No pass, no play sounds simple enough, but academic standards for athletes at Boston University are nowhere near that straightforward or uniform. To play, athletes need good academic standing in their college, but that definition varies widely between colleges. Along with evening out those standards for athletes, BU should give freshman athletes more leeway for their first semester.
Unlike extremely lax programs, such as the the University of Cincinnati, which has gone for periods of years without graduating a single male basketball player, BU does an excellent job of attracting students who contribute to both academics and athletics. While athletic talent may help a borderline applicant get accepted, BU rightly requires athletes to meet the same admissions standards as any other students.
After athletes enroll here, BU also does its best to ensure they succeed just as much in the classroom as they do on the court, rink, field, mat or water. Most coaches follow their academic progress and often require study hall hours when grades start to slip. Student Athlete Support Services also assist athletes and help them maintain eligibility.
While these services help the sports teams by keeping more players eligible, they also benefit the students. Respectably, BU also sets its own written eligibility guidelines above the NCAA minimums. Although most coaches force their athletes to be accountable to someone for their academics, the guidelines themselves are rightly not in the coaches’ hands.
Obviously, BU wants its athletes to play and learn well, and the policies support that goal for the most part. However, some reforms could improve the system and its fairness. Minimum grade points averages for good standing vary greatly between schools: a freshman in the College of Communication needs a 2.3, but that requirement drops way down to a 1.0 in the College of General Studies. This disparity is ridiculous and puts students who want to study certain subjects at a disadvantage.
Understandably, each school has its own academic requirements. However, sports eligibility should not depend on which school an athlete attends, and closing the gap between colleges would level the playing field, so to speak.
Academic scholarships allow grace periods for the first semester of freshman year, and athletic eligibility should do the same. Freshman year notoriously fails to accurately represent students’ academic potential for their whole college careers because it takes so much adjustment. Students often struggle to adjust to a more intense workload, more competitive classmates and a new home (which may come with a strange, filthy and crazy roommate). Since athletes have even more on their schedules and want to establish themselves on their teams, the first semester is only that much more difficult for them. They should have some leeway to make up for the first semester and adjust to college.
Overall, BU deserves respect for setting high academic standards and showing so much concern for athletes’ academics. But more uniform eligibility requirements and more leeway the first semester would only improve the university’s balancing of brains and brawn.
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