The UW-Madison Athletic Department refuted a report by the National Collegiate Athletic Association that student athletes at the school are not graduating as often as the general student population.

According to the report, publicized by the Associated Press last weekend, only eight of the 16 members of the football team’s 1993 freshman class graduated, and UW-Madison stands as the only Division I school in the state that graduated less student athletes proportionally than the general student population.

The graduation rate for student athletes who entered the school between 1991 and 1994 was 64 percent, compared to 74 percent for the general student population.

According to the NCAA, UW ties Illinois for seventh in the Big Ten Conference in graduation rates for athletes who entered the schools in that four-year time span.

Critics charge UW with caring too much about athletics and not enough about academics.

“It’s obvious that they’re not recruiting you for your grades and your academic achievement,” Todd Halbur, a former football player who has not yet graduated, told the AP.

UW officials deny these allegations, saying critics fail to take context into play when drawing their conclusions that UW cares more about athletic ability than academics in the recruitment process.

David McDonald, special assistant to the chancellor for athletics, said that while the school does consider students’ athletic inclinations, they do not forget that UW is primarily an academic institution.

“The admissions policy is not entirely driven by GPA or test scores,” McDonald said. “That goes for students in any major, including athletes.”

McDonald said the school uses athletic abilities as one of many special circumstances where a student would be accepted regardless of his or her failure to meet the standard admissions levels. For instance, UW might give slight preferential treatment to students with disabilities or who are from a geographical region not fully represented in the student body.

But, McDonald said, these exceptions are slight and careful.

“We do not recruit students who we believe will fail here,” he said.

The Academic Affairs Committee of the Athletics Board stands as a watchdog committee to make sure UW does not resort to the recruitment of athletes who would fail academically.

“They come and talk to us every year about all of the people accepted under special circumstances,” said Jane Piliavin, a sociology professor and former member of the Athletic Board. “There are points beyond which we won’t go.”

McDonald and Piliavin said there are many other reasons why such a small percentage of student athletes graduated during that time period, and claim that things have improved since the first part of the last decade.

Statistics show that student athletes fared better during the 1994-95 academic year. Seventy four percent of freshman athletes of that class went on to get a degree, compared to 76 percent of the general student population.

McDonald said the academic success of individual athletes ranges broadly. He said the small sample measured by the NCAA did not look at the entire program, and failed to compare it to previous and following years.

“The general numbers are much closer to the student body than that story indicated,” he said.

For example, he said, the graduation rate of participants in women’s basketball has been close to 100 percent over the past couple of years.

“Anecdotal causes can make a huge percentage in impact,” he said.

The two also said there are problems with how the NCAA counts these figures.

“The way the NCAA counts graduation rates is insensitive to individual circumstances,” Piliavin said.

For instance, she said, the NCAA counts students who go professional or transfer before they graduate as non-graduates, which skews the numbers.

As for retention, Piliavin said, the school offers a variety of programs aimed at supporting athletes academically while they are in school.

She said the Athletic Department helps organize study groups, hires academic advisors specifically for these students and provides free tutors to any interested athlete in order to keep the graduation levels on par with the general student population.

“This is just a part of the service the Athletic Department provides,” Piliavin said.