At NYT Joe Nocera tells the story of Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Michael McAdoo who recently sued the University of North Carolina and the NCAA after he was barred from college athletics for academic cheating.
McAdoo’s crime was that his ex tutor wrote citations to a paper he submitted to a “term paper class”. This fact came to light amid a larger cheating scandal involving a dozen players and the school’s African American studies department. UNC’s honor court ruled that McAdoo should be suspended for a semester, but the NCAA banned him for good. Luckily for McAdoo he was able to sign with the Ravens and earn the league minimum $450,000 this season.
Nocera provides the details. Keep in mind that the journalist has lately been focusing on institutional racism within college sports:
He had been an O.K. student in high school, and his mother, a schoolteacher, was adamant that he get a college education. He told his recruiters he wanted to major in criminal justice.
Once he got on campus, however, he was quickly informed by his academic counselors that North Carolina didn’t have a criminal justice major. According to McAdoo, his counselor picked his major, African-American studies, because it wouldn’t interfere with football practice.
I’m just wondering where is the agency here? It is hard to sympathize with a man who says he wants to be X but has done none of the backwork to find out if X is open to him. With the internet and about two minutes, one can find a listing of any college’s menu of academic majors. I realize that the agency argument can be applied to very many college students who find themselves in dire straits and jobless after graduation. But this is a matter of degree. Where would the type of guy who can’t research his own school’s course menu end up if his football dreams didn’t pan out?
Among the first classes he was “assigned” (as he phrases it) was a Swahili course, an “independent studies” class taught by the department chairman, Julius Nyang’oro. “There wasn’t any class,” McAdoo recalled. “You sign up. You write the paper. You get credit. I had never seen anything like it.” He never once met his professor. Despite the strange circumstances, he researched and wrote the paper. It was that paper that got him in the trouble with the N.C.A.A.
“All the academic counselors knew about the paper classes” — as they were called — “ and they all steered athletes to them,” says Mary Willingham, a former academic counselor at the university.
The next question here focuses on the academic rigor of African American studies. Is it just a coincidence that when it comes time to place students in fluff classes that African American studies becomes the prime choice? I doubt it. A watered-down engineering or even economics class wouldn’t pass the sniff test, and there is a natural kinship between the department and the high number of black athletes.
As for Michael McAdoo, the public humiliation still stings. “I had days when I was so depressed, I could barely get out of bed,” he told me. He feels that he put his trust in an institution that ultimately betrayed him.
“I would still like to get a college degree someday,” he said. “But not at the University of North Carolina. They just wasted my time.”
McAdoo is blowing smoke up our asses and Nocera is facilitating it. This man pretends to be serious about earning a college degree yet he was passively “assigned” classes and, as hammered home above, didn’t know what majors were offered at the school. He didn’t care about academics; few UNC football players, or football players from any school, care too much about academics.
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What a catch-22. Calling it “college” instead of “minor league” facilitates all sorts of crazy tribal alumni spending and donations which then can’t be used to pay the top players the salary they’re worth and forces them into sham degree programs. Yet if it was changed to a minor-league system a la baseball, they wouldn’t be stars and much of the money would dry up. Of course, despite all that, it’s still less corrupt than int’l soccer.
And HBD aside, no way I could concentrate on a tough major if I was an alpha on campus who was constantly practicing and traveling. Greater omegatude is an advantage for accomplishing that.
Even the “good” students are generally just media hype. I recall a few years back the media was gushing over the “fact” that UConn basketball player Kemba Walker had graduated in 3 years. I don’t know if that’s true, but he also admitted that he had never read an entire book.
http://bossip.com/372071/you-cant-be-serious-kemba-walker-admits-to-just-recently-reading-his-first-full-book-ever-43081/
I know African-American studies majors who ‘re truly scholarly; it does get the other types, but it also attracts bright, earnest partisan-left academic types, however misguided I and others believe its canon to be.
I’d bet the most common McDegree for athlete types is the ‘communications’ b.a..
Swahili and football players. See this description of the Swahili “class” at U. of Washington, from Scoreboard, Baby.
http://books.google.com/books?id=LmGgsqZlAjgC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=scoreboard,+baby+swahili&source=bl&ots=WjIw2EySHj&sig=cX70AtZ2tzhC5xsCMCqxAgsOAhA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=D1gRUYO-F4ee2QW29IGwDQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=scoreboard%2C%20baby%20swahili&f=false
If he is saying African American departments should be scrapped, I agree with him. Afrocentrism is already a problem for American blacks, and these studies just make it worse.
In Michael Lewis’ “Blindside”, he writes how criminal justice is the default athlete major because there is no math requirement. It removes a major tutoring and testing problem. I’m not surprised if the AA major is considered a similar athlete niche major. Human development was a big one at Boston College for athletes. Hotel Management is a popular one where offered. There are probably hidden tracks within majors at all schools with at least one big time sports program. History of economics is a track within many econ departments that schools can shift athletes towards for little to no math problems.
I was a TA for athlete track classes when I was in grad school and friends with another TA who did “tutoring” work for the athletics department. Oh, the stories I could tell, if there wasn’t a chance I would tracked down and my life made a living hell. Sad thing is, the athletics at my school mostly suck, except for the teams that don’t get the “track”, like woman’s volleyball.
If he wants to get a college degree, I recommend studying for and taking all the CLEP and DANTES tests he can. If he can go back to school with 60+ credits, then I’d say he is serious.
College is a fucking maze to navigate and if you don’t have someone who is both trustworthy and knowlegeable about the process, you’ll likely get screwed. I now know that I was at a major disadvantage in college because my father never finished high school and had no idea how to provide any guidance.
At a minimum colleges should be required to guarantee tuition and all expenses to atheletes until they graduate no matter how long it takes. Then there would be an incentive to a) admit only academically qualified students and b) help them matriculate within a reasonable time. Atheletic scholarships should be contracts that provide a tangible return to the athelete. Otherwise hire them as employees and pay them accordingly eliminating the need for the dispicable NCAA.
“History of economics is a track within many econ departments that schools can shift athletes towards for little to no math problems”
Ironic, given that if done seriously history of economics is a real bear that demands both quantatitive rigor, foreign languages, and the ability to think inventively – trying to reconstruct the grain market in 17th century Poland or Ming dynasty urban wage trends is not for the faint of heart.
Just let the lunks play in some sort of minor league and stop the whole charade.
Why don’t they all just major in history and/or political science. That ish be easy as all get out.
At a minimum colleges should be required to guarantee tuition and all expenses to atheletes (sic) until they graduate no matter how long it takes. Then there would be an incentive to a) admit only academically qualified students
Holy crap, I think I actually agree with him.
Holy- crap indeed! Though I don’t necessarily agree with AR, I think all Collage sports should be done away with. However, his post was noteworthy, as it has got to be the least worthless comment he has ever graced us with. Bravo Anti-Racist, fine job, you get a sticker.
Kersey,
Another fine post. Keep up the good work.
I’ve noticed something of a trend here lately with some commentators actually advocating the renunciation of certain obligations. Obligations made with open eyes, I would assume.
That’s not cricket, now, is it? To receive the benefit of your bargain, then when pressed, turn your empty pockets inside-out and shrug when the piper comes around?
Can you imagine the utter chaos that would ensue if everyone just shirked their obligations and responsibilities?
I mean, the wheels would come right off this buggy! We can’t just…
Oh, wait a minute…
Hmmm….
Well, it still seems like a niggardly thing to do.
Best to you and yours, Kersey
Why do you write about sports Anti-Racist. Your job is war against racists. You were upset yesterday we feel you Sir. Here to support you. From the back and firm.
I’m sure the “tutor” wrote the entire paper, not just the citations.
OT: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/alabama-football-coach-under-fire-racist-homophobic-rant-221912900.html
Two words for Coach Grisham:
DON’T
APOLOGIZE
I always find it amazing when people who know little about college sports start writing about it.
The first thing to remember is that the same rules of eligiblity and scholarships apply to all sports. It is legally impossible for universities to have one set of rules for football and male basketball players and another set of rules for non-revenue sports. Any college that tried to treat male football players differently than female volleyball players would face a massive lawsuit.
Second, people need to remember that the only sports that give full scholarships are football, basketball, and I believe hockey. Every other sports generally gives partial scholarships. College baseball teams have 24 players but only have nine scholarships to hand out. Thus, most players only get a partial scholarship. The benefit to many of the baseball players is being an athlete can get them into a better college than they would have attended otherwise. Many soccer and lacrosse players are not on scholarship.
Third, the football players cannot be employees of the university due to the tax deduct-ability of contributions to the athletic department, workers compensation issues, and work rules. Most college would have to drop sports if the athletes were made employees.
The newspapers in Ann Arbor, Seattle, and Alabama have written stories about what football players major in. I was surprised to learn that the University of Michigan had a degree in general studies that many of the athletes use. Also athletes cannot major in anything that requires foreign travel, labs, internships, or practicums. That is why football players cannot major in education anymore.
The thing to remember is that at most big time schools, the athletic department is a separate not-for-profit corporation and the football coach is not really an employee of the university.
superdestroyer:
“The first thing to remember is that the same rules of eligiblity and scholarships apply to all sports. It is legally impossible for universities to have one set of rules for football and male basketball players and another set of rules for non-revenue sports. Any college that tried to treat male football players differently than female volleyball players would face a massive lawsuit.”
Whose rules? The NCAA’s? It would be within the power of the NCAA to require that any college granting a full scholarship for athletics be required to keep the student through graduation or voluntary departure into professional sports – that wouldn’t affect the student’s eligibility to play the sport, and the same rules would apply to any sport where there were scholarships, which would satisfy the Title IX requirements.