[jwinslow]

Academics Questioned at Michigan - The Quad Blog - NYTimes.com

January 14, 2009, 6:12 pm Academics Questioned at Michigan

By Pete Thamel In the convoluted world of college athletics and education, sometimes it takes a while for academics to acknowledge what appears to be obvious. That’s what happened at the University of Michigan, where The Ann Arbor News ran a series of articles last March with evidence that 251 athletes took independent study classes between 2004 and 2007 with the same professor and their grades were radically higher than in their regular classes. The series made it obvious that many of these athletes were steered to the professor, John Hagen, to help keep their eligibility. (Michigan, of course, denied this, kicking and screaming.)



The articles offered a rare peek behind the eligibility shell game played at so many colleges, as football stars like Gabe Watson played four years yet somehow fell 35 credits short of graduation. It also detailed how the kinesiology major is used as an avenue to admit student-athletes, who then transfer out before the difficult classes required of the degree. Many jumped to general studies, a major nearly half-filled with athletes, who make up 3 percent of the university student body.

?”Remove the management of the academic counselors in the Academic Success Program from the Athletic Department, transferring it to the dean’s office in the College of LS&A (Literature, Science and the Arts).”

?”Stiffen the oversight of the general studies degree in the College of LS&A by requiring the college’s academic advisers to make students come up with an individualized course of study.”

?”Remove the task of hearing appeals of student athletes who wish to stay academically eligible to participate in sports from the Committee on Academic Performance.”

Nothing really shocking here (as most schools "guide" their players through school), but it does legitimize what Harbaugh claimed (for which he was declared a traitorous tall tale teller).