Further on the subject of “scholar-athletes.” This is a message I received last weekend from a friend who teaches at a smaller public university with a highly successful Division II football team. He has given me permission to quote him, anonymously.
“this has not been a good semester. because i teach a required class early in the morning, i get an overflow of athletes in the class. they get preferential treatment in an effort to keep their grades up. they have special study sessions and academic advisers which really is unfair since no other segment of the student body gets those advantages. in the past the athletic department wanted faculty to file weekly reports on each of their wards. i would have had close to 100 such reports to file each week. i refused to comply and had a visit from one of the faculty on the advisory board trying to pressure me to comply. he did not succeed and finally my refusal went to my department head, the dean, the provost and wonderfully those three backed me and so i did not have to file the reports. i did indicate that if they would id the athletes in class, i would let the department know if one fell into the D or F range. so far so good.
“then in the middle of the semester six black athletes and two caucasians filed a complaint against me stating I was unfair to them. – one of the charges was that i called the blacks, monkeys. i had a formal hearing with a representative from the dean’s office as a listener. all the charges were false and at the end of the hearing, the rep from the dean’s office pointed out that the athletic department’s earlier request for reports was squelched by the provost’s office and that that was probably the reason now for the athletes to be prompted to file the complaint – an effort to intimidate me to go easy on the wards of the department.
“all of this has made clear in my mind that all the athletic programs at ‘State U’ could be abolished and it would not harm the academic side of education. the money spent for that segment of semi-pro sports, if put into various programs on the academic side, could make State U a world class school in time. but of course most of the ‘gifts’ to the university go for sports programs. even so, in my opinion, the university would be better off if it was allowed to say to the coaches, you are on your own and your wards can take courses on campus but your whole operation must stand on its own financially.
“State U is small peanuts in the ‘university/college sports world’ and i hate to think what must go on at places like the Big Ten or other such conferences. if we spent less time on sports and more on honesty, learning, integrity, economic responsibility, we would not be in the mess we are in now.”
My friend’s experience may be unique, but I suspect that it is not. If so, what can be done to bring “big-time” athletics (even at smaller institutions) under control? Will the current economic crisis in higher education provide what Rahm Emanuel has called “an opportunity” for universities to control their athletic programs and bring them into line with their academic missions?
