FRANKLIN PIERCE UNIVERSITY: UPDATE FROM JOCK U.

Been a while since I last wrote.  It has been a very busy semester, what with four courses, service on a governance committee, and a number of tasks in service to the faculty union, the Rindge Faculty Federation.  Thankfully, classes are generally going well, and I am especially fortunate to have a strong group of students in the Honors section of American Experience.  Chingachgook will not be forgotten!

Athletics, the dominant program here at Franklin Pierce University, also continues to roll along, with their myriad sports info personnel (more than the total serving the rest of the University), the grad assistants, and all the other perks that go along with being a Division II powerhouse.  The only thing missing is student enthusiasm.  For example, ask the average student and they haven’t attended any games or matches and care even less.  Even recent playoff matches appeared poorly attended, especially given many there were faculty, visitors, and students on other athletic teams.  But the myth persists that Athletics provides us news coverage and an identity, even if the latter is non-existent here on the Rindge campus.  I always imagine it as a façade, a “Potemkin village” (go ahead and Google it).  The only sport at present that students seem to get fired up about is rugby—a club sport, one pushed by students, and one not yet featuring a large contingent of scholarship athletes.  In other words, kind of like a Division III sport.  Wait until it becomes a scholarship sport-the enthusiasm will die away.

Here’s a few more recent items to consider.  Today I had to explain to students in my first-year seminar that athletes get to register for Spring classes one day before non-athletes.  I always feel odd having to announce that, since it is so patently unfair.  Supposedly athletes are unable to get classes at times convenient to their practice and training sessions, so their needs trump those of all other students in their class-year.  That was a decision made by the Administration years ago, without consulting faculty, no evidence presented as to the need, and no consideration of alternatives.  One can only wish Academics had as powerful an advocate as the Athletic Director!

There have also been recent rumors of sexual assaults, possibly involving athletes.  Just today (Tuesday, November 9) there was an announcement confirming the reporting of two sexual assaults, though of course no further information was provided.  Now, unless a victim or direct witness comes forward to press the allegations, little can be done by the University.  What is both saddening and maddening is the seeming unwillingness of administrators to even address what might be a serious problem.  The goal is to always prevent such assaults from ever occurring, but if they do occur, we need to be certain everyone knows how to proceed.  Yet it is only today that the agenda for our monthly faculty meeting for the first time even raises issues involving sexual assaults, reporting, etc.  How many staff or faculty receive formal, extensive, and relevant training on these issues?  When were the last such formal training sessions held?  Do coaches and assistants receive any such training?  What about athletes themselves?  Then there is the Clery Act, with its requirements for disclosure of crime statistics, reporting, and maintenance of a public crime log.  Who are the parties responsible for ensuring FPU’s compliance?  Have they been trained?  I know concerned faculty pressing on this issue, but they tell me they have received virtually no support and nary an encouraging word from the “powers that be.”  Without formal allegations, it is easy to claim there is no problem, but isn’t the point of all these laws and trainings to raise awareness and to PREVENT any such occurrences?  So can we finally get some serious work done on this at Franklin Pierce University?

Lastly, a notice went out today announcing new faculty positions, one of which is in Sports Management, a thriving major here at Franklin Pierce University and Athletic Camp (FPUAC).  Although an academic program, the position mandates that as first priority after teaching major courses, the applicant “establish working relationships with the Athletic Department, student athletes and related personnel.”  In fact, this takes precedence over such ‘mundane’ activities as teaching in Gen Ed, advising students, or contributing institutional service.  So, is this program to be an arm of Athletics?  Why must this faculty member privilege athletes among all students?  We recently hired a new faculty member in Psychology—did the job description mandate close work with University counseling services?  Will the new Accounting professor be required to work with the Business Office?  No, so this is unique.  Athletic coaches already have access to their student-athletes academic records, as they are listed as co-advisors along with academic faculty.  Are the next steps already in motion to make an academic program the direct subsidiary of Athletics?  My claim that FPU is a university attached to an athletic program was meant in jest—is it now to become a reality?

Douglas Ley
Pierce Arrow Blogger

Franklin Pierce University: Change the Name?

For a number of years, I have pondered the dominance of athletics here at Franklin Pierce University.  Sure, if we look at the official athletic budget totals as a percentage of the entire University budget, we appear to be in line with peer institutions.  But if one instead considers athletics only in the context of the budget for the College at Rindge and if one works to identify and include all the hidden costs of athletics (maintenance of facilities, for example) buried elsewhere in our budget, the costs rapidly rise.  Therefore, in recognition of this reality, I propose we rename our institution FPUAC:  Franklin Pierce University and Athletic Camp.

I teach here at Franklin Pierce, and for years I have listened to numerous faculty and students complain about the apparent overemphasis of this institution upon athletics, especially in comparison with academics.  I came here twenty years ago and the number of full-time faculty at Rindge is virtually unchanged.  The number of varsity sports and coaches, however, has mushroomed.  Of course, we hear in response that athletes retain at a higher rate, and I’m sure that is true.  Give academic programs a budget for recruitment and scholarships and perhaps their recruitment and retention would improve as well.  We don’t get to self-select our students as do athletic teams, and I don’t know of any academic major possessing budgets to travel and recruit in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Serbia, or Finland, to name a few.  Therefore, since the inputs are slanted in favor of athletics and retention, it is no surprise the results also favor athletics.  Moreover, what of the students who leave in part because of this overemphasis on athletics?  Some departing students have told me that was one reason for leaving, while others remain but quietly resent what they perceive as favoritism towards athletics and athletes.

Is there an institutional favoritism towards athletics, more so than should be the case at a small, liberal arts university (college if considering Rindge alone)?  Consider the following.

a. The “Bubble” was built on the promise of then-President Hagerty that it was solely for intramurals and the community.  Varsity athletics would be strictly excluded.  Now, go in there any evening.  How many “captain’s practices” are being held?  What percentage of the usage of training and fitness equipment is related to varsity athletics?

b. Is it normal and fair that athletes register for classes prior to other students?  Students who attain Dean’s Honors now register before all others due to their scholastic achievements, but that was a concession grudgingly accepted by University administrators only after strong faculty pressure.  Faculty are responsible for academics, and none of them requested special treatment for athletes.  What about students with jobs or families?  They have special needs as well, but receive no preferential treatment.  Only athletes and athletics are privileged.

c. Why are coaches now granted access to athletes’ academic files and listed as co-advisors on Campus Web?  Are faculty listed as assistant coaches for each and every athlete, given access to all team records, and put in position to make recommendations?  No, and they shouldn’t be.  The same goes for athletic coaches with regards to academic affairs.  You coach, I teach, let’s leave it there.

My final point is a broader one, which I hope to comment upon further in future entries.  Franklin Pierce is a rarity in higher education, for according to the Pierce Arrow, the entering class of 2014 is 56% male and 44% female.  This is nearly the opposite of national trends and data, which show a skewed ratio in favor of females, whether as entering students or as degree recipients.  Why is this?  Is it in any way related to the predominance of athletics in the public profile of Franklin Pierce University?  Are we developing into a school noted for its “jock culture?”  Or is it more accurately a “lad culture?”  If this is the perception of FPU by outsiders such as guidance counselors, is it affecting and shaping the sex ratio of those who apply and those who attend?  I don’t know, but it is a long-overdue discussion for Franklin Pierce University and Athletic Camp.

Professor Douglas Ley
Pierce Arrow Blogger

Some of What I Did This Summer

Remember those assignments back in grade school, you know, write an essay recounting what you did this past summer?  I never liked those, and quite frankly, I get tired of asking and being asked “How was your summer?”  My stock answer is “It was too short,” and honestly, that’s true.  I love summer, and the day I turn in my grades I head home, dig through my CDs, and crank Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out,” which since I heard it in the early 1970s is the herald of the glorious days of summer vacation!!

I’m not going to recount my summer, for that would be quite dull and irrelevant.  However, there are some things I did which are connected to Franklin Pierce University, and they led me to spend time mulling over specific topics and concerns I have about this university and my workplace.  I like baseball (a lot), so like most summers I spent time this year at numerous ballparks.  A few games at Fenway are traditional, as is an evening tailgating with family and seeing the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park out in Wisconsin.  One of my sons even agreed to spend a few days traveling southward in July and braving the intense heat (over 100 degrees every day) and humidity to visit a couple of minor league ballparks.  Fluor Field in Greenville, SC was our first stop, a replica of Fenway Park in regards to field dimensions.  This makes sense, since it is the home field of the Greenville Drive, a Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.  Across the street is a museum dedicated to Shoeless Joe Jackson, who hailed from Greenville, and the area around the ballpark and the downtown was brimming with energy.  Lots of new restaurants, boutiques, galleries—a surprising oasis of urbanity in upstate South Carolina.

Our second stop was Augusta, Georgia, and the home field of the Augusta Greenjackets, a Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.  The ballpark is the only one I’ve ever seen with giant ceiling fans rotating slowly over those seated beneath the canopy covering some of the seats, but given the oppressive heat and humidity common to Augusta, I guess anything that keeps air moving is welcome.  My objective was to meet Kyle Vazquez, who as an FPU junior signed in 2009 with the San Francisco Giants.  Kyle had majored in History and I had served as his academic advisor at Franklin Pierce, so I thought it might be a nice surprise to drop in on a game.  As it turned out, Kyle was injured but not yet reassigned, so we were able to meet at the ballpark and catch up on the past eighteen months of his baseball life.  I haven’t heard from him since he went off to Arizona, but he certainly has my best wishes in his baseball career, and he knows that if he ever returns to finish his academic work, we will welcome him back without a moment’s hesitation.

I note all this because of the topic I am about to broach.  I enjoy sports, especially baseball and hockey, and I recognize and commend the good things the FPU teams often do in the community.  BUT, I do have problems with how this University overemphasizes athletics, particularly the imbalance I see in the real relationship fostered here between athletics and academics.  In fact, I think it is time to either recalibrate that relationship OR face realities and rename the institution.  That modest proposal will be my next blog entry.

Douglas Ley
Pierce Arrow Blogger

test

test