By Chad Painter
Eastern New Mexico University has about 400 student athletes, and it is failing each and every one them. The University’s motto states “Student Success—That’s What It’s All About,” yet we are failing at least one out of every 15 students.
The NCAA currently is investigating each sports team (except rodeo, which does not fall under NCAA guidelines) for playing ineligible athletes. The university has framed the scandal as an athletic issue; however, it really is an academic problem.
This distinction can be seen clearly when one looks at the four NCAA violations that led to student-athlete ineligibility.
First, the NCAA requires student athletes to have a degree plan by the end of their fourth semester, and the courses the student athlete takes from that point on should adhere to the degree plan. A degree plan is necessary to ensure that a student-athlete is progressing toward graduation. This is an academic issue.
Second, student-athletes were violating the “75 percent rule,” which states that 75 percent of the student athlete’s credit hours must be earned during the fall and spring semesters. A total of 24 credit hours (eight classes, give or take) must be completed each year for eligibility, and 18 of those hours (six classes, give or take) must be completed during the fall and spring semesters. This, again, is an academic issue.
Third, ENMU athletic teams played students who were academically ineligible—athletes who did not pass enough credit hours and were still allowed to play. There is an academic purpose to eligibility: If a student-athlete is overwhelmed by coursework—if he or she cannot earn a certain number of credit hours or maintain a certain grade point average—then asking that student-athlete spend hours preparing to compete on an athletic field instead of preparing to compete in a classroom is doing a disservice to the student-athlete. This is an academic issue.
Fourth, each student-athlete must sign a certificate of amateurism stating that the athlete truly is an amateur, that he or she is not being paid or receiving any other sort of benefits. Amateurism is a vital component of college athletics because a student-athlete is fundamentally different than a professional athlete—a student-athlete is a student first and an athlete second. This is an academic issue.
Athletics is an extracurricular activity, meaning that academics (the curricular component of extracurricular) are considered more important. The NCAA scandal is just part of a much deeper mis-prioritization of the academic-athletic balance for ENMU’s student-athletes. A former baseball player nearly broke down in my classroom when he realized that his entire collegiate athletic accomplishments might officially be stricken from the NCAA history books. Another student, a softball player, withdrew from one of my classes last year, saying that she was doing so on the advice of her coaches. Every semester I sit in a department meeting where we try to cram all of our classes into the morning hours because the athletic coaches have (unofficially) forbade their players from taking classes between 2-7 p.m., when such classes could interfere with practice schedules.
Some might see this editorial as the ranting of an academic who hates athletics. However, that simply is not the case. I can name the starting lineup for the 1975 Cincinnati Reds (a team that won the World Series two years before I was born), I still curse LeBron James and Art Modell for leaving the Cleveland, and I am one of a handful of New England Patriots fans who can say that they were in the stands when Bill Belichick led the 1994 Cleveland Browns to a playoff victory against the Pats.
I am a sports fan, but I am an academic first. As an academic, I believe ENMU is morally failing its student-athletes. There is an implicit, if not explicit, agreement between a university and its athletes: The athlete will provide his or her talents on the athletic field in exchange for a free (or greatly reduced) education. College athletes are not compensated monetarily; their only payment is an education.
In this case, the athletes have provided their half of the exchange; they have competed nobly on the football field, the baseball diamond, the basketball court, and many other venues. They have represented all that is good and honorable at this university.
However, ENMU has not been good or noble to its athletes. Many athletes—President Steven Gamble described the number as “more than a few” in October 2012—have struggled in the classroom but continued to compete on the sports field. Again, the only reward for the students is a college education. ENMU is not Alabama. We are not Ohio State. We are not Texas. Our students’ athletic careers most likely will end at ENMU; there is no monetary payoff when our athletes go to the NFL because our athletes will not be going to the NFL. The only payoff is a cap-and-gown celebration and a college degree. ENMU owes it to our athletes to ensure that they hear the cheers at graduation, not just on the athletic field.
Gamble, when the ineligibility story first broke in October 2012, said, “[Athletic Director] Dr. [Jeff] Geiser is like I am, he’s embarrassed that this has happened, but in terms of blame, I don’t place any blame on him, any more than I place on myself for not having a better system to make sure that the people who were supposed to be doing a certain job were doing it correctly.”
Gamble is correct is saying there was a systematic failure. However, a system is made from people, and the real failure occurred because those who entrusted to safeguard our student-athletes miserably failed at their jobs. Now is the time to hold people accountable, and that accountability starts with Gamble and Geiser. Both oversee other individuals—from the compliance officer to the registrar to academic advisors—who have failed these student-athletes miserably. With leadership comes responsibility, and neither Gamble nor Geiser has shown adequate leadership or responsibility during this crisis.