Page 12 • Thursday, September 11, 2003
NEWS
The Pendulum
SGA announces winners of freshman elections
JlTiSLi;
m
Stephen A. Oaiilem Jr.
President
Michael Bumbry
Vice President
Ashley Codianni
Treasurer
Brian Carroll
Secretary
FRESHMAN CLASS SENATORS:
Jen Budd, Ann Fitzgerald, Clifton Johnson, LeBron Saulter and LaToya Smalls
Panelists optimistic for NCAA reform
Colin Donohue
Editor-in-Chief
NiWional Collegiate Athletics
Association President Myles Brand
and five of his distinguished peers
voiced their deepening concern
about the integrity of intercollegiate
athletics during a panel discussion
last Tliursday in McCrary Theatre.
The panel, led by William
Friday, president emeritus of the
University of North Carolina-
Chapel Hill, included Kay Yow,
Len Elmore, Thomas Heam and
Danny Morrison. While the pan
elists recognized the ever-growing
importance of reform, they tem
pered their comments with streaks
of optimism about the direction of
college athletics.
“I’m optimistic,” Brand said,
“but I’m not blindly and naively
optimistic. It will not be easy, and it
will never be perfect.”
In an attempt to reform the land
scape of intercollegiate athletics,
the Knight Foundation
Commission on Intercollegiate
Athletics - chaired by Friday - was
formed and has released two
reports, the most recent in 2001. Its
primary goals were to quell aca
demic transgressions, eliminate
financial inequities and prevent
excessive commercialization.
The 2001 report led to the calcu
lated formation of the “one-plus-
three” model that called for a coali
tion of university presidents and
chancellors to expedite academic
change. The panel found academic
standards for college athletics to be
of greatest concern.
“We have to take a look at the
execution,” said Elmore, a former
basketball standout at the
University of Maryland. “I think
the rhetoric is in the right direction.
We need to make young students
know there are expectations of
them off the field. (There needs to
be) an advocacy of what’s right...
what’s good about education.”
Heam, president of Wake Forest
University, mentioned that college
sports are quickly gaining a reputa
tion among high school athletes as
being a developmental league,
serving only to catalyze their move
to the professional ranks.
‘There’s a major cultural war
going on in this country,” Heam
said. ‘There used to be a clear
expectation that sports was good
for young people, and college was
the summation.
“Professional sports are a differ
ent culture. It’s about money. Kids
are looking at college as the first
step into the business world.”
Rather than relying on unrepre
sentative SAT scores. Brand said
the NCAA has decided to focus
more on high school course work
by increasing the number of
required core courses from 13 to
16.
Brand also mentioned that under
the new guidelines, universities
will become more accountable for
the success of the athletes in the
classroom.
“We’re starting a system of
incentives and disincentives,”
Brand said. “If an athlete does not
succeed, we’ll warn (an institution)
at first. If that doesn’t work, we’ll
take some scholarships. If that
doesn’t work, we’ll take out the 2x4
and talk about post-season play.”
Elmore expressed discontent
with the subjective focus on high
school classes.
“To put the onus totally on core
courses is a mistake,” Elmore said.
“The curriculums are failing kids,
particularly disadvantaged kids.
The direction we’re going in is
strong, but we need objective stan
dards.”
Elmore also added that academ
ic fraud does exist in high schools,
and teachers of prized athletes may
hesitate to fail them.
“I’d hate to see us bring some
one in (to a university) with high
hopes and promises and jettison
Jeff Heyer / Photo Editor
Wake Forest President Thomas Heam and Eton B^etijall Coach
Ernie Nestor at last Thursday's discussion on college athletic refonv.
them out because they can’t com
ply,” he said.
According to the panel, the
over-commercialization of college
athletics has permeated the psyches
of young athletes and caused them
to place secondary importance on
education.
“Commercialization gets a bad
name because of its excess,” said
Morrison, commissioner of the
Southem Conference. “It’s vital at
our level. Commercialization is not
necessarily inherently bad, unless
it’s excessive.”
Elmore, a television analyst for
ESPN, said he believes the move
away from commercialization will
continue at a slow pace.
“Whenever that carrot is dan
gled in front of you, you’re going to
chase it,” Elmore said. “It’s still
about the almighty dollar. The dol
lar is calling the shot, as opposed to
principles calling the shot”
Heam said he has a positive out
look for the state of college sports,
and steadily, it will continue to
improve.
“It’s hard to imagine anything
that gives us more passion, eneigy
and entertainment than college
sports,” Heam said. “It’s important
that we protect (intercollegiate ath
letics’) integrity.”
Contact Colin Donohue at pen-
dulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.