Forum
Educating athletes should be top priority
By Clarent e Spigner
The rei ent revelation of the
l! ni vers it v s student-athlete
graduation rales is welcome
news But the fact that the In
tercollegiate Athletes Commit
tee on Academic I’erformanc e
findings were not released until
a local television reporter in
vestigated is disturbing
One would think the Cniver
sitv had something to hide The
Commentary
report does not mention race,
an enormous oversight given
the i oik ern about the exploita
lion ot black college athletes
Sports sc hoi.u s I lam Kdrvards.
William Kudman and others
have pointed out how too main
lilac ks are more likel\ to see
sports, rather than educ at ion.
as a means of upward mobility
Moreover, c ollege football
and basketball inst happen t<>
he major mone\ making enter
prises lor the t 'diversity Sim
I>I\ counting the seats in Ant
/eii Stadium and Me Arthur
( emit and the per tic ket pm e
yields a conservative estimate
ol win athletes are so impot
taut to the 1 'niversit\
The graduation rales ol ath
letes and non athletes were re
ported to he 17.7 and 40 pet
cent, respecti vely Seyeral dis
turhing ipiestions remain I usl
win was the report on student
athlete graduation rates kept se
c ret'
A telex isioll reporter w as
able to attain information that
should have been made .nail
able to I 'niversitv personnel I
was never told sue h a report e\
isted after numerous encpiires
( onlidentialilv and the lac k ol
computer analysis are very
pool e\c uses loi am university
m the 2(1th i eutury
I'he autumn I‘IH'4 edition ot
the I 'diversity's llhl Oregon
had a two page artn le entitled
"Sweats and smarts" filled
with names statistics t,l’\ s
and laudatory comments from
the Athletic Department stall
about the priority ot education
and sports
't cl. Iii .ill.mi mure ulijci 11vc
information is iliiiu nil Thus .1
third (|ucstion is the reliahilitv
id the rates in the 1 ommittees
report 1 \11le11lh student atll
lele data was su haphazard, the
committor members had to
"i reale their im n 1 ategories'
in order to do a propel assess
merit
The efforts of the committee
are to lie 1 ommended lull is
ibis an\ will to run an educa
tiori.it institution? The point is
that a consistent \ of measure
moots must yield similar re
suits belore the findings 1 an lie
1 onsidered valid
fourth. w In wasn't 1.11 e sop
arated out as a variable7 Coven
the on-going controversies re
guiding the exploitation of the
hla< k athlete, one would think
rare would have been given
sirutinv 'll'! it seemed the
1 omnnttee bad enough to do
trying to uncover information
on all student athletes
Some available data (but not
on athletes) 1 an be found in
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Convenient
Relating
Affordable
SunShower
on cAmpu*
aswi-vil na
documents lor the (Iffk e of the
Registrar A profile ot Stu
dents at the University ol Ore
gun." February l'Wl edition
showed that out of the llM>
hla< k graduates enrolled lor
winter quarter (1 4 percent ol
the total 1.t.7;»r» undergraduate
population). 12(1 were black
in.lies and only 7t> were blai k
females
Black male undergraduates
outnumbered hlat k female tin
dergraduates by 44 White stu
dents represented HH ri percent
of the undergraduate popul.i
lion, with white female under
graduates numbering a 7 1 ft and
white males 5014 White tin
dergraduate females outnum
bered white male undergradu
ales by 70a
\\ hrrr .III' .ill lllrse young
hi.u k men•’ Air thr\ majoring
in i omputer st irhi Husinrss•'
I’syt holt>gv ' I tint .ition(h .irr
large portions ol thrin pl.iying
hall’’ Morrovri. ii.ilion.il tri'ntls
show niorr hl.it k females .it
tending t ollrgr .mil graduating
(.iloiig with thru white trmtilr
counterparts) than hlat k tiuilrs
Hut It would .ippr.lt to hr tIlf
opposilr at the 1 niversiH
\g.ini. an on going assrss
inrnt ol stiulrilt athlrtrs malrit
illation anti graduation rulrs
would shrtl sonir mot hnorileil
light on this issue Also, a rrp
In .ition ol tin- t omniittrr's
uit'thudolog\ using i tihorls hr
voml 10UI would hr vrrv lirlp
tul in tlist ri mug thr t|ii.1111\ ol
rtllli til ion tor athlrtrs rsprt lal
K at i isk lilat k student ath
Irtrs
I lie i|iiaiit\ iil cilu< .ition lui
lil.ii k athletes m,t\ lir mon* ini
imrl.in! 111.in graduation rates
per sr I l.il.i troili llii’ l i■ nli-i Ini
|’i)|Mil,n Ki oiiiniui s show that
III 1‘IHIi. 111.n k .mil 11is|i,illi<
i nllege graduates li.nl .1 higliei
rate ill tinemphw 1111 ■ 111 lli.in
their w lull' 1 ouiiterparts In
other winds even with .1 ml
lege degree lil.n ks .mil llispan
11 s li.nl .1 harder time finding
work than w lilies
Sine e \er\ lew student .1111
leles ,ire siniessllll ill proles
sin lull sports, an* thi'V orinj?
prov ided w ill) .in adequate edu
cation to !«• func tion.il after ( ol
luge7 Ihe mm ial demands ot
the toons iln late that tiles
must Ihe notion that all the
University tan do is provide
the opportunity tor ail edtit a
turn is shortsighted and t reel
1'his means that it the indi
vidnal student does not take
lull advantage of academes
while at the same time enter
tabling the masses in the sports
arena it's his or her ow n fault
This blaming the v li t ini at! i
tilde penalizes the student who
is addicted to believing that
sports is the path to upward
inohilils w hen it is not
In addition the I niversils
acts to enc mirage the false be
I let ol tin' inentoi rain nature ol
sports therein maintaining
disadvantaged sot met onomii
posit ions
I'ltere lire those student util
I e 11 * s u ho ri'i five .1 drt • • 111 edu
i .itl)in Hut i om eril tin average
.mil .it iisk students dermlints
tli.it tlic l'iiivi-rsitv In- linn*'
fort hi inning u it ii .ii in
11irm.itttiti Hopelullv tin' lull
In Sen Hill Hradlev |l'\ll
will Inn i’ tins I 'niversitv to re
Ic.isi' sin h inlorni.it ion
l lic i ommilloo s findings
though ini ompli'ti' give us
somewhere to st.iit Assuming
th.it tho wheel will not li.ive to
In' re-invented .i methodology
should iihiwiK hi- in pluie to
in,dilute tlu* reliability ol the
inili.il graduation rules
\ow the I tini• rs11\ run go
on to e\ .dilute uiudeinii needs
ulid tutorial sell li es mill not
simply rely on selet ted stories
id nlldetes u ho me doing well
( )h|ei 11 ve ev .dilutions i ull leuil
to new oi revised programs to
heller SI'I \ e student utllletes
\ltei ull isn't i'din .it mu rut her
than spoils the priority at the
t mv ersdv '
l Limit r .N/ug/iri i' an Issis
l.ml /’lo/esso; in lllf Ih'fhirl
itwnl nl St hoot .mil I <>niiiiiinit\
llf.illh .inti /s \ n f (ill.nnu.in
nl llir l nivcrsih s < tiiiiinillfr
nil \liiiinili I tini a/ion
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The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes commentaries
from the public concerning topics of interest to the
University community.
Commentaries should be between 750 and 1,000
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erald reserves the right to edit for grammar, style and
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Commentaries will be published as space and
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ters that are better dealt with in the letters section.
Writers may only submit one commentary a month.
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GQ>SAFE
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