But he believes the disparity between athletic and academic facilities points to a larger issue of misplaced university priorities — and the public importance assigned to football records over academic ones. Donors give to the Tiger Athletic Foundation, knowing it will go toward athletes, infrastructure projects, and salaries, while other funds go toward academic projects, including Patrick F. Taylor Hall, a recently renovated engineering building. “We’re running commercial operations — and I include my own university — that really are inconsistent with the state of academic gains,” said Charles T. Clotfelter, a professor of public policy at Duke University who wrote a book about big-time college sports.