The Michigan Daily- Friday, April 17,1992- Page 5


by Hope Calati
Daily Staff Reporter
B efore the student athlete
can compete for the suc-
cess of "Big Blue," he or
she must pass the test of
academic eligibility -
the infamous bluebook. The student
athlete must compete in the class-
room before competing on the inter-
collegiate level.
The spotlight is always on the
University of Michigan athlete.
Coaches evaluate form, fans cheer
performances and a battery of facul-
ty members and athletic department
officials critique academic perfor-
mance. The University is unique in
its outstanding reputation for both
athletics and academics.
Football player and Kinesiology
senior Matt Elliot said he chose to
attend the University because "there
was only one school
with top ten aca-
demics and top
ten athletics."i
The Athletic
Department helps .
create this reputation

Undergraduate Admission Don
Swain. He said, "Athletes are a
group of people with a skill or a tal-
ent which the University would like
to have. At the same time, the
School of Music or the School
of Art have also identified
people with outstanding
skills in those fields. They
are going to bring to the
University special talent and
special skills."
The NCAA recently
toughened its eligi-
bility require-
ments, so in 1995,
a student athlete
will be required
to have a high

SASP services ensure an education
as well as a place on the team. "The
University is asking them to come to
Ann Arbor and represent Big Blue
and the offer of a scholarship is
only the opportunity for an
education," Hughes said.
"We give something
back in the athletic grant-in-
aid but only about half of
student athletes are on
scholarship," Hughes said.
SASP services are
available to all student
athletes, even those
who have lost their
eligibility, Bates
said.
The University
requires that its stu-
dent athletes maintain
a 2.0 minimum GPA
in 12 credit hours and
be making

said they Universty has an exlem-
pary record because of the philoso-
phy: "If you don't do it properly,
you don't work here."
Academic Support
For many University students the
day does not start before noon, how-
ever, by lunchtime student athletes
have completed a full day of class
and begin the day's training.
Student athletes spend from four
to six hours a day involved in their
sport including preparation, instruc-
tion and practice, said SASP director
Phil Hughes. Practices held in the
afternoons force student athletes to
schedule their classes between 8
a.m. and noon.
"One of the biggest problems of
being a student athlete is time ...
Being a student athlete here is like
having a full time job and then
some," Hughes said.


"

by providing extensive Football play-
academic support to ath- .. .erand Kinesio-
letes through the Student Athlete logy senior Matt
Support Program (SASP). SASP ,.= Elliot concurs.
counselor Ena Hobelaid sends a s c h o o 1 ."You have a two
message to incoming student ath- grade point /a o'clock class in full
letes: "If you want to blow off average of at least pads in meeting rooms
school, go somewhere else." 2.5 in 13 core and then you go and get
The University supports 21 classes. A sliding progress toward a your head knocked off."
NCAA varsity sports teams. Their scale stipulates that a degree during the The student athletes are at dis-
rosters represent 2.7 percent of the student athlete may semester of competition. advantage because they have less
undergraduate population and enter with a 2.0 if he or Student athletes are time to devote to academics, Hughes
$39,000 is spent by the Athletic she has earned a 900 or above on the expected to maintain the said. "Our kids have to compete in
Department to fund SASP, accord- SAT. Currently, incoming student same academic standards even when the classroom for grades just
ing to Bob DeCarolis Associate athletes must have a 2.0 in 11 core their sport is not in season. like everyone else," Hughes
Director of Athletics. classes. The University's said.
Student athletes must meet stan- Dr. Percy Bates, faculty repre- academ- "You almost feel cheated
dards set by the University, the Big sentative on the Board of Control of in that you can never be a
Ten and the NCAA to be eligible for Intercollegiate Athletics, real student," Elliot said.
competition. Incoming student ath- supported the SASP exists to help
letes must qualify under NCAA change. student athletes balance
Proposition 48 which stipulates stu- q the pressures of athletics
dent athletes must achieve 18 9 9 vJ Iand academics, Hughes
points on the ACT A tN-SoECsaid. "The University
or 700 on h has made an invest-
'V0%1r ment in these students
*RS ..EWe want to give
the 3 Q 2- N back to student ath-
s~o esiceov fletes so much of
SAT Go 3 9' * s Nwhat the University
a n d .wa4©O 7j 1 P3takes from them to
2 . 0 10 3 0,160 *b represent Big Blue
a v e r 4 LtP 9"2i 2" 61from field hockey
age in1 ) 3 A"2 6bto ice hockey,"
s c h 01 GI1A 90t l2 Hughes said.
s "We just
courses. ( SCI A AR 1 don't want any
Q ,i3Copstudents to
S have eligibil-
ity become a
problem,"
said SASP
thc; majority, counselor
of student ath-% E n a
[Cte LO meet
these qualifica-
tions, basketball
player Juwan
Howard is the lat- Hobe aid,
est visible responsible for 14 non-
Michigan athlete revenue sports.
who made several i c Although Hughes was hired in
attempts before ful- standards are July, 1991, as the first director of
filling the entrance higher than those of the SASP, he said academic support ser-
q u a 1 i f i c a t i o n s .Big Ten and the NCAA, Bates said. vices have been available to student
Basketball players . Bates "If a student falls below our stan- athletes since the early '80s when
Terry Mills and Rumeal reports to the dards of a 2.0 GPA but is still within the NCAA applied increasing stan-
Robinson entered the NCAA on behalf of the the range of the Big Ten he or she dards for incoming students and sus-
Ifj trrot ;%fll^ l 0 4n. 1A.yin onl.nrafrn nn rn nImu~r o1% 1^t1aA t tnnnpiti~"y~

Studies and Communications.
General Studies does not have a for-
eign language requirement making
scheduling easier, Nissen said.
Communications attracts student
athletes because "so often they
"There aren't a lot of backdoor would like to get into some area of
outs ... You can't really do other sports announcing or working with
things to take that pressure off," the public," Nissen said.
Hobelaid said. Student athletes often stand out
The network of academic support in class because of their high visibil-
extends beyond SASP. Coaches are ity. Chris Martin, a Communications
also concerned with the academic 103 TA, said although student ath-
performance of their student ath- letes bring special circumstances
letes. "Some coaches will say to a into the classroom, "I would say that
particular student, 'You must go to the athlete, of no matter what sport,
study table.' We interact in preven- tends to work well in the class."
tion strategies," Hobelaid said. "(Student athletes) come to class
Masters and Ph.D. candidates are and participate just like anyone else
hired as tutors are also hired to assist ... They are excused for athletic
the students during study tables and related events and are responsible
on a private basis both in and out of for getting notes," said Melissa Prusi
season. Every sport has a mandatory , also a Communications 103 TA.
study table for first-year student ath- "An athlete wouldn't get any bet-
letes and students athletes having ter treatment than anybody else. It is
academic difficulty. their responsibility to come for
Hockey play-
er and LSA
sophomore
Aaron Ward 'You have a two o'clock
said "They CIass in full pads in
give you meeting rooms and then
no reason
why you yoU go and get your help,"
should head knocked off.' Prusi
not do -"""'ll_____ s a id .
w el . lt1AI# M a rt i n
i n Football player added he
Kin siolOgy senior had not
received
.I-'pressure from
the Athletic
Department in
school." grading.
SASP services in addition to the Hockey player and
counseling and tutoring are available Communications sophomore Aaron
to students through the individual Ward said, "I don't deny that ath-
units. letes try to get their way through the
"The University has chosen, not class ... But who doesn't try to B.S
the Athletic Department, to incorpo- their TA?"
rate a viable and visible athletic pro- Football player and School of
gram across a wide variety of Education sophomore Ricky Powers
sports," Hughes said. "I said, "They're really cracking down
don't look at it from the on athletes ... They want us to
monetary stand point. I work as hard as a regular stu-
don't see the monetary dent ... My TAs don't
aspect." give me anything.
"It is a business, but They're willing to help."
so is the University of Watkins said some
Michigan and higher first-year students enter
education," Hughes the University influenced
added. "If the by rumors about relaxed
University is k.academic requirements.
going to use the ""They come in expect-
student athlete for ing something and
their program, my they get a rude
job is to make awakening. This is
sure the student r 5i college life."
athlete uses the The University
University. boasts graduation
"The kids rates which exceed
aren't getting those of the averages of
ex traordinary the NCAA. The Knight
things ... I don't Commission, a panel of
think there is any university presidents
other group compar- and other executives,
atively that has the revealed that in
time constrains of Division I only 33
student athletes," percent of bas-
Hughes said. ketball players
. and 37.5 per-
Major decisions r' cent of football
Student athletes players graduate
pursue areas of study as within five years.
diverse as the range of University statistics
intercollegiate sports = state that 75 percent of
offered at the University. football players and 76
Student athletes study in "' percent of basketball players
every college of the k graduate within six years.
University from Architec- 4,. A very high number of student
ture and Urban Planning to athletes on this campus are out-
Social Work. The majority ,hstanding academically. "Over one-
of student athletes study in third of student athletes have grade I
LSA and Kinesiology Three points over 3.0," said Tom Hickey
hundred and four student chair of the Academic Performance

athletes comprise 2 per- Committee.
cent of LSA and 197 stu- E, Jeff Watson, graduate assistant
dent athletes comprise 44 strength and conditioning coach,
percent of Kinesiology. said, "Most kids here are pretty
Director of Counseling in the motivated ... Not everyone can
Department of Kinesiology Harry come out like Desmond Howard, but
McLaughlin said having teammates everyone probably works just as
in a classroom "creates a different hard."
atmosphere because of the cama- "These kids have been preparing
raderie." for this for years and years. They
The department want to compete at this level.
'of Kinesiology They're willing to make the sacri-
offers majors in fives to pull the academic and athlet-
Sports Management ic sides of their lives together,"
"and Communication McLaughlin said. 0

"


university in rani or 96ov
having an adequate grade
point average, but insufficient test
scores and thus were unable to com-
pete during their first year of school.
The average student entering the
University as a first-year student in
fall of 1991 had a 2.95 GPA and
1100 combined score on the
SAT.
The University does
give scholarship
athletes prefer-
ence for admis-
sion, said
Director of

faculty. 'our position is aiways one
of more stringent requirements
rather than less," Bates said. Bates is
also the University's representative
to the Academic Program and
Eligibility Committee of the Big
Ten Conference.
"Going up to 2.5 may
be a little to stringent and
may effect a number of
student athletes. We
voted for it because
its going in the
right direc-
tion,"
Bates said.
A c -
ademic
support
begins
before a
student ath-
lete makes a
commitment
University.
SASP coun-
selors reach
out to
.recruited
student ath-
letes witha
45 minute
litan.y of arn

can get a waiver to be anlowe to raining eigiuity.
play." Hughes emphasized that his
Ineligi-bility occurs if a student office provides the same assistance
falls below the Big Ten standards. A to all athletes regardless of race,
student athlete may be allowed to gender or scholarship status. "We
practice but not compete, Bates said. wanted everyone approached the
"We not only talk to those students same," Hughes said. "There was no
who fall below the Michigan GPA assurance that was being done."
but those who are close to the edge," SASP also provides documenta-
Bates said. tion to the University, the Big Ten
The Academic Performance and the NCAA regarding academic
Committee (APC) chair Tom standards, financial aid, graduation
Hickey reported to the Board of rates and continuing eligibility.
Control of Intercollegiate Hobelaid said SASP provides
AthleticsTuesday that four student every athlete in a NCAA sport
athletes from one team had their access to a tutorial program, aca-
academic progress reviewed by APC demic performance monitoring,
at the beginning of the term. APC
representatives met with the headINNVbC 4
coach to address the "attitude" of w
this ch. Hickey said APC had *tp. l t.. es... ..
reviewed their midterm m c fw a h i1..
progress reports and "most, if va
not all, are making progress
in their transition to tr tb !'@ resent Big
Michgan" B.. fomfieldhockey
Hickey said, "We con -.
sist of faculty members ..:.......
on the Board of Control .:i:.......
which meet to appraise.
the performance of all : ;
student athletes to :: r de
determine eligibili-.,:
ty for competition :;

: =(SMC), Movement
Science and Teacher
'Education.
Kinesiology lecturer Dr.
B;ruce Watkins said the
SMC major prepares its stu-
dents for a variety of entry
level jobs including sports mar-
keting, health club management
and radio and television positions.
"Graduates go out in to all aspects
of the industry," Watkins said. "We
rers-nzi &the. needii n nunle of

Photo IDs:
TOP: Michigan Gymnast
Raul Molina, competes on
the rings. Photo by Doug
Kanter.
RIGHT: Courtney Babcock
runs the mile for Michigan's
Women's Track Team. Photo
by Paul Taylor.