In an interesting post today in Bleacher Report, there is a discussion of the ongoing situation at the University of Michigan, as well as at UNC. While the article does not talk about Michigan much, it does raise an interesting point as regards athletics at universities. Many people have been complaining for years that the "student" part of student-athlete has been de-emphasized, and many of the athletes who play revenue sports (men's basketball and football) are used by schools, and then spit out when their eligibility is up. Many schools, especially in the Big Ten, have been trying to combat this, and athlete graduation rates are up to record highs in the conference. However, there is a new NCAA President who is looking to get tough on compliance and reemphasize academics, and this could bode badly for both Michigan and UNC. Although UNC has much more serious violations, which regard academic dishonesty.
However, it also raises interesting questions about admissions. Should a student who is not as qualified but plays a sport be given admission preference over someone who is more academically qualified but does not play a sport? Pretty much every school does this, even Ivy League schools that don't claim to offer athletic scholarships, but many people would say this is unfair. On the one hand, it does up the diversity of a school and bring prestige in terms of national recognition when the school does well in athletics, but it also hurts some students who have worked very hard to get good grades and lose their spot to an athlete.
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