Fair or Unfair: Athlete Attendance Policy
_ By Whitney Page
posted Dec. 16, 2011
She was the starting point guard for ETSU's Lady Buccaneers. In her final season, she played in all 31 games, averaged 15.5 points per game and she led her team to a 19-12 season. Tara Davis' biggest accomplishment came when she walked across ETSU's Mountain States Health Alliance Athletic Center's center stage, to receive her college diploma.
It took her four years, but Davis managed to earn the starting point guard position for her team and finish nursing school to become a Registered Nurse. Registering for classes as a student-athlete was hard from day one.
"Before every semester, they [coaches] print out what days we're going to miss, the game days, and you have to get that signed face-to-face," said Davis. "That saved us."
"We can't be punished for a university-mandated event, basically which is our sporting events," said Davis. "But there are some teachers that might not punish you for the days you've been gone, but they make your life hell."
Student athletes have long had to deal with strict time management. Student athletes and their athletic advisors have to pick harder classes according to their off-season schedules.
Once Davis got admitted into ETSU's nursing school, she also got the starting job for the Lady Buccaneers.
"I had to take summer classes, because I was gonna miss a lot of days," said Davis. "I wasn't gonna make it to my [nursing] clinicals because I was gonna have games. I didn't know if I was completed or if I was gonna take an incomplete."
"We're [student athletes] not trying to just get by," said Davis. "We're doing this because we want to be doing it."
Student athletes not only have to maintain a certain grade point average.They carry the pride of ETSU on their backs. In order to do this, they must miss class occasionally in order to travel and play.
It is not easy. Each semester, Charvi Greer, athletic advisor, has to sit down with each athlete to determine a schedule that fits their individual needs. Not only does Greer have to take into account the degree each student athlete is pursuing, but their sports schedule too. In the off season, it is not difficult to place a student athlete in a class. However, during their season, Greer has to take into account the absentee policies that each professor has, and whether or not that student will exceed the set number of absences because of their sports schedule.
"I'm not 100 percent sure as to why certain professors aren't as understanding as they should be because it is university policy to allow those student athletes to miss class for those activities."
-Charvi Greer, athletic advisor
ETSU's current absentee policy does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences. For student athletes, the current policy allows them to miss scheduled classes for games.
There are other members of the student body who feel pressure from this policy. SGA President Dalton Collins is in his last year at ETSU. His Argumentation and Debate teacher has a set number of absences, six, that can be missed. Because excused and unexcused absences are considered the same under ETSU policy, Collins is treading in deep water.
As a member of SGA and Tennessee Higher Education Committee, Collins finds himself away from campus often, and sometimes during his schedules class times.
"I've planned it out to where I'll miss five classes," said Collins. "And that's fine. I'm right on the borderline. I will not fail…but if I am traveling and am in lets say a car accident and am hospitalized for a few days and I miss the class its an excused absence, I'll have a medical excuse, but I will still fail the course."
That is why Collins and his fellow SGA representatives are putting forth an amendment to ETSU's Academic Council this week. The council, made up of deans and department chairs, will see an amendment to the current attendance policy.
Collins is not asking for the policy to be wiped from the handbook. However, he wants the council to consider making a distinction between excused and unexcused absences, and making participation in university sponsored activities a part of that excused absence category. His main goal is to advance student involvement on campus, without fear of punishment.
"They [students participating in university sponsored events] are going out to represent the university," said Greer. "They're generally portraying a positive image for the university. I think they're bringing some positive publicity to the university. Missing class is an unfortunate side effect of having to participate in those university activities, but I think in the long run, I think its a positive thing for the university as a whole."
Of the big four state universities in Tennessee, the University of Memphis is the only school to put forth guidelines in their student handbook about why there is an absentee policy. At ETSU, 87 percent of students receive federal or state loans. The University of Memphis makes it clear that attendance is necessary to fulfill the statutes of loans.
Collins, a supporter of an absentee policy, believes that students need to go to class. Each class session costs about 27 dollars per student. With so many students receiving loans, Collins admits that it is necessary for students to attend class, and for teachers to be able to put forward individual attendance policies, not only because of federal and state loans, but because going to class creates a sense of accountability and responsibility in students.
Dr. Joe Sherlin, Vice Provost for Student Affairs, is a member of the academic council that received Collins' amendment. While Dr. Sherlin understands why the SGA and other university-sponsored event members have such concerns, he does not support the amendment in whole.
"I think the current policy strikes a balance by allowing the faculty to set expectations for attendance within a particular learning environment, and also instructing faculty members to work with students who are participating in university sponsored activities within the framework that is set," said Sherlin. "I think academic departments should have the discretion to determine what is acceptable in terms of class attendance for a particular subject and learning environment."
However, Dr. Sherlin believes it is important that the current policy be reviewed and that accommodations be built into the policy if they seem reasonable.
The one thing Collins and the rest of the SGA is asking of the academic council, is to include other students in the university-mandated events category, not just student athletes.
"We support the ability of departments to make a decision as far as attendance policies, we're not attacking that whatsoever," said Collins. "We want protections built into the university's policy for this excused, unexcused absence, I'm going to call it a fiasco, that we're experiencing. Quite frankly, it punishes some of our best students and some of the people who've invested so much on this campus."
Contact Whitney Page at [email protected]
posted Dec. 16, 2011
She was the starting point guard for ETSU's Lady Buccaneers. In her final season, she played in all 31 games, averaged 15.5 points per game and she led her team to a 19-12 season. Tara Davis' biggest accomplishment came when she walked across ETSU's Mountain States Health Alliance Athletic Center's center stage, to receive her college diploma.
It took her four years, but Davis managed to earn the starting point guard position for her team and finish nursing school to become a Registered Nurse. Registering for classes as a student-athlete was hard from day one.
"Before every semester, they [coaches] print out what days we're going to miss, the game days, and you have to get that signed face-to-face," said Davis. "That saved us."
"We can't be punished for a university-mandated event, basically which is our sporting events," said Davis. "But there are some teachers that might not punish you for the days you've been gone, but they make your life hell."
Student athletes have long had to deal with strict time management. Student athletes and their athletic advisors have to pick harder classes according to their off-season schedules.
Once Davis got admitted into ETSU's nursing school, she also got the starting job for the Lady Buccaneers.
"I had to take summer classes, because I was gonna miss a lot of days," said Davis. "I wasn't gonna make it to my [nursing] clinicals because I was gonna have games. I didn't know if I was completed or if I was gonna take an incomplete."
"We're [student athletes] not trying to just get by," said Davis. "We're doing this because we want to be doing it."
Student athletes not only have to maintain a certain grade point average.They carry the pride of ETSU on their backs. In order to do this, they must miss class occasionally in order to travel and play.
It is not easy. Each semester, Charvi Greer, athletic advisor, has to sit down with each athlete to determine a schedule that fits their individual needs. Not only does Greer have to take into account the degree each student athlete is pursuing, but their sports schedule too. In the off season, it is not difficult to place a student athlete in a class. However, during their season, Greer has to take into account the absentee policies that each professor has, and whether or not that student will exceed the set number of absences because of their sports schedule.
"I'm not 100 percent sure as to why certain professors aren't as understanding as they should be because it is university policy to allow those student athletes to miss class for those activities."
-Charvi Greer, athletic advisor
ETSU's current absentee policy does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences. For student athletes, the current policy allows them to miss scheduled classes for games.
There are other members of the student body who feel pressure from this policy. SGA President Dalton Collins is in his last year at ETSU. His Argumentation and Debate teacher has a set number of absences, six, that can be missed. Because excused and unexcused absences are considered the same under ETSU policy, Collins is treading in deep water.
As a member of SGA and Tennessee Higher Education Committee, Collins finds himself away from campus often, and sometimes during his schedules class times.
"I've planned it out to where I'll miss five classes," said Collins. "And that's fine. I'm right on the borderline. I will not fail…but if I am traveling and am in lets say a car accident and am hospitalized for a few days and I miss the class its an excused absence, I'll have a medical excuse, but I will still fail the course."
That is why Collins and his fellow SGA representatives are putting forth an amendment to ETSU's Academic Council this week. The council, made up of deans and department chairs, will see an amendment to the current attendance policy.
Collins is not asking for the policy to be wiped from the handbook. However, he wants the council to consider making a distinction between excused and unexcused absences, and making participation in university sponsored activities a part of that excused absence category. His main goal is to advance student involvement on campus, without fear of punishment.
"They [students participating in university sponsored events] are going out to represent the university," said Greer. "They're generally portraying a positive image for the university. I think they're bringing some positive publicity to the university. Missing class is an unfortunate side effect of having to participate in those university activities, but I think in the long run, I think its a positive thing for the university as a whole."
Of the big four state universities in Tennessee, the University of Memphis is the only school to put forth guidelines in their student handbook about why there is an absentee policy. At ETSU, 87 percent of students receive federal or state loans. The University of Memphis makes it clear that attendance is necessary to fulfill the statutes of loans.
Collins, a supporter of an absentee policy, believes that students need to go to class. Each class session costs about 27 dollars per student. With so many students receiving loans, Collins admits that it is necessary for students to attend class, and for teachers to be able to put forward individual attendance policies, not only because of federal and state loans, but because going to class creates a sense of accountability and responsibility in students.
Dr. Joe Sherlin, Vice Provost for Student Affairs, is a member of the academic council that received Collins' amendment. While Dr. Sherlin understands why the SGA and other university-sponsored event members have such concerns, he does not support the amendment in whole.
"I think the current policy strikes a balance by allowing the faculty to set expectations for attendance within a particular learning environment, and also instructing faculty members to work with students who are participating in university sponsored activities within the framework that is set," said Sherlin. "I think academic departments should have the discretion to determine what is acceptable in terms of class attendance for a particular subject and learning environment."
However, Dr. Sherlin believes it is important that the current policy be reviewed and that accommodations be built into the policy if they seem reasonable.
The one thing Collins and the rest of the SGA is asking of the academic council, is to include other students in the university-mandated events category, not just student athletes.
"We support the ability of departments to make a decision as far as attendance policies, we're not attacking that whatsoever," said Collins. "We want protections built into the university's policy for this excused, unexcused absence, I'm going to call it a fiasco, that we're experiencing. Quite frankly, it punishes some of our best students and some of the people who've invested so much on this campus."
Contact Whitney Page at [email protected]