Faculty Athletics Task Force: Subcommittee of Student Life

1. Faculty Athletics Task Force:Subcommittee of Student Life Bruce Oppenheimer Stokes Peebles, chair Doug Perkins Virginia Shepherd Sharon Shields Marshall Summar

2. Specific concerns related to athletics in the Vanderbilt community • Academic advising • Admission standards • Student athlete majors (distribution should mirror overall student body) • Student-athlete academic progress and graduation • Scheduling of games and practices interfere with academic endeavors

3. Areas in which faculty may be able to assist in ongoing athletic programs • Participation in faculty fellows program • Assist in recruiting - attend dinners, meet with recruits, academic program advice, etc. • Meeting regularly with coaches • Assist in academic advising • Serve on search committees for athletic administration and coaches • Involvement in setting admissions standards

4. Meetings with coaches-genuinely want more interaction with faculty • Coaches feel isolated from the rest of the university community • Attractive aspect of being at Vanderbilt: strong academic reputation, but the coaches do not interact with the academic side of the university • Want to know professors in various departments

5. Coaches Concerns • Class selection for upperclassmen is difficult • Summer school budget only for football and basketball student-athletes • In individual cases, both faculty advisors and academic advisors within the athletic department have dissuaded student-athletes from more time consuming majors • Lack of career counseling for all students

6. Student-Athlete Concerns • Possibility of scholarship reduction or elimination without knowledge of student with little warning • “Funneling” student-athletes into specific majors which are perceived as more friendly to athletes in terms of grading, advising, and time constraints that interfere with practices

7. Student-Athlete Concerns • Lack of communication between athletic academic counselors and academic department academic advisors • Athletic academic counselor turnover rate has been very high and thus these counselors do not understand requirements for majors • Individual student-athlete academic problems not recognized in timely fashion

8. Student-Athlete Concerns • Some coaches are not recognizing student-athlete class schedules and special academic projects and events • Priority of summer school opportunities: • Revenue generating sports have much greater access compared to other sports • Student athletes who are “struggling” also given priority

9. Student-Athlete Concerns • Pressure to keep individual and group problems within the athletic community and not seek university-wide help • All health issues must go through training staff and use of student health discouraged to maintain pressure to compete • Use of university resources for social and personal problems discouraged

10. Student-Athlete Concerns • Student-athletes do not have annual opportunity to evaluate coaches and academic advisors to enforce accountability of athletic staff (presently only seniors have “exit interview” opportunities)