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 BUSY? GET TAN QUICK!!! Fast 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 _.Commentary Policy 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 words, legible and signed, and the identification of the writer must be verified upon submission. The Ian erald reserves the right to edit for grammar, style and length if necessary. Commentaries will be published as space and time permit. Because of these limitations, the Emer ald's commentary space cannot be used as a forum lor debate and response between individuals or for mat ters that are better dealt with in the letters section. Writers may only submit one commentary a month. DO YOU, OR DOES SOMEONE YOU KNOW, NEED HELP? 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