Many arguments can be made about the nature of the relationship between higher education and athletics. But I won't make them. Instead, I argue that recent discussions on the pages of The Dartmouth should give rise to what Frank Gardner, professor at Drake University, describes in his October 1960 essay "The Place of Intercollegiate Athletics in Higher Education" as "a co-operative study of the purpose and program of intercollegiate athletics as part of the total educational program of our schools." I will do this through looking at a few questions that Dartmouth and other institutions may want to ask themselves regarding their athletic departments.
What sway do athletics truly have over admissions? Is real parity being achieved between the demands of athletic teams and those of other college interests? One article in The D ("Admissions Office Can Prove a Hurdle For Students," Mar. 2) brings this serious issue to the forefront of our community as a whole. Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems like athletic teams are the only groups with the privilege to submit a list of recruits to the admissions office. The English department cannot recruit creative writers nor can the studio art department have any influence over attracting budding architects. And yet, it could very reasonably be argued that these departments want top talent just as much as athletic teams do.
Some may dismiss this, claiming that nothing promotes school pride or alumni donations quite like athletics. However, a Dartmouth student who publishes a book, or becomes the next Frank Lloyd Wright, would positively advertise Dartmouth in a very public way. On this first score, I urge that the issue of sway and parity in admissions be seriously discussed. If athletics continue to disrupt parity in admissions, they must put forward better reasons for this than the desire to bolster their lineups.
How much power do students have in the decisions of their athletic teams? University of Washington professor Jobyann Renick astutely observed in her October 1974 essay "The Use and Misuse of College Athletics" that "the athletic department can, and usually does, make all the decisions concerning the program" and that "throughout the system of athletics, there is an obvious exclusion of students." Again, going on the information provided in a recent article in The D ("Athletes Struggle to Balance Classes and D-I Competition," Mar. 1), it seems that people other than the athletes themselves are making important decisions that affect athletes' lives -- academic and otherwise. I find it troubling that a coach may limit my fellow student's class choices or that an athlete's grades dropped because meets were scheduled during classes. Perhaps student-athletes should be given a greater say in the decisions of their team.
Just compare American D-I sports to its counterpart, or should I say lack thereof, in the United Kingdom and Europe. Attending the University of Edinburgh in Scotland during the fall of 2006, I immediately noticed a difference between athletics there and athletics here. The only athletic organizations at Edinburgh were equivalent to our club teams. These organizations were basically self-organized and self-selecting units that held their own tryouts and practices, organized matches with other local club teams, and all went out for beers after. The reason they could be so unstructured? Those who desired to be athletes on a professional level, primarily in soccer and rugby, were drafted by clubs and were working their way up the club ladder.
I make this comparison not to claim that D-I athletics be abandoned in favor of club teams nor to valorize a model where athletes do not receive a college education. I do this to suggest that D-I athletics are our ladder to professional sports and, as such, tend to be more organized like professional sports than like college organizations. Dartmouth and other D-I institutions must address the consequences of this. If, as Renick suggests, "the difference between professional and college athletics seems to be one of degree, with the college athlete coming out at the short end of the measuring stick," then perhaps it is high time to explore an alternative paradigm of student athletics.
