The articles on various topics about the NYT article use the word "IF", like IF this is true, it must mean "Aliens"

Here is the definitive article from the academic side, based on facts not IF...
THE ACADEMIC FACTS

UBURN -- Auburn’s dean at the College of Liberal Arts says his recommendation to keep the public administration major was not based on influence from the athletics department.

Joseph Aistrup, the dean at the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn since 2013, was adamant in an email conversation with The Advertiser that his viewpoint was based on “the academic viability of this undergraduate major.”

Aistrup, who came to Auburn from Kansas State where he was associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said his recommendation was based on three factors, none of which were associated with athletics influence or the number of student-athletes being involved in the major.

“I made this evaluation independent of any contact that may have occurred between the Athletic Department and any other administrator at Auburn,” Aistrup said. “The fact that there were student athletes in this program was unknown to me, and irrelevant to my decision-making.”

According to Auburn records, 16 current members of the 2015 Auburn football team, including several key starters and contributors, are listed as being public administration majors. Four members of the Auburn men’s basketball team, all transfer athletes, are listed as public administration majors.

“We have expert faculty in these fields who are widely recognized for their research and teaching,” Kathleen Hale, MPA Program Director and Associate Professor at Auburn said in a e-mail response to The Advertiser. “With the Dean’s approval to reinstate the program and provide resources, we are excited to teach students and give them the skills to do what we love. The public administration major also integrates well with the other academic programs in the Department of Political Science including its accredited MPA program and the PhD in public administration and public policy.”

Aistrup said he “did not have any contact with any member of the athletic department until November of 2013.”

“A development officer and I met with (Auburn athletics director) Jay Jacobs to discuss the progress on the band building project,” Aistrup said. “We did not discuss public administration.”

A Wall Street Journal report, which was released Wednesday evening, detailed Auburn’s athletics department resistance to the elimination of an undergraduate major and ultimately leading to a decision to ultimately keep it intact.

Hale, who has been a professor in Auburn’s public administration department since 2006, also supported Aistrup’s position that athletics had no influence on the decision to keep the major. She also took serious issue with the implication in the WSJ report that the public administration major was seen as an easy program to place student-athletes in to maintain their eligibility.

"The graduate students who had been Auburn public administration undergraduates were incensed today that their degree was being portrayed in some circles as a cake walk," Hale said. "The easy major idea is simply not true."

Aistrup’s account of the decision-making process contradicts the WSJ report saying the athletics department had influence over keeping the public administration major.

“The academic program review report indicated that political science wanted to eliminate this degree because the department did not have the faculty resources to continue to support the major,” Aistrup said. “As the new Dean, I was willing to provide the necessary resources to continue this major.”