The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics is meeting May 12 to discuss the ramifications of commercial activities on intercollegiate athletics operations.

The commission, chaired by William E. “Brit” Kirwan, chancellor of University System of Maryland, and R. Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University, will convene at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., in a meeting that is open to the media and the public.

Commission members will discuss:

•         Financial challenges in intercollegiate athletics;

•         New strategies for fiscal responsibility at colleges and universities;

•         The potential tax implications of current revenue-generating strategies and spending trends; and

•         The impact of financial pressures on the number and scope of varsity sports that institutions sponsor.

Presenters include:

•         Robert Zemsky founding director of the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research on Higher Education and co-author of Remaking the American University: Market-Smart and Mission-Centered;

•         Andy Geiger, former athletics director at Ohio State, Maryland and Stanford; and

•         John Colombo, tax law expert, University of Illinois College of Law.