The UConn community has had to grapple with  more expensive costs of living, looming academic budget cuts and increasing tuition — all just in the past few months. The UConn Athletics department has consistently operated within a budgetary deficit for years, but the university continues to fork money over to them without hesitation. Despite operating in a $47 million hole in 2021, when they needed $17 million for a new ice hockey rink, the money was approved unanimously by the Board of Trustees.  

The head coaches of men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football; Dan Hurley, Geno Auriemma and Jim Mora respectively, are the three highest-paid state employees in Connecticut. The athletics director David Benedict receives $900,000, making him the 11th highest paid state employee.  

The university is well-aware of the draw and prestige of the athletics program, especially with the increased national profile of the basketball team after their national championship win. While it’s undeniable that athletics generate revenue and clout for the university, UConn Athletics consistently fails when it comes to balancing its own budget. According to data of the most recent fiscal year from the Knight Foundation, UConn’s athletic expenditures were more than double its profits. Despite that, they were covered with $56 million comprised of $49 million directly from campus funds and $7 million in student fees. 

Privately-chartered flights have devastating impacts on the environment. Studies show that flying by private jet is up to 14 times more polluting than flying commercial, being responsible for as much as 480 times the carbon dioxide emissions compared to an average person’s climate footprint by air travel. UConn is not the only university who charters private jets; college athletic powerhouses across the country spend millions of dollars flying their coaches on private jets. 

How can we as a campus take the administration’s supposed commitment to carbon neutrality by 2030 seriously while their non-profit fundraising arm is chartering private jets all over the country in the name of athletic recruiting? This hypocrisy is part of a long pattern by UConn’s administration when it comes to climate and sustainability. The university endowment appears in lock-step with the fossil fuel industry, historically investing millions of dollars of the Foundation’s portfolio in some of the world’s worst polluters.  

It is laughable to see the same university that spends an entire month trying to incentivize students to be more sustainable, engaging in a practice that has such devastating and far-reaching environmental impacts. Yet, it is not surprising. UConn’s Central Utility Plant generates 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.  

Seeing this much money thrown around on a department who gets more than enough money from the university, on a commodity that a sliver of the student population at UConn has access to — while slashing resources to the rest of the students and professors that make up their university — all while also harming the environment, shows where UConn’s interest truly lie.