The balancing act between the goals of intercollegiate athletics and academics has received moderate attention during the past few years, and members of both communities will get off the teeter-totter tonight to discuss the current situation at the University.
Last month, the University’s Task Force on Athletics presented a 13-page report to the ASUO Student Senate on three issues regarding athletics at the University. The forum, taking place from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., will host a panel of task force members including Martin Smith, the head men’s track coach. Students and community members are encouraged to attend.
The point of the forum is to get campus community input in order to see where the task force should go next.
“I have some very strong and positive thoughts on all intercollegiate sports … in the University,” Smith said.
Smith added that it is good to get thoughts from a coaching perspective out to the community, and it is also beneficial as a coach to hear the community perspective.
The task force, which was formed in December 2001 with members jointly appointed by University President Dave Frohnmayer and former University Senate President Nathan Tublitz, decided on two goals for its mission.
The first objective is to advise the University president on “significant national issues related to intercollegiate athletics, especially those involving the fiscal impact of increasing competitiveness among institutions.”
The second issue facing the task force is the issue being discussed in the forum tonight: the connection between the Athletic Department and the University.
In the February presentation to the Senate, three main topics were talked over: whether the University fulfills its educational mission with respect to student athletes, whether it uses student athletes to generate revenue and whether student athletes receive inappropriate preferential benefits.
In all three cases, the task force supported the University, pointing out various factors such as high academic achievement and graduation rates among athletes.
Jenny Kenyon, a former student athlete who spent four years on the track team and is now a graduate student at the University, is also one of the panelists in tonight’s forum. Kenyon strongly supports intercollegiate activity, saying she benefited greatly from her experiences.
“Intercollegiate athletics are absolutely compatible (with the University’s academic mission),” she said. “For myself, athletics have given me huge opportunities, and taught me responsibility and accountability.”
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