TA stumbled on this site. It purports to tell Husky athletes how they can fulfill the academic side of their careers, something the UW emphasizes both in Scott Woodward’s (athletic director) note to the incoming athletes and in the press releases we always read.
Look through the site, look at the links where one would expect to see suggestions about possible majors, brags about past Huskies who have achieved success beyond the athletic field, or even an introduction to the many cultural and academic opportunities the UW offers to ALL students.
All that you will find is sad tables like this, without links, bragging about the various areas of UW prestige. No links, no effort to intrigue the students.
What is the message?
A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS (excerpts from Husky Athletics Handbook in TA Library).
Welcome to the 2010-11 season at the University of Washington. Last year the Huskies experienced tremendous success as many of our teams participated in post-season competition, and five of our teams returned to campus as Pac-10 Champions! Success on this level is a testament to the hard work and dedication that you have committed to your sport and to your academic endeavors. The Athletic Department is here to support you as you strive to reach new heights both on the playing field and in the classroom and we encourage you to take full advantage the support services that are provided to you through your coaches, trainers, and athletic department staff.
We are excited to have you here as part of the Husky family and we are committed to providing you with the resources you need to achieve your goals, both academically and athletically. This student-athlete handbook is an important tool for all student-athletes. You will find information presented in the handbook that is critical to your success both as a student and as an athlete. Please take the time to review it, and follow the policies and procedures we have in place. They are for your benefit. If questions arise, do not hesitate to talk to your head coach or speak to the athletic department administrator who oversees your sport. We are looking forward to a great year of Husky athletics. Thank you for being here – it’s great to be a Husky!Go Dawgs!
Scott Woodward Director of Athletics
and in the paragraph in the athlete’s handbook describing our vision for the athlete/student:
VISION STATEMENT FOR STUDENT-ATHLETES
At the University of Washington, student-athletes will have the best possible opportunity to reach their full potential in athletics and academics. Student- athletes will receive individual care and guidance in an environment that demands responsibility and accountability. Student-athletes will be recognized for excellence in both athletics and academics. When student-athletes graduate, they will feel that they have maximized their potential as a student, as an athlete and as a person, and they will have the necessary skills and training to succeed in their future endeavors. As a result of their positive experience at the University of Washington, student-athletes will desire to maintain an on-going relationship with the Athletic Department and the University at large.
And what does the handbook offer? Words about drugs, warnings not to use Twitter, warnings not to disseminate photos of the great fun the athletes have as athletes, … nothing about expectations of academic achievement.
Let me add my two cents. The UW does not even do a decent job at athletic education. Football and basketball are fine, but my son excelled in high school gymnastics. Why doesn’t the UW offer gymnastics for men?
They claim the Athletic Department is there to attract students, I call that horse turds. The UW does not offer collegiate swimming, diving, male gymnastics, or ANY of the other less than a public spectacle sports.
When we were discussing schools for Junior, we looked at the selection of varsity sports at different schools. Whitman, a poor little lib arts school offers swimming. Iowa offers wrestling and swimming, U Mass offer LaCross, Swimming, and Hockey! .. Oregon, home of the Nike Ducks, Old Miss, .. they are just as pathetic as UW.
Parents interested in finding schools that take the idea of student atheltes seriously may wantt to look at http://www.collegescholarships.org/scholarships/sports/gym.htm
Does anyone know why the AD, Scott Woodward, dose NOT have a UW email address?
Why care?
Most faculty, I believe value the teams, but the abuses of athletes who are also academics,academics, the racism in how the UW uses the athletic scholarships, the refusal to actually account for costs to the rest of campus, and the worrisome effect on WA voters of spending 250,000,000 at a time when so much else is at risk (even from donors using state tax free bonding) are all issues. These issues are worsened by the unfortunate role the current President serves on the Nike board and the worrisome model Oregon has for the UW.
This always get my blood pressure boiling. I’ve come to realize that very little or next to NOTHING can be done to reign in the power of athletics over academic in the revenue-generating sports on intercollegiate campuses. College presidents their lost their jobs trying to do so, and many faculty are too busy cheering. Faculty who have fought back, such as Murray Sperber and John Hoberman, have had to go at it alone. The late Miles Brand went to his grave fighting the college athletic establishment, and looks who took his place; “money-bags” and Nike apologist, Mark Emmert… go figure?
When the anti-Affirmative action measure, I-200, passed in 1998, there was no mention of intercollegiate sports. The voting public seemed to have had no problem with what always has been “affirmative-action” for athletes.
We’ve seen where the UW-administration (its impossible to separate them from the AD) will proudly put forth statistics bragging that the graduation rate for African American student-athletes is greater than the rate for African American non student-athletes, with not even a hint of the pathetic irony of such a statement. There still exist a 19th Century mentality that “some” people have, what was referred by one faculty person as, “a God-given ability to play sports.” The converse is. “they” have less abilities at academics.
About two years ago, slick posters littered the main library featuring the basket-ball coach and his players with books in their hands. The message was similar to what some have recently described as the “theater response” to airline security. The point is to make people THINK something is being effective when it isn’t.