December 9, 2004
Faculty Senate endorses athletics reforms
The UW Faculty Senate is starting to get interested in intercollegiate athletics.
In a motion passed last week, the senate voted to endorse, in spirit, a broad set of reforms being sought nationwide by the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA), regarding the governance, funding, academic integrity and commercialization of intercollegiate athletic programs.
“It’s basically sort of getting ourselves into the game,” said Faculty Senate Chairman G. Ross Heath, employing an apt phrase.
“Up until now the Faculty Senate has not paid much attention to intercollegiate athletics and the academic success of student athletes,” Heath said. “This is a statement on behalf of the University that we are going to get involved, that we will participate in coalition conversations.”
The Coalition of Intercollegiate Athletics, formed in 2002, is a network of faculty senates from Division IA schools working with the American Association of University Professors and the Association of Governing Boards to bring faculty voices and views to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. In all, the faculty governing bodies of 37 schools have either joined or voiced support for the coalition.
In the fall of 2003, the coalition released a document describing needed change called “A Framework for Comprehensive Athletics Reform.” Calling reform an urgent priority and saying “piecemeal” efforts at change have heretofore been unsuccessful, the framework details several areas of oversight that the coalition believes need strong, yet appropriately flexible guidelines.
The document cites the following areas, with suggestions for reform:
- Academic integrity: Design and enforce limits on athlete participation in nonacademic activities such as sports; align admission practices to make sure admitted athletes are academically prepared and monitor eligibility standards to make sure they stay engaged with school while playing; increase faculty responsibility for academic integrity and communication between athletic and academic advising to ensure prioritization of academic goals.
- Athlete welfare: Improve the design and enforcement of limits on athlete participation in nonacademic activities; have coaches evaluated in part on their commitment to student athletes’ academic opportunities; limit competition in each sport to a single term; reorient scholarships to better support academics; and more fully integrate athletes into campus life.
- Governance: Create clear and complementary responsibilities for oversight of athletics among the campus administration, boards and faculty; design and use best practice guidelines for the interaction of campus entities overseeing athletics; establish nationwide uniform reporting standards for athletics budgets.
- Finances: Broaden revenue sharing and impose limits on athletic budgets and capital expenditures; use amateur goals in each sport to determine standards of expectations; explore cost-cutting in squad size, season length, recruitment and scholarships.
- Over-commercialization: Mitigate the negative effects of the marketing of college sports — impaired institutional control, public misperception of higher education — by setting clear standards for the media presentation of college sports.
On Thursday, Dec. 2, the Senate passed a motion supporting the coalition’s efforts in spirit, authorizing a senate representative to represent the UW at coalition meetings and requesting reimbursement for travel costs from the UW administration.
Jeffrey Schwartz, a professor in the Radiation Oncology Department and chairman of the Faculty Council on Student Affairs, presented the matter to the senate, noting that the campus Advisory Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics also supports the move. The motion is not binding to NCAA or PAC10 rules or regulations, and does not require the UW to follow any regulations beyond those established by those associations.
Schwartz called the move “a very positive step forward” that will involve the Faculty Senate more actively in issues of intercollegiate athletics. He noted, too, that he already considers the UW’s student athlete programs “exceptional and forward-thinking.”
In an e-mail, Schwartz wrote that by endorsing the coalition, “we gain a voice in it and therefore a voice in helping to shape NCAA rules and regulations for the future. We do not tie ourselves to any rules outside of NCAA or PAC10 regulations.”
In the 2003 summary of its suggested reforms, the coalition stated, “The goal of reform is not negative; it is to bring out the positive aspects of intercollegiate athletics, which contribute to the personal development of athletes and enhance college life on campus and off.”
