re: UAB athletics tolerance

I think UAB having a football program in FBS is a wasteful expense only made more ridiculous every advancing year of NILball. It is an indulgence given to the City of Birmingham to justify their persistent sports venue ambitions that resulted in not even being able to keep a spring ball league and some 6-6 v. 5-7 type ESPN bowl.

I think the spin off of UAB into its own institution made a lot more sense before the internet. The largest city in the state did not have a public 4-year institution. For those who could not afford - either due to job commitments or money - to commute to Tuscaloosa, were underserved by the state higher education system.

However, that justification makes less sense today given remote learning being common even for those attending UA. It is a better overall arrangement for the prestige of the flagship university - which will have material impact on the quality of faculty and student it can attract - for the flagship to have all the schools a major state flagship university ought to have.

The current arrangement cheapens both and the only real expense is some faculty and administrators would be redundant. Though truthfully, I bet the redundancy would mostly be in administrators because you're not a modern university without faculty shortfalls.

Auburn has nothing to do with UAB existing as a standalone campus best I can tell. However they totally outmaneuvered UA for the land grant in the 19th century despite having far fewer notable alumni at the time.