Sports
Here is the focal point of the problem: while it certainly isn’t impossible to find student athletes who can cope with the academics at ND, it is difficult to find enough to fill a championship football team, especially given the competition for prospects. Not impossible, mind you, but very difficult. Keep in mind that the “academics” problem at Notre Dame is a football problem, not an overall sports problem . . . last time I checked, Duke has a pretty good basketball program, and Stanford has claimed the overall NCAA Division I athletics crown for ten years in a row. And, as far as Notre Dame is concerned, they have two national championships since 2001; the problem is that one is in women’s basketball (2001), and the other is in women’s soccer (Q: One state is the nexus of collegiate soccer in 2004; what is that state? A: Indiana, which has a men’s title at IU and a women’s title at ND). Now, what’s the problem with making academic life a little more relaxed for athletes? What’s wrong with letting a football player graduate in a custom designed major more suited to his academic skills?
The problem with dumbing down the curriculum is this: if athletes are not held to the same general standards as the rest of the student body, then they no longer truly represent the student body, and by extension, they no longer truly represent the university. Notre Dame defines itself as a morally concerned institution with high academic standards, and all Notre Dame students should reflect these values to some degree. So, the undergrad novelist has an academic bent, the undergrad activist has an academic bent, the undergrad pianist has an academic bent, and the student athlete has an academic bent (all relative, of course). Different universities have different missions, and the student athletes need to be part of their school’s mission, not hired guns (unpaid, exploited hired guns) wearing the school uniform. Once again, it’s not that the student athlete has to perform exactly the same tasks that normal students do . . . sure, let them turn papers in late, get them all the extra tutors they need, let them take makeup exams . . . but make sure they are true students.
The problem with exclusivity is that it excludes people; and the problem with academic exclusivity is that the people excluded are not only those without the necessary academic skills, but those who never had the chance to develop the necessary academic skills. The idea that academics are colorblind is false, but not necessarily false. Americans in general try to put things in scientific, objective terms, and the standards of academic achievement seem to be as objective as objective gets: there are clearly defined goals, and those who meet those goals score well, and therefore define themselves as academically fit. Theoretically, that is correct, but only if everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in the definition of academic achievement. If academics were a race that everyone started at the same line, then academics would be colorblind. But, as we all know, high schools differ widely in their ability to prepare students for academic advancement. And, while the defining characteristic of the problem is economic more than racial, it will continue to be a racial problem as long as people of color are disproportionally represented in the underclass. The idea of colorblind academics could be true, but isn’t: therefore, the idea of colorblind academics is false, but it is not necessarily false.
The exclusivity problem is something that Notre Dame deals with both inside and outside of athletics. As long as Notre Dame has focused on academic achievement, it has accepted those who had access to academic achievement, who were mainly upper-to-upper-middle class whites. The administration has recognized these problems, and always has sought ways to combat their diversity problem, while still maintaining high academic standards. State schools have always had a little bit more leeway: their charter has always been to be inclusive rather than exclusive, to educate those whom they serve, rather than chose whom they educate. So, the state schools have the flexibility to cater curricula to athletes in the same way that they have hotel management programs. To the degree that the underclass (read: minorities) seek athletics as their economic opportunity, they will continue to ignore academics; and institutions who define themselves academically will continue to have problems attracting elite athletes, who tend to come from the underclass.