Academic Identity

When you introduce yourself to somebody, one of the first pieces of personal information you give them is your occupation. For me, I don’t have a career yet, so I introduce myself as a Grad student at SUU. Many people have had to use the “Student” occupation one time or another and professional athletes are no exception. Granted, they were able to add “College athlete” to their occupational identity, but the “Student” label shouldn’t be ignored.  

Sadly, it was ignored at the University of North Carolina. In 2011, 19 football players signed up for an African-Americans Studies class. There was little to no class that actually took place, and the students accepting grades they didn’t earn. After an investigation, it was found that between 2007-2011 there were 54 African-American Studies classes that were fraudulent.

This may be considered old news, but the University is in the headlines again. This time it’s not for a former football player taking advantage of fraudulent classes, but a former basketball player. Former UNC basketball player Rashad McCants unveiled earlier this month that at as a student, he rarely went to class, tutors wrote his papers, and he even ended up on the Dean’s List Spring of 2005, the same year the team won the national title. He said that he signed up for “Paper classes” where as long as you turned in one term paper by the end, you were given a grade. It’s hard to say how far this fraud is known up the university’s academic ladder, but McCants claims that his coach Roy Williams knew at the time, and even accuses Williams of making unethical suggestions to swap classes to improve his GPA for eligibility.  Williams denies all claims, but McCants holds firm on his allegations.

Assuming all of this news that just came out is true, it begs the question of whether or not college athletes appreciate their education, and include it in their identity. Sure their universities come in to play in the major leagues when they are drafted and introduced before the games, but aside from that, how much is their educational experience valued? I am no longer a college athlete (I used to run track), but being a student is a large part of my identity and has been for years now. When I hear about college athletes putting sports ahead of their education so much that they are willing to cheat to maintain athlete status, it really bothers me. I understand that they all have dreams of making it big, but the fact is the large majority of them wont. What they will have left is their education, and their education will automatically become a larger part of their identity simply by default from not getting drafted. Even if they are drafted, they won’t be a professional athlete forever, and their identity will inevitably change again.