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Keeping Faith With the Student Athlete

From the University Report (published by the GAA 1970-94)

It has been a special privilege for me to represent both our Association and the Council of Alumni Association Executives as a member of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. After nearly 18 months of study and five hearings, with testimony from over 80 witnesses, our Commission issued a comprehensive report, thoughtfully written with important recommendations which, if adopted, will go a long way toward restoring public confidence in college athletics.

“Intercollegiate athletics exist first and foremost for the student-athletes who participate, whether male or female, majority or minority, whether they play football in front of 50,000 or field hockey 10 front of their friends. It is the university’s obligation to educate all of them.”

To accomplish this aim, our Commission proposed what we called “the one-plus-three model,” which we termed “the foundation on which those who care about higher education and student-athletes can build permanent reform.”

The “one” refers to “presidential control,” which would be carried out by the chief executive officers of universities taking control in three areas:

  • “Academic integrity,” fulfilling the “fundamental premise that athletes are students as well.”
  • “Financial integrity,” meaning that the presidents should exert primary control over all aspects of the financial operations of their athletic programs.
  • “Certification,” meaning presidents should establish “independent authentication by an outside body of the integrity of each institution’s athletic program.”

“The Commission’s bedrock conviction is that university presidents are the key to successful reform,” our report said. “They must be in charge — and be understood to be in charge — on campuses, in conferences, and in the decision-making councils of the NCAA.”

Our 47-page report includes many specific recommendations which will be developed into legislation for consideration by the NCAA. Also, to insure that our Commission’s report doesn’t sit in a drawer gathering dust, the Commission will stay in existence for at least another year to monitor, encourage and facilitate the implementation of our recommendations.

Understandably, we could have made additional observations and suggestions. For instance, we must restore civility and sportsmanship to college sports among athletes, coaches and fans.

Furthermore, we should remember that the public neither wants nor expects the level of competition that we have at the professional level. Fans fill up Kenan Stadium and the Smith Center because of our desire to return to Chapel Hill, to witness the color and pageantry of two historical rivals competing in sports, and to share the emotions associated with college students participating in or observing college athletics.

While we should not invite the professional leagues to exercise greater control over college sports, we should explore how colleges and universities can be appropriately compensated for providing a “farm system” for the professional football and basketball leagues. It’s wrong for the professional leagues to make millions while most college sports programs run deficits.

The media immensely benefit from society’s preoccupation with sports. It is no accident that print and electronic media all give significant time and/or space to sports. And college sports provide significant programming for television and radio. Properly presented, such focus is healthy and the revenue generated can help to underwrite a comprehensive athletics program. In addition, the media have used their investigative powers to expose the abuses in sports and have helped to create a climate that encourages reform.

But while the media have played a positive role, they have, too often, also been part of the problem. When television dictates the starting times for athletic contests which results in student athletes competing late into the night and even early morning hours on a school night, academic values are compromised in favor of commercial demands. Likewise, when point spreads are printed in daily papers, the public and student athletes are reminded that an underground is profiting from what should be a “game.” And when student athletes are subjected to a cynical press which presumes them to be “dumb jocks” or guilty of some perceived misconduct without the customary presumption of innocence, basic fairness is eroded and we instill cynicism in the young student athlete as well.

While I knew this before beginning my service on the Commission, having the opportunity to learn more about other colleges’ and universities’ sports programs again confirmed my conviction that we are very fortunate at The University of North Carolina to have a truly exemplary athletic program. Our University administration, athletic department, coaches, athletes and alumni do play by the rules, do insist on “educating” student athletes, and generally behave in a manner that can serve as a model for others.

If higher education is to regain the public support and confidence it once enjoyed and desperately needs, then college sports must continue the recent progress of meaningful reform. Under the guidance of NCAA Executive Director Dick Schultz, with increasing support from athletic conferences like the ACC and under the sustained leadership of college presidents, needed changes are taking place. But college and university presidents and chancellors need support from their governing boards, faculty and alumni.

Near the conclusion of our Commission’s report, we have messages for each of the major constituencies whose active support of our suggested reforms is critical. Our message to alumni is short and clear:

“As a product of your institution, you have a critical role to play in safeguarding its reputation. University presidents, faculty members, and members of governing boards come and go, but you remain.

“In the marketplace, the value of your degree is based on your institution’s reputation today, not the reputation it enjoyed when you were students. You can help protect the stake you hold in that degree by insisting that the athletics program is directed along ethical lines. Through your formal participation in structures such as governing boards, alumni boards, athletic councils and local alumni clubs, you can insist that your institution holds fast to the reform model we present here.”

I hope you will embrace the Statement of Principles that concludes our Commission’s report and which appears on this page. If we don’t find a way to renew our commitment to intercollegiate athletics, then state and federal legislators will do it for us.

Yours at Carolina,

Doug signature

 

 

 

 

Douglas S. Dibbert ’70

NOTE: To receive a copy of our full report, write or call:
Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
301 South Brevard Street
Charlotte, North Carolina 28203 (704)376-8124


A Statement of Principles

Preamble: This institution is committed to a philosophy of firm institutional control of athletics, to the unquestioned academic and financial integrity of our athletics program, and to the accountability of the athletics department to the values and goals befitting higher education. In support of that commitment, the board, officers, faculty and staff of this institution have examined and agreed to the following general principles as a guide to our participation in intercollegiate athletics:
I. The educational values, practices and mission of this institution determine the standard by which we conduct our intercollegiate athletics program.
II. The responsibility and authority for the administration of the athletics department, including all basic policies, personnel and finances, are vested in the president.
Ill. The welfare, health and safety of student-athletes are primary concerns of athletics administration on this campus. This institution will provide student-athletes with the opportunity for academic experiences as close as possible to the experiences of their classmates.
IV. Every student-athlete — male and female, majority and minority, in all sports — will receive equitable and fair treatment.
V. The admission of student-athletes — including junior college transfers — will be based on their showing reasonable promise of being successful in a course of study leading to an academic degree. That judgment will be made by admissions officials.
VI. Continuing eligibility to participate in intercollegiate athletics will be based on students being able to demonstrate each academic term that they will graduate within five years of their enrolling. Students who do not pass this test will not play.
VII. Student-athletes, in each sport, will be graduated in at least the same proportion as nonathletes who have spent comparable time as full-time students.
VIII. All funds raised and spent in connection with intercollegiate athletics programs will be channeled through the institution’s general treasury, not through independent groups, whether internal or external. The athletics department budget will be developed and monitored in accordance with general budgeting procedures on campus.
IX. All athletics-related income from non-university sources for coaches and athletics administrators will be reviewed and approved by the university. In cases where the income involves the university’s functions, facilities or name, contracts will be negotiated with the institution.
X. We will conduct annual academic and fiscal audits of the athletics program. Moreover, we intend to seek NCAA certification that our athletics program complies with the principles herein. We will promptly correct any deficiencies and will conduct our athletics program in a manner worthy of this distinction.


Knight Commission Members

Lamar Alexander
Secretary
U.S. Department of Education

Creed C. Black
President
Knight Foundation

Douglas S. Dibbert
Executive Director
General Alumni Association University of North Carolina

John A. DiBiaggio
President
Michigan State University

William C. Friday
President Emeritus
University of North Carolina System

Thomas K. Hearn Jr.
President
Wake Forest University

The Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.c.
President Emeritus
University of Notre Dame

J. Lloyd Huck
Chairman
Nova Pharmaceutical Corp.

Bryee Jordan
President Emeritus
Pennsylvcmia State University

Richard W. Kazmaier
President
Kazmaier Associates, Inc.

Donald R. Keough
President
The Coca-Cola Company

Martin A. Massengale
President
University of Nebraska

The Honorable Tom McMillen
House of Representatives

Chase N. Peterson
President
University of Utah

Jane C. Pfeiffer
Management Consultant

A. Kenneth Pye
President
Southern Methodist University

Richard D. Schultz
Executive Director
National Collegiate Athletic Association

Donna E. Shalala
Chancellor
University of Wisconsin-Madison

LeRoy T. Walker
Chancellor Emeritus
North Carolina Central University

James J. Whalen
President
Ithaca College

Clifton R. Wharton Jr.
Chairman &. CEO
TIAA-CREF

Charles E. Young
Chancellor
University of California, Los Angeles


 

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