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Officials respond to report on athletic
department - Second in a two part series
By Tom Cronin
Dr.
Christopher Miller, vice chancellor for student affairs,
described the athletic department review that he requested last
March as a “valuable exercise” that will be helpful in
addressing some of the department’s deficiencies, but one
athletics official said that the review did not uncover any
deficient policies or procedures.
Sports Information Director Paul MacDonna said that external
reviews like the one conducted by the Athletics Review Task
Force should be viewed as opportunities to see if the department
has any “pieces of the puzzle falling through the cracks” or any
loopholes. The task force’s report, he said, did not identify
any such cracks or loopholes.
“My
interpretation of the report is that things are going the way
they should be going,” MacDonna said. “There are some things
that I do disagree with, as far as some of the statements that
are made in the report, but it’s kind of futile to go through
and henpeck at this point in time.
“I
think it’s fairly evident that there have been disagreements
between certain parts of the campus and the athletics
department,” he continued. “I don’t think that any of those are
reflected in this report, and the ones that are brought up in
the report do not have any grounds.”
Athletic Director Nick Adams declined to comment on the report.
One
area of the report that MacDonna said that he approves of is the
recommendation to adopt a plan for providing advising to
student-athletes. With the academic advisor/compliance
coordinator position vacant, a means of academic advising for
student-athletes has been lacking, the report said.
The
Division of Academic Affairs recently formulated a plan for an
Academic Advising Center that would provide advising for all
students, including student-athletes, and “augment” the advising
done by faculty, Miller said.
According to MacDonna, it is important that students have a
place where they can go for academic counseling. While faculty
advisers primarily help students choose the courses they need to
complete a degree, academic counselors would be responsible for
providing guidance in areas such as long-term academic and
career planning, and scheduling academics around the obligations
of family and work, he said.
Despite the absence of a position devoted to academic advising,
the Athletic Department does provide some help to
student-athletes by referring them to the Center for Teaching
and Learning and the Career Center, MacDonna said.
“There are places on campus where students can go and get help,”
he said. “It’s a matter of trying to make those known to the
general student populace. On the whole, the campus does, I
think, a great job of making students feel welcomed, to be able
to help the students in any way, shape and form that they can.
The student-athletes do have an additional … burden upon
themselves, and that does make it harder.”
A
policy establishing Campus Health Services as the “definitive
authority” on health-related matters of student-athletes may
soon be implemented in response to the task force’s
recommendation to adopt a policy defining the role of Health
Services with respect to the health of student-athletes, Miller
said.
It
has been common practice, he said, for Health Services to be
responsible for the health of student-athletes – and all
students – but a policy to this effect has never been
implemented.
According to the report, athletes have recently begun objecting
to utilizing Health Services for reasons of cost, privacy and
convenience. This is problematic because a private physician’s
opinion on whether an athlete is fit to play is not always
consistent with the opinion of Health Services personnel, the
report said.
Miller said that the practice of giving Health Services
authority over outside physicians on “any and all health-related
matters involving our students” helps to ensure consistency.
“We
have two physicians and two nurse practitioners, so obviously
it’s an extremely competent staff,” he said. “They take
recommendations, even from outside physicians, as to the status
of an athlete and being able to play; and then they make a
decision based on the information.”
Attorney Lawrence Johnson, a former UIS associate chancellor for
access and opportunity, served as chairman of the task force.
Miller said that Johnson received a stipend for his work, but
the vice chancellor declined to disclose the amount of the
stipend.
The
members of the task force were Michael Bohl, director of
financial and information systems; Hugh Harris, associate
professor of political studies; Pat Langley, chairwoman of
Campus Senate and professor of women’s studies and legal
studies; Marya Leatherwood, associate vice chancellor and
director of enrollment management; and Marcel Yoder, assistant
professor of psychology.
Stephen Chrans, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs,
served as an ex-officio member. Aside from the chairman, Miller
said, none of the members were paid for conducting the review.
Fire Alarm: this is not a
drill
By Janee' Mitchell
Editor-in-chief Heather Shaffer also contributed
to this article
At approximately 3 a.m. on
Thursday, Oct. 7, students were awakened by pounding on their
doors and the fire alarm. The incident began on 3 South in room
330, when someone allegedly hung an object on the sprinklers.
The sprinklers did go off, flooding several of the rooms on the
south side of LRH. The sprinklers are located at a high level
on the walls of the LRH rooms, there is a small button-like
center, which if touched sets them off.
 The
incident caused students to be kicked out of their rooms for the
night. Many of the Capital Scholars spent four hours in the
Public Affairs Center that night because they were not allowed
back to their rooms. Afterwards, many students had to bunk with
friends and family because of the damage and sulfur smells.
Accident is a strong word, or
excuse, as some students would say. Some students do not believe
this incident was purely an accident.
Mae Noll, resident director of
the Lincoln Residence Hall, said that this could have been an
accident. However, some students are still speculating as to how
the incident started.
It is unclear, however, how the
damages will be paid for and who will be held responsible, since
no one clearly knows or reveals the identity of the person
responsible for the alleged accident. Some students have named
one of the residents of the room as a prankster and author of
this event, while others say it was a playful guest.
Nonetheless, the majority said it was an accident.
One student, who heard that
students may have to pay for damages, said, "this freshman class
has gotten away with way more stuff than I've heard of any other
Cap class. It is ridiculous that they are making students
personally pay for the damages instead of the university."
Whitney Alao, freshman in
psychology and LRH resident, said that when the student fire
marshal knocked on her door she thought someone was hurt, and
when she saw the water on the floor she thought a toilet had
overflowed.
Alao said, "I'm not upset with
the people who did it because I know its not on purpose, but I
was inconvenienced a lot.”
Alao was not the only student
inconvenienced. Eric Cromer, a sophomore majoring in political
studies, said he was turned away when trying to enter his room
to get a cell phone and other materials such as shoes for class.
This student, however, chose not to miss class so he went
barefoot.
Cromer is a friend of the
culprit and contends that it was an accident and that something
had gotten hung on the sprinklers.
Stefanie Kondracsek, freshman in
business management, and her roommate, Lacy Cobb, freshman in
psychology, awoke to a flooded room. The water damage however,
was not extreme and the important things were salvaged. However,
Kondracsek did notice some ruined shoes and a damaged book that
she thinks is salvageable.
Students were asked to stay
clear of LRH until things were cleaned up, and maybe even a
possible explanation discovered. The Lincoln Residence Hall is a
fairly new building and the total damages are unknown.
A building service worker, who
wants to remain anonymous for fear of giving information too
soon, said the only room with significant damage was the room in
which the incident originated. She said there is a bead sticking
out of the sprinkler that could have easily been bumped and it
could very well be an accident.
Accident or playful mistake, the
room occupants have paid some repercussions for the incident
already. Damaged items in their room included a television, a
laptop, dresser drawers and possibly a refrigerator and stereo
which sat in water. |
