FACULTY ATHLETICS REPRESENTATIVE
REPORT TO THE FACULTY SENATE
David A. Dosser, Jr., Ph.D.
1. By way of introduction, let me say that I am a
professor of Marriage and Family Therapy in the Department of Child Development
and Family Relations in the
2. For those of you who may not know, the
faculty athletics representative or FAR provides oversight and advice in the
administration of the athletics program and plays a strategic role to ensure academic
integrity, institutional control of intercollegiate athletics, and enhancement
of the student-athlete experience.
The
FAR is appointed by the Chancellor for a three-year term, and I am in the
second year of my second three-year term.
As the FAR, my immediate supervisor is Provost Sheerer. The position is
provided with 50% release from teaching duties.
So I teach half-time and do FAR duties half time.
Most
importantly, I want to make clear that I DO NOT work for the
department of athletics. I am a faculty member and am paid by academic affairs.
I represent the Chancellor, the Provost, and I represent you as I oversee what
goes on in athletics and work to improve the connection between academics and athletics. You can review my report of activities that
is on the Faculty Senate web page to see what I do as FAR.
3.
This is my fifth report to this body and my second
as a member of this body.
4.
In all my reports so far I have asked for
faculty members, this body, and the University Athletics Committee to become
more active in overseeing what goes on in athletics, ensuring institutional
control of athletics, ensuring academic integrity, and better integrating
athletics into the educational mission of this university. We need to build bridges and decrease
distance.
5.
Recently nearly every group involved in any way
with reforming intercollegiate athletics including the Coalition on
Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA), the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate
Athletics, The Faculty Athletics Representatives Association (FARA), the
Division IA Faculty Athletics Representatives, and the NCAA have called for
greater faculty involvement.
6.
For example, on October 15th the
Knight Commission is holding a faculty summit on faculty perceptions of
intercollegiate athletics. I will be
watching a webcast of this event and encourage others to do so. The results of their survey are available
later today on their website (www.knightcommission.org)
and will be discussed during the summit in addition to strategies for
increasing the role of faculty members.
According to their website the results will include the following:
In a national survey of more than
2,000 faculty members at universities with the country’s most visible athletic
programs, a striking number of professors say they don’t know about and are
disconnected from issues facing college sports. More than a third say they
don’t know about many athletics program policies and practices, including the
financial underpinnings of their campuses’ athletics programs. Furthermore,
more than a third have no opinion about concerns raised by national faculty
athletics reform groups. The largest portion of faculty (41 percent) believe
faculty governance roles on campus associated with the oversight of
intercollegiate athletics are ill defined, and most believe those roles are not
particularly meaningful. On other issues, faculty are often equally divided
between those who are satisfied with the conduct of their institution’s
intercollegiate athletics programs and those who are not.
7.
Getting more faculty involvement here is my
message again today. All faculty and
certainly members of this body need to be informed about what is going on in
athletics. Please be curious and get
involved.
8.
I think most faculty members support efforts
toward reform in intercollegiate athletics, the more complete integration of
athletics into the overall educational mission of the university, and
institutional control of athletics. But what can faculty members do to further
these efforts? How can we build a better
bridge between athletics and academics?
9.
If
athletics is part of the overall educational mission of this university, and it
should be, then faculty members cannot ignore athletics or worse yet see
athletics as the enemy.
10. Faculty
members must recognize that they have a crucial
role in overseeing athletics.
Faculty members must have a voice
and claim that voice, faculty members must have influence and use that influence responsibly for the good of the
university and our students, faculty members must have access to information so that they can be part of the decision-making
and oversight processes, and finally, faculty members must accept ownership of the responsibility for
overseeing athletics.
11. As
we consider: Institutional control,
reform
of intercollegiate athletics, academic integrity in athletics,
and other such concepts, what do they mean for us as faculty members at
ECU? What is our role in of promoting
these desired outcomes?
12. Our
involvement is through this body and one of its committees: the University
Athletics Committee (UAC). The Faculty
Senate through the UAC has oversight responsibility for what goes on in
athletics. Members of the UAC represent
this body and all faculty members and join me as the Faculty Athletics
Representative in working to ensure that academic integrity, rules compliance,
and welfare of student-athletes are maintained in athletics. Please review the Annual Report of the UAC to
see what this committee did last year.
13. I am
impressed with the membership of the UAC this year and it’s leadership with
Professor Felts. I think the UAC will do
a good job representing this body and the faculty.
14. Most
importantly, as faculty members we cannot contribute to the separation of
athletics from academics. Each of you
has a role to play. Please communicate
your concerns and questions to your representatives on the university athletics
committee or to me. Building the bridge
has to be a collaborative effort.
15. Please
also ensure that within your unit student-athletes are treated the same as
other students: no better and certainly
no worse. This is the essence of
academic integrity: fairness for all.
16. I
believe that with all things considered, we are in good shape here with our
athletics program. We have in place a
process whereby faculty can and should have sufficient input into and oversight
of athletics. We already have in place a
structure that closely approximates what reformers of athletics across the
country are calling for. We just need to
keep working to make sure this process works.
17. I
want to conclude my report today with a quick review of how our
student-athletes are doing academically.
They do well for the most part, but they could do better.
18. Many
of you may have read about the Academic Performance Rate (APR) problems with
our basketball team. These concerns are
serious and are being dealt with. At our
last meeting the UAC took a close look at APR scores and reviewed the academic
improvement plans that are in place. We
will continue to work on correcting the problems that got basketball in
trouble, but it will take some time. I
am convinced that our current coaches are doing the right things and that
improvement will be forthcoming. The APR
results are before you for review and on the web page.
19. However,
the APR is only one measure. I want you
to have a broader perspective on how our student-athletes are doing
academically so I have provided three other perspectives.
20. A
quick review of the report from the Academic Integrity Subcommittee, which is before
you and on the Faculty Senate website, reveals that as compared to the overall
student body at ECU our student-athletes are doing well. Please review that report for specifics. Please note that I included similar data from
two previous years for comparison. Let
me draw your attention to Part III of this report – Selected additional
recognition for academic achievements.
21. I
also included a report that reveals how our student-athletes compete
academically with our sister C-USA institutions. Please review the 2006-2007 academic ranking
of squads in C-USA. I think you will
agree that we compete well, especially given the strong academic rating of
C-USA.
22. Finally,
I included the most recent federal graduation rate report for
student-athletes. The report for
2005-2006 will be published later in October.
Again, these results are encouraging.
23. This academic
success can be attributed first to the student-athletes, the vast majority of
whom are committed to being the best students they can be, and second to Ms.
Nita Boyce and her staff in the student development office, who do an impressive
job providing academic support to student-athletes.
24. Finally,
there have been no major problems regarding academic integrity or rules
compliance and the welfare of student-athletes has been maintained. But as faculty we need to continue our vigilance,
involvement, and concern. We all have an
essential role to play in the continued successful integration of athletics
into the overall educational mission of this university.
25. Thanks
for your attention. Are there any
questions?