[NU Sports] Interesting interview with Tulane sports law expert

[Evan Bradley]

I'm not naïve enough to think that it doesn't happen, I was just
saying that I don't know the process.

That said, I think NU is doing a good job, and graduation is the best
indicator of that, barring "special accomodation" in the academic
arena, which I doubt happens at NU; I just wouldn't be in favor of
lowering standards so far as to impact graduatioin rates and
reputation.


On 5/29/07, Jeff Beamsley <jeff.beamsley at hilgraeve.com> wrote:
> Evan,
>
> Over the years, I think that we have established that there are kids
> going to NU on athletic scholarship with significantly lower test scores
> and GPA than non-athletes who were refused admission.  That last numbers
> I remember reading suggest that a good football player with an 1100 SAT
> has a chance at NU.  A non-athletic applicant has to be somewhere north
> of 1300 to get a serious look.
>
> It is also probably no coincidence that a higher percentage of football
> players, for example, share a specific major than the general student
> population.
>
> However you choose to rationalize this, however, the key measurement of
> admissions success for athletes and non-athletes is graduation.  If a
> high percentage of these kids graduate and are employable (except for
> maybe English majors), both the admissions department and the university
> have done their job.
>
> I don't know where to look for employment statistics.  The graduation
> rate statistics are on the NCAA site.
>
> NU does a good job, and this is certainly something to be proud of.  NU
> graduated 93% of all students in the most recent NCAA report and 90% of
> student-athletes.  Duke was a little better, Stanford a little worse.
> Michigan, by comparison, graduated 87% of all students and only 78% of
> athletes.  OSU graduated 68% of its students and 69% of athletes.
>
> When you dig down into the numbers on the NCAA site for graduations by
> sport, basketball is weakest with an 88% Graduation Success Rating
> (whatever that is).  Our minor sports and women's sports graduate
> virtually everyone.
>
> So NU does appear to favor athletes both in admissions and curriculum,
> but who cares if they all eventually graduate with a useful degree?
> Bienen, the deans, and the Athletic Department appear to have struck a
> good balance between improving NU's athletic competitiveness, keeping
> high academic standards, and graduating the kids that they bring in on
> scholarship.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
> On Behalf Of Evan Bradley
> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:42 AM
> To: 'nwu-sports at tssi.com' Sports List
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Interesting interview with Tulane sports law
> expert
>
> I'm not sure how admissions for athletes work currently, but if we're
> not doing this already, I'm curious as to why we'd want to start.
>
> I'm all for recruiting the best athletes, but if a university admits
> student-athletes who don't match the academic profile of the rest of the
> student population, it's:
>
> a) setting these students up for failure in the classroom, thereby
> lowering graduation rates and/or increasing the number of athletes who
> leave early to go pro
>
> b) risking the reputation of a school where education is supposed to be
> priority #1 by emulating some of the "lesser" schools lambasted on this
> list for their stereotypical "dumb jock" rosters.
>
> The attitude at NU seems to have been that we'll win while keeping our
> ideals, resulting in athletes that are known for being "smart," and I
> think most fans are proud of that.
>
>
>
> On 5/28/07, Jim Bendat <thehaze at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > I'm not so sure that we don't already do that.  When my daughter began
>
> > her freshman year at NU in the fall of 2005, there were a number of
> > athletes in her dorm who told her that they wouldn't have made it to
> > NU were it not for their sports abilities.
> >
> >
> > MHRJGScott at aol.com wrote:
> > > I noted the use of "special admits" at Tulane, why don't we have
> > > something like that?
> > >
> > > _http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-31/1180333669
> > > 175280.xml
> > > &coll=1_
> > > (http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-31/1180333669
> > > 175280.xml&coll=1)
> > >
> > >