By Josh Fleer
Sports Assistant
Carson Palmer’s and Carmello Anthony’s headlines filled the papers and their highlights made the reels last season. We have come to expect such fame in college athletics.
How about this name: Ann Marie Brooks. Don’t feel inadequate for not knowing she was the 2003 NCAA Today’s Top VIII Award recipient. Ignorance of the award given to the nation’s top student-athletes carries no shame.
The impressive ability of someone to maintain a 4.0 while devoting so much time to, and even missing classes for, practice, film and games doesn’t quite cause us to rush to the stands. While we can appreciate such a distinction, we leave it at that.
Although academics are the lifeblood of any school, the ultimate goal is to provide an environment that helps create a multifaceted education. College provides a venue to express ideas and learn new ones; a place to come in contact with new and different types of people; an environment to grow, learn and mature, both in mind and body.
College athletics provides a much-needed dimension.
But there is a problem with some of the collegiate names that bring us to the stadiums: They don’t want to be in the classroom. And therein lies the collegiate sports paradox.
The numbers tell it. In a recent study, Pepperdine’s graduation rate of 75 percent dwarfed the athletes’ 42 percent, a dilemma that forced the athletic director into a meeting with the president. While the national rate is much better, the question still remains, what are we to do with the paradox of the scholar athlete?
Continue they must if the university wishes to provide the student a place of diverse development.
The problem is not that varsity sports serve as a minor league system for the pros. In a sense, that is how business programs serve the business world or how law students provide for the judicial system. These interns just have to complete their degree first.
In the world of sports, the athletes who do not keep their end of this bargain gain public attention while those who excel in both arenas often slide under the radar with little notoriety. Embarrassing stories are the rage.
While reports surfaced that Maurice Clarett walked out of his Ohio State University midterm, Jim Harrick Jr. was fired for allegedly giving out A’s to three members of his Georgia basketball team without their attendance in the class he taught. People will make poor decisions. Some will cheat. But the ones who violate their discipline’s code of conduct should not reflect the intentions of the whole.
The academic arena is where one would think reinforcement of positive behavior would come. Just as athletic departments promote Heisman Trophy winners, the scholastic department must promote their student athletes who demonstrate academic excellence. And still the general public is not made aware of the awards given out to the students who exemplify the ideal.
Universities recognize the significant discrepancy in colleges and athletes.
Vanderbilt University recently unveiled their solution to the paradox, combining all athletics at the school, varsity, intramural and recreational, under a single umbrella.
But universities must also recognize the significant difference between a student who plays intramural sports, who’s up for a glorified version of a pick-up game, and a scholarship athlete training for and maintaining competition shape.
The college experience includes more than academics. Sports provide the intangibles of the college experience, camaraderie and school spirit.
The recent concert in Alumni Park generated some buzz around campus. But I am confident in saying the biggest student body event on campus this year will be tied to a sporting event. Possibly the basketball home game against Gonzaga. Perhaps a nationally televised game that would come with a bid to March Madness. Pepperdine students root for Pepperdine national contenders. Or we cheer on our underdog team, hoping for an upset. We are united against our cross-town rivalries and our WCC divisional opponents.
And Pepperdine doesn’t even have a football team. The University of Michigan packed in a record-setting 111,726 for its football game against Notre Dame Saturday. Alumni attended the game too, extending their connection to the place that contributed to their development. Locals in the community had a chance to take in the game, showing their support to the scholastic institution.
Schools have long recognized the diversity needed for a well-rounded education. When it comes down to it, the college experience is about academics, and much more. College athletes must address the paradox presented them and strive to be a collegiate athlete.
It’s hard enough to keep a high GPA without responsibilities of athletic competition. For the sake of education, the balance between scholastics and athletics must be maintained and acknowledged. Recognizing those who already exemplify both is a good place to start.
September 18, 2003