UNC student athletes held to high academic standards
Online Exclusive
By: Danielle Kucera, Staff Writer
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: University
UNC's Faculty Council discussed benchmarks in athletics and the termination process of tenured faculty at its meeting Friday.
The faculty athletics committee discussed the NCAA's way of monitoring the academic performance of student athletes.
The system measures student-athlete success by an academic progress rate - a number calculated by measuring the academic eligibility and retention of student-athletes each year.
Schools are required to have an APR of at least a 925 out of 1,000 - which equates to a graduation success rate of about 60 percent.
If a team does not meet the 925 requirement, it can lose up to 10 percent of scholarships allowed by NCAA rules each year.
The graduation success rate includes students transferring into the institutions, but allows schools to leave out student athletes who leave their institutions prior to graduation as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.
Officials said they believe an 80 percent graduation success rate is achievable for all UNC athletes.
Garland Hershey, a professor of orthodontics and dentistry, said he was happy to hear a positive report on student athletes' achievements.
"A question that we have heard over the years is, 'What's wrong with college athletics?' I think we just heard a succinct report on what is right with college athletics, especially at the University of North Carolina," Hershey said.
Although men's basketball and baseball teams have the lowest graduation rates at UNC, they have the highest APRs in the ACC, said Lissa Broome, chairwoman of the faculty athletics committee.
Officials also are considering a proposal for a new task force that would allow priority registration for student athletes for a wider range of professional schools.
The Faculty Council also continued its discussion of the post-tenure review and dismissal process from its previous meeting.
At the last meeting, faculty members worried about amendments to the UNC-system Board of Governor's University Code that would include "unsatisfactory performance" as a reason for dismissal.
The grounds for dismissal previously included incompetence, neglect of duty and misconduct.
The Faculty Council voted Friday to support the new proposal, which includes the provision that faculty may be discharged after sustaining unsatisfactory performance and after that faculty member has been given a reasonable amount of time to improve.
Joe Templeton, chairman of the faculty, said he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting and looks forward to the next meeting on Nov. 9.
"I hope you all appreciate that where we are today is a different place, and in my opinion, a better place, than where we were just a month ago."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
The faculty athletics committee discussed the NCAA's way of monitoring the academic performance of student athletes.
The system measures student-athlete success by an academic progress rate - a number calculated by measuring the academic eligibility and retention of student-athletes each year.
Schools are required to have an APR of at least a 925 out of 1,000 - which equates to a graduation success rate of about 60 percent.
If a team does not meet the 925 requirement, it can lose up to 10 percent of scholarships allowed by NCAA rules each year.
The graduation success rate includes students transferring into the institutions, but allows schools to leave out student athletes who leave their institutions prior to graduation as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.
Officials said they believe an 80 percent graduation success rate is achievable for all UNC athletes.
Garland Hershey, a professor of orthodontics and dentistry, said he was happy to hear a positive report on student athletes' achievements.
"A question that we have heard over the years is, 'What's wrong with college athletics?' I think we just heard a succinct report on what is right with college athletics, especially at the University of North Carolina," Hershey said.
Although men's basketball and baseball teams have the lowest graduation rates at UNC, they have the highest APRs in the ACC, said Lissa Broome, chairwoman of the faculty athletics committee.
Officials also are considering a proposal for a new task force that would allow priority registration for student athletes for a wider range of professional schools.
The Faculty Council also continued its discussion of the post-tenure review and dismissal process from its previous meeting.
At the last meeting, faculty members worried about amendments to the UNC-system Board of Governor's University Code that would include "unsatisfactory performance" as a reason for dismissal.
The grounds for dismissal previously included incompetence, neglect of duty and misconduct.
The Faculty Council voted Friday to support the new proposal, which includes the provision that faculty may be discharged after sustaining unsatisfactory performance and after that faculty member has been given a reasonable amount of time to improve.
Joe Templeton, chairman of the faculty, said he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting and looks forward to the next meeting on Nov. 9.
"I hope you all appreciate that where we are today is a different place, and in my opinion, a better place, than where we were just a month ago."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Be the first to comment on this story