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AAUP President Outlines Governance Problems
In her address to participants in "Making Teamwork Work," the AAUP's fourth annual governance conference, AAUP president Jane Buck discussed the serious problems faced by the academy and college sports programs. The conference, cosponsored this year by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, from October 9 to 11. The first day of the conference was convened at NCAA headquarters.
Buck said the difficulties confronting faculty and athletics programs include issues of academic quality, access to education, gender equity, funding, and the treatment of athletes. Other problems Buck identified include the occasional criminal behavior on the part of coaches and athletes and a perceived obligation of colleges to provide entertainment to their communities, too often at the expense of academics.
Buck said that as an undergraduate member of the University of Delaware marching band many years ago, she attended and enjoyed every UD football game for four years. If there were scandals involving athletes or coaches, she remained unaware of them. Today, she said, an Internet search on the term "athlete" turns up thirty-four articles published in the Chronicle of Higher Education alone since September 2002. She cited articles about steroid use, gay bashing, athletics scandals, NCAA academic standards, the granting of passing grades to failing football players, and other thorny topics.
Buck pointed to reforms suggested by William Bowen and Sarah Levin, authors of Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values. "Some of them are startling," she said, "for example, the notion that athletes be admitted on the basis of their potential for scholarship, that some colleges consider dropping football entirely, that coaches be hired primarily on the basis of their performance as faculty members, and that varsity athletes be free of the tremendous time commitments their sports currently require."
"That we are at NCAA headquarters for the first day of the conference signals our mutual commitment to exploring ways to integrate athletics and shared governance," Buck added. More highlights of the conference appeared on pages 12-13 of the November-December issue.
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