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Let them major in football

4/10/2012: From Joe Nocera in the NYT:

Instead, universities do the opposite. With their phony majors and low expectations, they send the unmistakable message to the athletes that they don’t care what happens after their eligibility expires. It’s a disgrace.

Instead, why not allow football players to major in, well, football? This is a solution put forth by John Kilbourne, a professor of movement science at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Kilbourne, a former dance major, points out that college dancers can focus almost exclusively on the thing they are passionate about — even though the vast majority will not ultimately be professional dancers. Why is it so terrible to think of a football player doing likewise? Surely they could get more from a course in, say, “racism and football” than in most of what they are now forced to take.

How about “The economics of exploitation and the NCAA hiring cartel”. Any other course suggestions for this new major?

12 Comments

  1. Dev Sinha 04/10/2012

    UOMatters,

    Can you point to any phony majors on our campus which the student-athletes are signing up for? You were at the same presentation on their academic profile which I was – did you see any on the list of majors along the lines of “general studies” or “movement science”?

    Could you have the professional decency to wait until the IAC has learned about the Study/Life Skills program this year (as we have learned about every year in the past few) before implicitly passing judgement on whether our university doesn’t “care what happens after [] eligibility expires”? FYI, that program and related work are based in part of the work of and some consultation by our own Dave Conley, from the College of Education, who is perhaps the country’s leading expert on college-career readiness. It looks to me like a program aspects of which could prove useful to the general student body, especially cohorts such as students coming from your SAIL program.

    So from what I can tell after years of interaction with the Athletics Department and Services for Student Athletes, the story on our campus in regards to academic disservice of student-athletes, in particular football and MBB, is 180 degrees away from what Nocera is talking about. Perhaps you can refocus on what happens on our campus, or rename yourself “WorstPracticesFromAnyCampusMatters.”

    • Anonymous 04/10/2012

      Still gunning for O’Fallon’s job Dev?

    • Dev Sinha 04/10/2012

      No, Anonymous. That’s a great theory that you and UOMatters have (and maybe “Ryan Stefan” has too). Anyone who knows me knows that I have always had too much going on to consider being FAR. Indeed, I had a meeting with Richard last spring wondering if I should continue as IAC chair or quit to spend more time focussing on K-12 education, in addition to research mathematics. (Richard by the way told me he would be happy to have me continue as chair but it was my call).

      But it is a good thing I stuck around, to see what a poor excuse for a university committee UOMatters and the IAC Chair would bring about, and to help ensure that some good governance could still take place. Indeed, if the President (now or in the future) wants help to ensure that there is the kind of faculty interface with the athletics department needed, I’ll be happy to help out.

      Instead of ad-hominem questions, Anonymous, do you (or UOMatters) care to answer the questions I posed? Have you found any student-athletes congregating in bogus majors? Heard of stories of tutors feeding them assignments and not getting fired immediately? Please tell me – I would happily “renounce” the whole business if there were a shred of evidence of institutionalized wrong-doing. But until then I’ll stick with the truth, Anonymous, including a Life/Study Skills program which is something our campus should rightfully be proud of.

    • Anonymous 04/11/2012

      Dog says

      this is very sensitive issue but I will ask one thing and make one
      comment based on experience of having student athletes in various classes.

      Has the IAC ever attempted to verify, through actual transcripts, the reported graduation rates for football and basketball players?

      I can also say that the tutor homework situation is subject to abuse
      at various levels, but I think this is true at the level of regular students as well. The production of the Jacqua center, however, has made
      tutoring services more centralized …

    • Dev Sinha 04/11/2012

      Dog,

      The IAC has not looked at transcripts. Transcript verification is one of the jobs of the Faculty Athletics Representative, Jim O’Fallon. He looks over those every term. The IAC has not chosen to look over his shoulder while he does this.

      One thing I did when I was IAC chair was have informal conversations with faculty on the University’s (general) infractions committee (I forget the actual term, but it is where academic misconduct cases are heard for all students). What they (and I won’t name names because I was asking in an informal manner, being careful to never ask for names) said to me is that cases of academic misconduct of student-athletes are “prosecuted” more thoroughly than others because Services for Student Athletes and the Athletics Department want to make sure of that. You could say this is in their interests (staying clear of NCAA infractions) or say it is because of a culture which has been part of the program for a long time – either way, that’s what SSA and the AD do.

    • Anonymous 04/12/2012

      Dog says

      well then okay …

  2. Anonymous 04/10/2012

    Ever looked at a dancer’s feet? Uglier than a football player’s brain autopsy. I say we should ban ballet too.

    • UO Matters 04/10/2012

      “football student-athlete’s brain autopsy” is the preferred nomenclature, dude.

  3. Anonymous 04/10/2012

    “Private law gone bad: The NCAA infractions process”

  4. Anonymous 04/10/2012

    “The physics of concussions: theory and practice”*

    * Game time counts for laboratory credit for football team members

  5. Anonymous 04/10/2012

    “The locker-room shower and emergent sexuality: From Carrie to Sandusky”

  6. Anonymous 04/12/2012

    Talkin’ Sports 101: How to do sports interviews using college level language skills.

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