The University’s Student-Athlete Academic Initiative Working Group recently recommended that all student athletes be required to attend semesterly meetings with academic advisers to create meaningful and compatible educational plans — a well-intended but overdone approach that could use some tweaking.
Requiring all student athletes to attend semesterly meetings with advisers is a waste of resources and a burden on already busy academic advisers. This could make it more difficult for all students to see an adviser when they actually need to. Though some advisers are designated for athletes, they still meet with all students. This policy could jeopardize that fact.
However, it is critical that new and struggling student athletes are informed on how to ensure their immediate academic success and ultimately stay on track to graduate.
The athletic department should look to implement a policy that aligns with the counseling stipulations under the My Academic Plan support program. This program requires all student athletes that are freshmen, have recently transferred or have either academic eligibility concerns or below a 2.5 GPA to meet with an academic counselor once a week to enhance their study skills and keep them on track.
The use of the same standard in both instances would still help those that need it the most and better allocate the already strained time of academic advisers.
Critics will point out that not all University students are required to adhere to this type of academic requirement, but at a premier University that has been plagued by academic scandals related to athletics, this is but a small price to pay for the privilege of representing the Tar Heels.
