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Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). © 2010 by American College Personnel Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

DOI: 10.1002/abc.20006

oversCheduled AND overCoMMitted

The lives of student athletes.

By noël harmon

I’Ve JUst hUNG UP the phone from another confer-ence call with the new american college person-nel association (acpa) task force for campus recreation and athletics. i am excited about the potential of this task force and inspired by the prospective contributions the group hopes to make to the acpa membership. like any new

committee, we have spent much time and thought in defining our mission and goals for the future, both short-term and long-term.

the idea for this task force was first formulated by a group of interested individuals at the 2008 acpa conference in atlanta, and our first official meeting was held during the acpa conference in the washington, D.c., metropolitan area. i have found the process invigorating but also perplexing, in a way. i have won-dered why campus recreation and athletics have not been topics worthy of serious consideration until now. not only have college students been competing in for-mal athletics since the early 1800s, but college sports have been woven into the very fabric of most college campuses, affecting not only student athletes but the college and university community as well.

i have worked in higher education for almost ten years, and admittedly, only since returning to gradu-ate school in 2005, where i worked in athletic student services for four years, have i seen how complex stu-

dent athlete issues are—and how relevant to the work i did previously. collegiate athletics has exploded into a multimillion-dollar enterprise that has brought with it a host of issues, including the exploitation of student athletes, concerns about student athletes’ academic success and low graduation rates, cheating by student athletes and staff, and misbehavior and crimes com-mitted by student athletes, coaches, and athletics staff. each of these issues contributes to a low perception of student athletes and athletics in general by members of the university community, including student peers, faculty, and staff. as student affairs practitioners, we often feel separate from the world of athletics, and in many cases, we actually are separate from athlet-ics. But the issues that student athletes confront are relevant because of the intense spotlight in which they now operate, and they are a subpopulation that urgently needs our attention.

there are a number of good reasons to encourage a focus on the student athlete population. first, support from student affairs professionals is critical to student iden-tity development and to developing a comprehensive sense of self. in 1989, susan Birrell noted that athletics is an extremely racialized and gendered space. a high percentage of student athletes (especially in revenue-producing sports such as football and basketball) are students of color, many of whom are labeled at risk

BOTTOM LINE

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because they are underprepared academically. student athletes of color often have cultural barriers with which to contend, especially when competing at large Divi-sion i predominantly white institutions where there is a consistent lack of coaches and staff of color to act as role models and mentors. student athletes of color in non-revenue-producing sports often face isolation and developmental struggles when they find themselves to be the only person of color on their team. as wil-liam parham points out, when viewed in the context of race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or physi-cal or learning disabilities, the challenges of a student athlete become even more complicated to negotiate.

second, research, such as that reported by patricia lally and gretchen Kerr in 2005, suggests that student athletes may be less able to formulate mature educa-tional and career plans than their non-athlete peers. Despite the relatively small percentage of student ath-letes who have the oppor-tunity or ability to play professionally, many stu-dent athletes, especially those who identify strongly with being an athlete, focus on professional playing careers to the detriment of their academic experience in college. courses are often chosen to fit busy schedules and not to support interests or even to challenge and support academic ability.

finally, while some research shows that student athletes have highly developed time management skills, high self-esteem and discipline, and a well-developed self-concept or that they achieve independence, student athletes are often isolated from their non-athlete peers, both physically and socially, and have little time to explore other aspects of their identity or academic and cocurricular experiences, according to a.p. ferrante,

edward etzel, and christopher lantz. the dynamics of the culture of collegiate athletics is a key concern for anyone who works with student athletes. as edu-cators, we play an important role in shaping both the academic and cocurricular lives of student athletes, as well as guiding them toward fulfilling career goals.

as a profession, we have seen the definition of the “whole student” evolve to encompass a wide range of students, their needs, and thus our responsibility to support and nurture those needs. from that per-spective, the unique collegiate experiences of student

athletes compel us to re-examine how we can best support their learning and development. we need to look at ways to support their academic interests, design cocurricular activi-ties that include socializa-tion with non-athletes, and provide career devel-opment opportunities that include internships that are not traditionally available to athletes.

PeRhAPs the first steps toward bridging the

chasm between athletics and student affairs involves examining our perceptions of student athletes and ath-letics, educating ourselves

about the student athlete experience, and finding ways to collaborate in meaningful ways with athletics staff and other educators who are interested in supporting the learning and development of student athletes.

why are we often quick to allow negative stereo-typing to bias and influence our perceptions of student athletes when they so desperately need our support and attention? why are we so conflicted when it comes to student athletes and athletics in general? research on faculty and staff attitudes toward student athletes—for example, by catherine engstrom and william sedlacek—continues to find that athletes contend with negative stereotypes from their peers and faculty, espe-cially in regard to academic competence, special ser-vices, and recognition. in addition, research by edward etzel, a. p. ferrante, and James pinkney has found that misperceptions of student athletes as dumb jocks or as an overprivileged group of academically undermo-tivated individuals have led to a lack of understand-ing and a lack of support for one of the most diverse

Noël Harmon recently graduated from the University of iowa with a doctorate in student affairs administration and research. she is currently teaching undergraduate and gradu-ate courses at U. of iowa in multiculturalism.

we love feedback. send letters to executive editor Jean m. henscheid (aboutcampus@uidaho.edu), and please copy her on notes to authors.

stUDent athletes of color

often have cUltUral

Barriers with which to

contenD, especially when

competing at large

Division i preDominantly

white institUtions where

there is a consistent

lacK of role moDels

anD mentors.

28 aBoUt campUs / JanUary–feBrUary 2010

student populations on college campuses today. more revealing is the disturbing link that parham describes between those perceptions and race.

when i began working in athletic student ser-vices a little over four years ago, i brought with me a host of biases and stereotypes, many of which i wasn’t conscious of until i began working with students. it was intimidating to walk around the athletic services center, surrounded by football players i’d only seen on the news or read about in papers, towering basket-ball players, and strong, confident, athletic women. however, i quickly learned that these were also just students, struggling with their course work, explor-ing their identity, and learning to navigate social rela-tionships, but with the added responsibility of twenty hours a week devoted to their sport—twenty hours! the physical demands of being an athlete and the concomitant impact on student athletes’ learning and development is some-thing difficult to under-stand unless we have been or are athletes ourselves. as an avid marathoner, i understand the physical and psychological toll that training takes on the body and the mind. however, as an adult and a graduate student, i have flexibility in my life and schedule. Unlike our student ath-letes, i do not have my entire day pre-planned for me. i am not required by a scholarship contract to lift weights at 6 a.m., go to class, put in hours at the learning center, and then give 100 percent at a four-hour practice in the after-noon, and that doesn’t include the grueling travel schedule that leaves little time for rest and much-needed sleep.

in working with student athletes, i have begun to understand how regimented their schedules are, how quickly they have to learn time management skills, and the amount of responsibility they have to their team-mates, their coaches, and the athletic staff, in addition to being a student. i learned that athletes are not lazy; they are genuinely tired, even those making the very best choices with their time. i learned that athletes are not dumb jocks but articulate, thoughtful, and highly intelligent young adults whose academic interests and talents often go unnoticed or uncultivated. i had many

encounters that were surprising to me in that first year, like the starting basketball player who excelled in basket-ball but even more so in his statistics class, the football player who was always waiting outside the computer lab before it opened at 8 a.m. to work on revising his english papers, and the young women’s basketball player who worked diligently to balance her challenging course work with her demanding practice schedule.

i realized that unlike their non-athlete peers, student athletes are often thrown into very adult and political situations that highlight their naïveté, exploit their inex-perience, downplay the physical effort they exert every day, and very rarely celebrate or report their accomplish-ments either academically or athletically. i realized that i’d been socialized to believe that these collegiate athletes were larger-than-life stars or celebrities and not college

men and women between seventeen and twenty-one years of age. student ath-letes need interaction with student affairs profession-als who are knowledgeable about their situation as stu-dent athletes and who use that knowledge to inform the work they do with the athletes.

to stARt, we need to eval-uate our own percep-

tions of student athletes and athletics in general. our attitudes may affect how we work with both athletes and potential col-laborators or allies in ath-

letics. we live in a media age of continuous new cycles that demand getting the story, whether it is true or accurate, and athletes are often the targets. But we need to ask, “what is not being said?” and “who ben-efits from this story?” we need to think deeply about our socialization into an athletic culture that values the story over the truth and examine how we’ve come by our own perceptions and perhaps even stereotypes of student athletes and athletics. we need to ask ourselves why we continue to hold onto those negative percep-tions when we fight so hard to shed ourselves of other negative stereotyping. how do we know what we know about student athletes?

our student athletes suffer from negative stereotyp-ing from their non-athlete peers, faculty, and even stu-dent affairs professionals. many athletes are socialized to believe that everyone they encounter believes them to

misperceptions of

stUDent athletes as DUmB

JocKs or acaDemically

UnDermotivateD inDiviDUals

have leD to a lacK of

sUpport for one of the

most Diverse stUDent

popUlations on college

campUses toDay.

29 aBoUt campUs / JanUary–feBrUary 2010

actually be a stereotype. we need to commit to being allies of student athletes by being accurately informed and critical in the informa-tion we consume. and we need to tell them we sup-port them and then act in ways that demonstrate our knowledge of their experi-ence and genuine interest in helping them succeed.

we need to l ea rn more about the student a t h l e t e ’ s e xpe r i ence . according to data gath-ered by Janet lawrence, lori hendricks, and molly ott for the ncaa’s Knight commission reports on faculty perceptions of intercollegiate athletics, faculty report knowing very little about their institution’s ath-letic program. we need to gather accurate information about our institutions’ athletic programs, including the policies and regulations to which our student athletes must adhere, and offer our assistance and support with programs that may be in place, such as the champs life skills and diversity programming sponsored by the ncaa. if we are going to support our student ath-letes, we must know more about their experiences, and that means having an understanding of their roles and responsibilities as scholarship athletes.

many institutions, especially those with Division i programs, have student service offices for athletes and academic coordinators who work to support student athletes. however, these offices are often isolated from the rest of campus and from other student affairs pro-fessionals on campus. on many college campuses, there appears to be a gap between professionals who are working essentially for the same purpose and goal—the welfare of the student. collaboration would mean shared expertise and support, which would benefit stu-dents by creating intentional programming grounded in informed research and practice.

As AcPA WelcoMes a new task force to specifically engage the membership on issues related to stu-

dent athletes and campus recreation, i urge us to take

this time to examine our perception of student ath-letes and athletics. perhaps this new committee can be an impetus for us to reflect on what we know and what we want to know about the student athlete experience. i am calling for us to examine how in our own individual roles as educators we can reach out to support our student athletes and explore ways to collaborate across cam-pus constituencies in order to best meet their needs and foster their individual

growth and learning during their unique collegiate experience.

Notes

Birrell, s. (1989). racial relations theories and sport: suggestions for a more critical analysis. Sociology of Sport Journal, 6, 212–227.

engstrom, c., & sedlacek, w. (1991). a study of the prejudice toward university student-athletes. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 189–193.

etzel, e. f., ferrante, a. p., and pinkney, J. w. (2002). Counseling college student athletes: Issues and interven-tions. 2nd ed. morgantown, wv: fitness information technology, inc.

ferrante, a. p., etzel, e. f., & lantz, c. (2002). counseling college student-athletes: the problem, the need. in e. f. etzel, a. p. ferrante, & J. w. pinkney (eds.), Counseling college student athletes: Issues and interventions (pp. 3–26). morgantown, wv: fitness information technology, inc.

lally, p., & Kerr, g. (2005). the career planning, athletic identity, and student role identity of intercollegiate stu-dent athletes. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 76, 275–285.

lawrence, J. h, hendricks, l. a., ott, m. c. (2007). Faculty perceptions of intercollegiate athletics: A National Study of Faculty at NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Institutions. University of michigan. center for the study of higher and postsecondary education.

parham, w. D. (2002). Diversity within intercollegiate athletics. in e. f. etzel, a. p. ferrante, & J. w. pinkney (eds.), Counseling college student athletes: Issues and interventions (pp. 27–49). morgantown, wv: fitness information technology, inc.

if we are going to sUpport

oUr stUDent athletes, we

mUst Know more aBoUt

their experiences, anD

that means having an

UnDerstanDing of their

roles anD responsiBilities as

scholarship athletes.

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