After spending the past month being criticized about its role on campus, the University of Texas athletics department replied yesterday--with a $2.5 million gift to "various academic departments," the Daily Texan reports. Texas President William Powers announced the gift during a faculty meeting scheduled to answer questions posed by a classics professor. The professor, Thomas Palaima, had challenged UT basketball coach Rick Barnes's salary, which is hiked as his athletes' grades increase. Palaima also questioned admissions policies for athletes, 92 percent of whom are accepted with SAT scores below 1005. Palaima said Powers's responses were not acceptable--and neither was the $2.5 million gift. "To me, it seems like unclean money," he says.
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