Is the ball still in their court or has the train left the station?

Hey! Let's rebuild the old stadium!

Sorry to mix metaphors.  But Inside Higher Ed today has a long story on Berkeley athletics which have recently been in the news for low graduation rates and problems in funding a stadium upgrade.  A white paper from the Berkeley Center for the Study of Higher Education suggests that the program is running as an autonomous and relatively uncontrolled business operation. It is written by a former vice chancellor - who can now tell all -and a Berkeley grad student.

See http://cshe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/publications/docs/ROPS.CSHE_.12.13.Cummins%26Hextrum.CalAthletics.1.6.2014.pdf and http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/08/highlighting-berkeley-paper-explores-academic-damage-expanding-independent-athletics

The issue is whether control can be retaken or whether - another metaphor!! - the ship has sailed.  Would the Regents like to discuss this matter at their upcoming January 21-23 meeting?  The stadium at least does involve a grand capital project they approved (and which seems not to have worked out as planned; who would have thought?).  Anyway, it's just a suggestion the Regents might want to consider.  But maybe they figure that the ball is no longer in their court and  the train has left the station.

Or maybe the ship has sailed: