Feb. 15, 2007

Those Pesky Academic Standards

The frequent contributors to Tiger Illustrated and TigerNet, two fan forums for Clemson University athletics, have been fuming of late.

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And then, in essence, he held out an olive branch to his critics by announcing that the university would review its admissions process for athletes who meet the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s minimum entry requirements but who fall below Clemson’s normal academic standards. The provost and athletics director’s offices will conduct the review.

“Ultimately we may decide to keep the process we have, make minor modifications, tighten standards further or create an entirely new system,” Barker said. “My only directive will be that we have a process that maintains academic integrity while not putting Clemson at a competitive disadvantage.

“This is not a competition between academics and athletics,” he added. “It’s between Clemson and all the institutions who are recruiting the same students.”

Under the current procedure, the five-person Athletic Advisory Review Committee — comprising faculty, admissions and athletics department representatives — reviews each athlete’s academic resume and determines whether he or she has a chance of succeeding academically. Coaches can appeal the decision and ask for a second review. If the committee still denies the athlete, Clemson’s athletics director can request a special look from the provost’s office, and finally, the president.

The committee, established in 2002, reviews athletes’ academic credentials year-round, though Clemson said the majority of its athletes are admitted via the regular admissions process.

“At times we admit a student who does not qualify under NCAA guidelines, and at times we deny a student who goes on to be successful at another institution,” Barker said in the statement.

According to Clemson’s data, about 60 percent of all applicants are admitted into the university, and the average SAT score is roughly 1200.

Barker maintains that the university’s standards are not a barrier to athletics success. In a recent speech to donors, Barker said that Clemson’s admissions standards are no different than at many other institutions. He added that the university accepted more students this season who fell below regular admissions standards than in years before.

Clemson’s graduation success rate for football, which examines the proportion of a four-year institution’s freshmen who earn a degree within six years, is 94 percent. Every sport other than men’s basketball there had an equal or higher figure.

Its federal graduation rate, a measure that counts athletes who transfered in good academic standing as dropouts, is only 49 percent. Clemson’s women’s sports have a significantly higher number. (Both GSR and federal indicators measured athletes who entered from 1995-8.)

Much of the fan concern is about the football program, which finished 8-5 last season with a loss in its bowl game. The team regularly plays in the postseason. Clemson’s academic performance rate, a snapshot of a team’s academic standing, is 940 in football. That ranks in the top half of Division I-A football teams but toward the bottom when looking at all sports.

“There is no university conspiracy to devalue the football program in favor of an academic ranking,” said Terry Don Phillips, Clemson’s athletics director, in a statement. “To suggest so is simply not true. If I believed that, I would not remain at Clemson.”

Phillips and Tommy Bowden, Clemson’s head football coach, both said that they appreciate Barker’s decision to review the admissions process.

“I have confidence that the university administration understands the importance of recruiting on a level playing field and that we will be able to recruit on a level playing field in the future,” Bowden said in a statement.

Larry LaForge, a faculty representative on the review committee, said he disagrees with boosters that the process is unfair but welcomes a review.

“I don’t think anyone wants to do anything to affect our academic integrity,” said LaForge, a professor of management who is the faculty representative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. “Athletics is part of the culture at Clemson. It’s an important part of the experience and we want it to be competitive.”

Beth Kunkel, president of the Faculty Senate and a professor of food science and human nutrition, said it seems as though those protesting are a vocal minority. She said she agrees that the president needs to review the process, but she is looking for a different outcome than many who asked for a change.

“If anything, we’d like to see more stringent guidelines,” she said. “[The president] isn’t looking to make concessions.”

Hodding Carter III, former president of the James L. Knight Foundation and a professor of leadership and public policy at Chapel Hill, said he is unfamiliar with the student who was rejected from Clemson but admitted at UNC.

Clemson’s review could go in a number of different directions, he said.

“Any review of a program intended to provide assurance that admitted athletes are academically qualified can be for the good of the campus,” he said. “Any review based on an uproar and resulting in the weakening of standards also weakens the connection between the values of higher education and big-time sports.

— Elia Powers

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Comments

Go Pro

Wouldn’t we all be happier if the NCAA simply abandoned the official fiction of “student athletes"? Colleges want competitive sports teams for revenue. Alumni demand them for pride. Professors want real students. The solution is simple: Allow colleges to hire professional players for entertainment purposes who have no connection to the student body (even now the connection is so tenuous as to be irrelevant). That way we get the teams we want, we get the courses we want, and we don’t have to pretend that the players are students, or that the students are players.

Cranky Old Prof, at 8:50 am EST on February 15, 2007

Now I’m really embarrassed to be in the UNC system. Cranky old prof has it right. Just being above board would save everyone a lot of trouble. We wouldn’t have to complain about enrollees who shouldn’t have even graduated from high school and the bottom-of-the-class alums could save the hate mail postage.

Cranky middle-aged prof, at 9:35 am EST on February 15, 2007

Then how would the academic departments survive?

A lot of Clemson’s departments (probably like 100 other institutions) get money from the athletic departments as part of their annual revenue.

The real issue at Clemson IS NOT admissions. It’s the fact that Clemson athletice are handcuffed to even give a prospective student-athlete an LOI (letter of intent). That happens BEFORE the admissions process takes place. That’s the problem with the board, it’s not admissions or lowering the standards for admissions. The president and the AARC are blowing smoke, saying it’s admissions because they know that people will tend to side with academics if they say the argument is lowering admission standards.

It’s the fact that if this board says no, then the prospective S-Ath will never even get a shot at using the rest of his semester to qualify. That, to me, is wrong. The goal of every college should be the top 20, but get there inclusively not exclusively.

WALLACE, Clemson, at 9:35 am EST on February 15, 2007

Heaven forbid student athletes actually be subjected to the same admissions qualifications as non-athlete students. You don’t qualify you don’t play, it’s very simple. No special treatment.

Melissa, at 9:50 am EST on February 15, 2007

Elitism at its finest...

What other edicts would you academics like to hand down from your Ivory towers? The fact is that TENS of THOUSANDS of student atheletes a year are given access to an education they may not otherwise have were it not for their atheletic abilities. And before we hear screams of favoritism, keep in mind that it’s no different for any other student, period. If that weren’t the case, why is there an area on an application for extracurricular activities or involvement? It is because a student’s measure of success isn’t strictly limited to an SAT score or GPA. Musicians are admitted to colleges every year because of their gifted musical abilities, NOT because of a great 10th grade science grade. Artists are admitted every year because of their unique artistic ablilities that extend beyond high school grades. Students are admitted every year, even with questionable scores and grades, because they bring a unique skill set to the institution that make it more diverse and challenging to the body as a whole. Atheletes are not different. Come down from your condescending high horse.

Stone Cold, at 10:21 am EST on February 15, 2007

Reality says ...

People arent willing to spend a bunch of $$$ to watch a game with a team of 5′9″ / 150 lb chemical engineering majors playing middle linebacker. Just not gonna happen ... and College athletics is BIG, BIG business. Combine those two facts, and you get EVERY school scrambling to get these borderline kids.

Clemson folks are upset because the kid rejected by our AARC turned around and signed a LOI with the prestigious UNC-CH.

There would be no ill effects of letting the kid sign the LOI with Clemson. If he didn’t qualify, he doesn’t get in. Happens every year at EVERY school. The CU administration should have let the kid sign the LOI and wait and see what happened with his scores.

By not doing so, the Clemson coaching staffs are at an unfair disadvantage to our “prestigious” ACC counterparts.

clemchem, at 10:50 am EST on February 15, 2007

Same for All

Having worked in college admissions for two decades I could tell you some stories that would curl your hair about “special” treatment for athletes. Let’s face a simple fact that is not going to go away. Kids who have athletic talent will always be given special treatment because those hundred thousand fans would never fill a stadium to watch some academic do an experiment or give a lecture on ecology. Universities are economics driven and athletics fill coffers. In a perfect world we would accept students first then athletes second, not the other way around.

Martin, at 11:25 am EST on February 15, 2007

Qualify.....

I am sure Melissa means well when she says that if you do not qualify then you do not get in. I agree with that. The problem is that this Academic review board turned down qualified student athletes. The NCAA is the governing body for Student Athletes. They make standards that these student athletes need to meet or they are not elegible to recieve a scholarship. This board would not allow our coaches to extend a scholarship to theses kids because they think that they will not graduate, not because they were not qualified. These student athletes went on to recieve scholarship offers from Notre Dame, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas A&M(not to shabby). So to say that it is just two recruits is a flat out lie. One of the recruits that was turned down was allowed to sign a Leteer of Intent last year but did not qualify. This recruit went to prep school and raised his GPA and SAT in order to earn that scholarship, however at the last minute his scholarship was taken away. How is this good for any college? All we ask is for a level playing field for recruiting. True colleges have the last say so in whether or not a student athlete gets into their college. So lets get rid of the NCAA and let the colleges determine who gets in. If that were to become the case then any student athlete could be let into a 4 year school because that school wants to win to bring more money to that school. —

Jeff, at 12:16 pm EST on February 15, 2007

Athletics Need Not Be a Business

A University that puts the success of a few allegedly high-paying sports above having high academic standards is not a university, it is a training camp. If students are not academically prepared for university, dumbing down standards will not help. American higher education is the only place where our schools still manage to shine, and if kids can’t get in, the fault lies floating somewhere in the toilet bowl of K-12 “education.”

“Come down from your condescending high horse.”

You see a high horse? I will give you Bucephalus. The comment made by “Stone Cold” (with or without the knee-braces?) comparing athletes with low academic scores to musicians and artists with low scores is completely absurd. Who hears about the gifted piano player or painter the university signs on compared to a quarterback? Sport and academics exist on different levels of importance and value.

Sports are necessarily inferior to the academic programs of a school. Otherwise all you have is a big training camp for ball-throwers. College athletics, as long as it ties the value of a given sport to market values, will forever be divorced from the decidedly non market-based values of commitment, dedication, honor, etc. The rent has gone up on these values that sport still typifies in less “successful” programs (and in the movies), but these values have been evicted from football by the higher-paying tenants supported by the Big Booster Babbitts.

Sport and tournament exist as entertainment and as proving grounds for physical power, not the Golden Calf they have been made into today.

Have a nice day.

Joseph C., at 12:36 pm EST on February 15, 2007

The problem isn’t just admitting people with poor academic skills, but pressuring them once in college to take easy courses and spend minimum time to get passing grades. This, and the sharply lower graduation rates as a result, is where the analogy to musicians breaks down. Those of us who teach these students know something about what they’re learning, and care about their educations.

It’s transparent that the boosters see learning as an obstacle to circumvent with the aim of winning games, not a goal for otherwise-excluded students — judging from posts so far their attitude toward these people is wholly instrumental. And on the question of exclusion, a little reality check: in the United States *anyone* who is willing to meet basic requirements has access to higher ed — the community college and state U systems are not turning people away who can do the work.

college teacher, at 1:35 pm EST on February 15, 2007

Bigger than Just Athletics

When Father Theodore Hessberg attempted to deemphasize football at Notre Dame, total contributions to the school declined by 25% over five years. If it were only the amount the athletic department contributes to the school, this issue would have been solved in favor of academia long ago.

At the bottom line is the point spread. Not only must the school win, but to keep the donations flowing, it must cover the spread.

To get the academics to solve the problem requires a grip on the facts. It is no accident that the highest paid state employee in most states is the local university football coach.

When everyone’s salary is tied to the team’s results, arguments like the one at Clemson become rather academic – get my drift.

Get Real, at 2:01 pm EST on February 15, 2007

Stone silly, you mean

Stone Cole whines: “The fact is that TENS of THOUSANDS of student atheletes a year are given access to an education they may not otherwise have were it not for their atheletic abilities.” Pity the little children. If you want to give an education to tens of thousands of people who wouldn’t get it otherwise, given it to students who *deserve* it on academic grounds, but couldn’t afford it otherwise. Instead, these school fill up those places with (not “borderline” students, as one person euphemized, but) people who have little or no interest in getting a university education. They are there for one reason only — to see if they can make it into professional sports. So fine, I say, let’s make it official. The schools can run what amounts to a minor league sports league on the side, for entertainment and revenue purposes. No need to sully the athletics with bogus courses or sully the courses with bogus students.

Cranky Old Prof, at 2:36 pm EST on February 15, 2007

Well, having been involved in academia for some time now, I have known many non-athletes that have sought out the easiest curriculum or major available at their school. The idea is to GET A DEGREE! Many kids who have been marginal students have gone on to great success. The fact is the thing that got them started was the line on the job application that asked if they had a college degree ... without which there would have been no interview! What in the world is wrong with a student who happens to be an athlete(which requires hours upon hours of extra time) seeking the easiest degree available, particularly if it will get him/her an interview with a professional sports organization?

Might it be considered a training ground? You bet it is, and there is nothing wrong with that. If the kid meets the minamal requirements to get in and is willing to put in the time it requires to participate in college athletics, let ‘em in. If the athletic programs are successful, data shows enrollment increases, schools make more $$$, and you and I are entertained. LIGHTEN UP YOU GEEKS!!!!

Larry, at 4:06 pm EST on February 15, 2007

Cranky no-nothings

It never ceases to amaze and amuse, how “academics” pontificate about subjects out of their area of expertise. Many would be embarassed to try, but such academics do provide entertainment.

First is a lack of understanding about how embedded NCAA sports are in college life and marketing.

http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=16594

The chances are getting rid of NCAA sports are about the same as finding an English faculty that doesn’t complain. Really.

Second — when Clemson and others DO uphold hard-sought NCAA standards — they get criticized.

That is just ridiculous and absurd. First complain about a lack of standards — then complain when the standards demanded are met? Porridge too hot, guv’ner?

As for this — “The problem isn’t just admitting people with poor academic skills, but pressuring them once in college to take easy courses ..”

Many colleges are now making lifetime commitments to players of major NCAA sports to fund their graduation. So, there is much less time-pressure on everyone involved.

The NCAA system is not perfect. But then, what in college life is ‘perfect’ enough for the chronically-cranky? A lotto win would be more likely.

C. Bigsby, at 4:10 pm EST on February 15, 2007

re:

dear jeff, “i” before “e", except after “c". peace and love, billie stewart bryan/college station, texashome of the Fighting Texas Aggies

ms. billie stewart, at 9:10 pm EST on February 15, 2007

Get Real,

Any chance ND is an outlier in the college sports game? (rhetorical question)

Jack, at 9:10 pm EST on February 15, 2007

read-nothings

C. Bigsby may think we know nothing, but s/he apparently can’t read what other people write. I said nothing about gettig rid of the NCAA. I suggested, by contrast, that it simply stop the fiction of student athletes and admit to what it virtually already does — exist as a professional minor league.

Cranky Old Prof, at 5:45 am EST on February 16, 2007

Academic standards

I think we need to give the academic success of athletes a rest. Everyone knows that academic indicators are not the be-all and end-all of who will LEARN and who will not. I teach English Composition and Literature courses, and one of the most delightful students I ever had was a University of Tennessee football player who not only graduated but went on to a career with the New Orleans Saints. He had a intrinsic openness and intelligence, and he responded to me and learned what I had to teach him because I not only love literature, I love sports, too. College is about exposure to diversity and the willingness to learn from it. Professors should not be exempt fromt this lesson.

Debbie Davis, King College, at 8:45 am EST on February 16, 2007

Point of order!

” .. I suggested, by contrast, that it simply stop the fiction of student athletes and admit to what it virtually already does — exist as a professional minor league ..”

Then, by contrast — what college did LeBron James go to?

Kobe Bryant? And increasing numbers of NFL players who forgo college eligibility?

“Facts are biased” — Stephen Colbert, “The Colbert Report”

C. Bigsby, at 6:06 pm EST on February 16, 2007

Acedemic Standards

When are the professors going to tell the truth and quit pretending that they are at their respective universities to further educate our children. Their jobs as well as their salaries are dependent on writings they can get published and recieving grants.

As far as the local university’s football coach being the highest paid employee in the state, Coach Bowden recieves about 1&1/2 to 2 percent of what football brings in to Clemson University and has a 90 percent graduation rate.

We should pay the professors on the same scale based on what they bring in through published writings and grants with deductions for each percentage point their perspective major is below 90% based on all incoming freshmen.

While this may not be politically correct, they should also be required to speak understandable English

papared, at 5:45 am EST on February 17, 2007

Are cranks anti-diversity?

” .. one of the most delightful students I ever had was a University of Tennessee football player ..”

My college roommate had a similar experience — that required enormous teaching effort.

As usual, the student-athelete (major D-1 football) had been abused by the Public School Monopoly. But he knew he did not want to go back the ‘hood.

Early on, in a private tutoring session (American government), the student-athlete broke down and began crying about his fate.

My pal (high school track) propped him up, made him do the assignments, and got him through with a C-.

Afterwards, the student-athlete beamed with pride, at surviving the course. He played very well. And diversity goals were maintained.

Could a ‘crank’ do the same? I wonder ...

B.D., at 11:35 am EST on February 17, 2007

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