COLUMN: Student-athlete debate rages on
In his eyes, I was copping the same attitude held by most of the 1500 SAT achieving, 4.0 averaging, former valedictorians at Rice.
You know the attitude. Not because it is spoken out loud though. No, we are far to politically correct and broad-minded to come right out and say it.That we don't think the athletes deserve to be here.
I never took the time to explain to that freshman why I said what I said. I was far too busy getting caught steam tunneling. Anyways, three months later, I would like to defend my statement.
Athletes are not normal students.
Example 1: The name -- It is my guess that one day some bored college sports information director was sitting around thinking of ways to improve Sports U's image. Then it hit him. "Lets start calling the athletes, student-athletes!"
Wait a second. I can touch my tongue to my nose, but no one refers to me as student-tongue toucher. Ok, more realistically. No one calls those who work at Cohen House, student-CoHos. They may call them other things, but not that. Why is this? Because, back to my point, athletes are not normal students.
Example 2: Admissions -- When you came to visit Rice, did your hosts take you to Rick's, was there a BBQ in your honor or did you have margaritas at Pico's? My guess is NO. Do prospective athletes get this? Hell yeah. Why? Because how else do you compete with Tech's Raider Recruiters (beautiful girls, need I say more), Aggie Bonfires or UT's Sixth Street.
And it doesn't stop there. It can be assumed that not every athlete at Rice could have gotten in on grades alone. So this is where we get on our high horse and say that we should be like the Ivy League and offer no athletic scholarships.
Well, didn't a lot of us come here because we thought Rice was better than the Ivy League: wilder, cheaper and oh so diverse. So why would we want to rid ourselves of some of the wildest, cheapest (I didn't say that) and most diverse members of our community.
We don't play Division I athletics so our campus could be split into two uncommunicating factions for Gillis and May's enjoyment. We play because this is supposed to be a well-rounded school, turning out well-rounded students.
You see, we are supposed to be profiting from our contact with each other, proving to schools like UT that not only are we smarter but we can deal them the occasional blow on the field, too. Along the way we should get to know each other, learn from each other and even become friends.
Example 3: Academics -- I was discussing the student-athlete situation with a football player friend-o-mine recently, and this is how the conversation went:
Me: Do you really consider yourself a student- athlete?
Him: No. I can't be. I work 30 hours a week.
Can you imagine a normal course load plus four hours or more of practice everyday? How about going on road trips every weekend where studying is looked down upon?
They are often told what classes they can and can't take. My freshman year I saw an athlete return from the athletic academic advisor's office in tears. She was an athlete, how could she possibly be anything but a Sports Mana major.
Many athletes prove that wrong. They take the Big Three and turn out research papers with the rest of us. It is still hard to dismiss the notion of the dumb jock, though. Especially when the athletic academic advisor has half the athletes enrolled in a course I will refer to as Clapping For Credit.
It is hard to have a normal academic life when blocks of your time are dedicated to everything but that. Realistically, though, most athletes here know that this is the end of the line. They are here to play, but they are also here to get the degree.
Example 4: Social Life -- Did Shakespeare say, "Athletes and students never the twain shall meet?" I don't think so, and I'm an English major.
So why is that true? From day one, athletes are provided with their own homogenous community, far away from that of the normal Rice student. We eat CK; they eat at training table. We stand in lines in the book store; somebody gets their books for them.
More than that, though, they have a whole other world in Autry: advisors, coaches, team psychologists, the training room and locker rooms. A world filled with people who share their daily experiences. Something a non-athlete can never really do.
Why would someone who has such a community want to make the effort to be a part of another community that is often hostile to them. It starts in O-Week when the athlete notices his roommates are athletes, that her advisor doesn't expect as much of her or that practice will keep him too busy to enjoy the fun.
Then it carries over into the uncomfortable silences at the lunch table she sits at. Soon it becomes easier to segregate yourself with the athletes while at your college, since you are with them the rest of the time anyways.
Students tend to be intimidated by athletes. The other night I was told by an athlete that I was stuck up because I never said hi to him. Well, I never thought he cared one way or another if I talked to him. Still I can't deny that I never tried. At least he made the effort to tell me that I never said hi.
I have taken this argument to extremes in many cases. I know few people on this campus who aren't at least friendly aquaintances with an athlete. And I know a lot of athletes who have never been to training table and spend minimal time at Autry.
No, we are not on the verge of having student vs. athlete riots. Then again this campus is way too apathetic to riot about anything. There are problems, though.
If you are an athlete, consider how the person who busted their ass to get in here feels about the fact that you filled out an application after you got here.
Also consider that straight-A student who didn't get a scholarship from Rice, the intellectual school, while you got one from Rice, the just hanging in there athletic school.
If you are a student, think before you dog the athletes. And by the way, not all our athletics suck.
The track team is continually one of the best in the nation and the baseball team has gained tremendous respect nationally after their stellar season last year. Yeah, and football had some good wins last year too. Don't jump to conclusions.
In a nutshell. Every athlete isn't some incredible person waiting to be your best friend if you would only give them a chance.
Some of them are real pricks. Not because they are athletes, but because they are just pricks.
But you know what? Some of you are real pricks, too.
Angela Arnold is a sophomore at Hanszen College and a member of the sports staff.
This item appeared in the Sports section of the December 8, 1995 issue.
Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights
Reserved.
This document may be distributed
electronically, provided that it is distributed in its
entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted
without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.
The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu