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The Jefferson Exchange

Money Corrupts: UO As "University Of Nike"

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Phil Knight on the sidelines at a UO football game.
Neon Tommy, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18773472

Until the mid-1990s, the rest of the country did not know much about the University of Oregon.  But the improvement of the football team and other sports teams allowed the Ducks to gain a national profile. 

It came with a cost, says investigative journalist Joshua Hunt.  

He points the finger at the massive cash infusions of Nike founder Phil Knight, in a book called University of Nike: How Corporate Cash Bought American Higher Education.

UO does not get off lightly in the heavily-researched book, and other schools come in for scrutiny, too.  The author joins us with a synopsis.  
 

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.