The University Record, February 4, 1997
Senate Assembly reviews Athletic Department Evaluation
At last week’s Senate Assembly meeting, Percy Bates, professor of education and member of the NCAA Athletics Certification Steering Committee, discussed the committee’s recent recommendations concerning the U-M Athletic Department. The committee’s Athletic Department evaluation was conducted in response to the NCAA’s requirement that all Division I-A schools be certified to prove their integrity. The U-M was visited last week by an NCAA peer review group whose findings will be announced in three months.
Bates said that while the U-M originally voted against the idea of mandatory NCAA certification, the self-evaluation process has been “very useful. I think we were in error in voting against it.” The NCAA peer reviewers and the University’s self-evaluation committee examined the department’s academic integrity, rules compliance, gender equity and fiscal integrity.
Bates addressed the recommendations made by his group, the Subcommittee on Academic Integrity (an article in the Nov. 19 Record examined the recommendations made by all of the subcommittees). The recommendations included:
Greater enrollment of student-athletes in schools and colleges other than kinesiology and easier procedures for transfer out of kinesiology. “We found that a number of students were [in the kinesiology program] and did not want to be there,” he said.
Development of a plan with the Office of the Registrar to assist athletes with registration options.
Examination of off-season training requirements.
Elimination of extended travel for training. Tennis and baseball, for example, require extensive travel because weather conditions in the Midwest preclude the teams from playing at home for some of the season.
Allowing student-athletes one term where they do not have training, practice or competition obligations.
Bates also noted, and several Senate Assembly members agreed, that it is up to individual academic departments, including kinesiology, to inform athletes about their academic options, including the process for transferring into or out of the program and which courses will transfer to other programs.
The full text of the report written by the subcommittee can be found on the WorldWide Web at www.umich.edu/~mgoblue/.
