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| Students frustrated by conflicting class and practice times. |
The Academic Senate voted not to approve a proposal by the
Student Athletics Advisory Committee (SAAC) to allow student
athletes to register for classes one day earlier than they
are otherwise able. By tabling the motion, the Senate has
delayed action on it until next year.
The proposal called for the Senate to “make a change in
school policy so that student-athletes are extended the same
courtesy of early registration as Honors Students and NTID
Cross-registered students for the period which the athlete
will be in season to ensure that they meet their academic
requirements and needs.”
According to Anna Kolnik, fourth year Business major and
Student Government representative for SAAC, the men’s Lacrosse
team missed 15 players three times a week due to
classes. Additionally, half of the men’s Tennis team missed
practice at least twice a week. “The purpose [of the proposal]
is to keep athletes in the classroom,” she said.
Some members of the Senate expressed concerns over
the plan. Stephen Diehl of the College of Imaging Arts
and Sciences said, “I think it diminishes the status of
Honors students. I don’t feel comfortable extending
this to athletes.”
Others questioned whether this would solve the problem.
Provost Stan McKenzie said that the proposal would only
help with practices and not games. (Instructors are currently
required to let student-athletes miss class for games.)
“It would help slightly with electives...but once you get into
your third or fourth year, you have required classes that only
offer one section,” he said.
McKenzie suggested possibly finding out which classes are
likely to have a high concentration of athletes, and scheduling
those classes so that they do not conflict. Another proposal
was to use the STARS system to manually reserve seats
for athletes. The Senate decided to appoint a working group
to help SAAC retool their plan. The full Senate will consider
the proposal again in the fall quarter of next year.
