James Madison University’s Decision to Cut Athletic Teams: A Farce or Tragedy?

By Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D.   In 1822, James Madison, one of the most significant thinkers to shape conceptions of American democracy, articulated the necessity for citizen access to reliable information about Congress and other governmental entities by pointing out that “A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both” (“Democracy”, n.d.). It is ironic that the university that now bears his