The National Collegiate Athletics Association expects to approve a proposal in October that would lower the minimum SAT score required of student athletes while progressively increasing the stringency of academic eligibility requirements for returning and transfer students. The proposal, designed to combat the abysmal 40 percent graduation rate of male college basketball players, is a much-needed return to the essence of college basketball - college.
In recent years, collegiate athletics, particularly revenue sports such as basketball and football, have seemed to drift away from campus as fans have eagerly accepted their metamorphosis from extracurricular activities to breeding grounds for professional sports. Unlike hockey and baseball, football and basketball do not have a minor league system where young players can train for the pros. Instead, they head to college, where administrators have learned that athletic success can be an unparalleled source of income for an academic institution.
It's natural that revenue sports are capitalized upon, given their power to attract media attention, alumni participation and fund-raising revenue. But, they need also account for the fact that their teams are composed of full-time undergraduate students, who must make sincere, successful attempts at obtaining a degree during their tenures as student athletes.
At UB, whose freshmen men's basketball players posted the highest GPAs of their class in the NCAA, the problem is less of an issue than at Final Four schools like Indiana University and the University of Oklahoma. At Indiana, for example, the division between student and athlete is so great that many faculty members abandon their teaching responsibilities in favor of March Madness and administrators limit their scholastic expectations of student athletes the bare minimum.
The problem here is not with the popularity of collegiate sporting events or granting special privileges to athletes under special circumstances. It is with the fact that ultimately these students will have to face course requirements, pass their classes and demonstrate timely progress toward a degree. Administrators across the nation must recognize this and alter their own requirements of the students accordingly, viewing them as students first and athletes second, as expected of all those involved in extracurricular activities.
Failure to do so will result in ramifications across the board. First, teams could face losing scholarships or denial of play in post-season championships if they graduate fewer than the minimum required percentage. Second, coaches could bring the sanctions with them when changing jobs if they don't meet minimum requirements with previous teams. Third, and most importantly, hundreds of athletes will continue to find themselves at the end of their college careers little better off than when they began. Those not among the exceptional few drafted into the NBA will have been passed on by higher education, leaving them uneducated and unprepared for the future before them.
Allowing this to happen is irresponsible. Administrators must provide the support services necessary to graduate their student athletes, whether it means tutoring, an extended spring schedule for those who lose significant chunks of class time to their sports, or other measures. It may be just a game, but when its players become losers no matter what their record, it's time for a change.
