Resignations spark debate over position of athletics on university campus

April 08, 2009
By Luke Runyon
Staff Writer

The recent resignations of coaches Joe Fisher, Roy Gilmore, and Jay Davis sparked up a conversation recently about the role of athletics on campus. Manifesting itself in the classrooms of University Hall, a Campus Senate meeting, faculty office hours, and the Food Emporium, this campus-wide discourse sheds light onto the current state of athletics at UIS.

While the recent resignations of these coaches are important, Campus Senate Chair, Pat Langley, thinks these are side effects of larger issues. Citing a 2004 Athletics Review Task Force report, Langley stated, “We wrote a blueprint for change and here we are 5 years later dealing with the exact same issues.”

Photo by Christopher Izatt At last Friday’s Campus Senate meeting, Pat Langley (center), Chair of the Campus Senate, declared that “all of these problems we are dealing with today, we dealt with in 2004.”

Several recommendations made by the 2004 Athletics Review Task Force were never addressed, said Langley. The 2004 report suggested investigations into the use of alcohol on university sponsored events and the “sexualized environment within the Athletic Department including, relations among staff and students.” It also discussed the prevalence of coercion between athletic staff and faculty on behalf of students. The Task Force noted that several faculty members were approached by athletic staff and asked to alter grades, eligibility, or financial aid. 

Scott Reed, Assistant Director of Athletics for Communication, assures that coaches are never instructed to approach faculty members to change grades. “We know that it is not the place of an athletics member to approach a faculty member on behalf of a student,” said Reed.

Karen Kirkendall, Interim Director of the Capital Scholars Honors Program, had student athletes being pressured to drop their honors status because of a housing conflict. “We were told that the golf coach required that [female golfers] live in Founders with the rest of the female golf team and all Honors students are required to live in LRH so they were not to participate in the Honors program,” said Kirkendall.

At last Friday’s Campus Senate meeting, Langley again noted the lack of action taken following the 2004 report stating, “Had [the recommendations] been followed, the situation [now] would have been mitigated. All of these problems we are dealing with today, we dealt with in 2004.”

“Are we worried about what’s best for the
students or for athletics?”
-Pat Langley

According to Langley, there will be a faculty meeting this week to discuss the issues raised by the recent resignations.

Langley then posed the question, “Are we worried about what’s best for the students or for athletics?”

Reed noted that nearly the entire athletics department staff has changed since the Task Force put out its report in 2004. “It’s like comparing apples and oranges,” said Reed. “I’m not sure under what circumstances the Task Force was formed, but those events didn’t take place under this regime. We have a largely a new staff under [Athletic Director] Dr. Jehlicka, and those people the Task Force addressed no longer work at UIS.”

Ryan Williams, chair of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee, stated that it could be the athletic department’s disconnect from the rest of campus that is causing these problems to occur. “They are literally and figuratively disconnected from a large part of the campus,” said Williams.

Also noted by Williams is the fact that athletics and faculty often do not see eye to eye on many issues involving students. “Both sides say we don’t get along,” said Williams. “There has been a long friction between athletics and faculty here, as with any university.”

Reed spoke on behalf of the athletics department saying, “We definitely want faculty and staff to feel included, but it’s a two way street.” Responding to criticism that athletics staff fail to emphasize academics with student athletes, Reed described the formation of a faculty mentoring program which is supported by Jehlicka. In the program, student athletes would be paired with faculty who would help them achieve their academic goals.

A note made by the IAC in its most recent report in Fall 2008 suggested that the athletic department publish the majors of student athletes in the program for each game. This recommendation was supported by the NCAA Great Lakes Valley Conference, which UIS is planning on joining. The report states, “So far, athletics has chosen not to implement this recommendation.”