Coalition investigates athletes sliding through

by Nicole Bartz

Thursday, April 10, 2008 00:00

A faculty-led athletics coalition asked several colleges and universities this week to investigate whether their athletes are clustered in easy majors and taking snap courses.

University of Wisconsin athletics and admissions officials said special privileges are not a concern for the UW Athletics department.

The announcement by the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics comes in response to allegations that athletes at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor are steered into independent-study courses where some professors give them an easy pass.

Tom Reason, associate director of admissions, said admissions for student athletes does not differ significantly from regular students.

Though many factors are taken into account in review of athletes’ application, academics are still the No. 1 priority, Reason said.

Reason added there are no special programs or courses offered to student athletes, and they are challenged at the same level of the rest of the student body.

“If there was research done on exactly what majors athletes declare, the research would show that athletes migrate towards broad liberal arts majors because there is flexibility in those majors,” Reason said.

According to Reason, there have been no problems with student athletes and the classes they take.

“There are no ‘gimmes’ here,” he added.

David McDonald, former chair of the Athletic Board, said a study released years ago looking at different majors athletes declare at Division I revealed sociology was one of the most popular majors at UW.

“But we also need to take into account that the UW sociology department is one of the leading sociology departments in the country,” McDonald said.

According to McDonald, other reasons for student athletes’ interest in certain subjects could be popular professors or courses.

“There is a certain level of assumption that athletes take courses for one only reason, but we should not cast any false accusations before asking them why they take the courses that they do,” McDonald added. “I am positive there are a number of reasons.”